Why the name
Saraswati-Barbara?
These names are sweet and pure
Love.
—
Saraswati Barbara: My spiritual name and the name my Mother called me.
My mother, my first Goddess!
Matra Devo Bhata
My mother, Mary Anne Haney (1947-2013), always called me Barbie. Mary Anne Haney took great joy in attending all the yoga classes she could with me. I am blessed to have had her in my first classes.
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Om Gam Ganapataye Namah
Om Gum Gurubhyo Namah
Om Aim Saraswatyai Namah
Often it is suffering that precipitates our spiritual journeys, and for me it was no different. I went through cancer diagnosis and traditional allopathic treatment for a year in 2006. I was the mother of three small children at that time. Becoming a yoga teacher was my first journey back into the world after my year dealing with cancer. I have found yoga, meditation, and self-study to be the formula for right living.
How my journey began
I am a practitioner of reflection. May we radically accept the present moment’s truth, settling into the moment, the Truth and greater Reality that goes on beyond this gentle breeze playing out in our tiny little lives. The questions that have mattered to me: What is Kindness? How does one continue to grow in universal Love? How to grow in Heart Centeredness? What does a compassionate community look like?
I have explored these questions as a practice, recognizing that to value betterment takes radical Truth and Non-Violence. I am happy to help others, as together we find our own methodologies toward this common goal, listening to our own Heart. The Supreme! Hari Om.
Om Om Om
Ram Ram Ram
Biography
In 2007, Saraswati Barbara Haney, went through a 200-hr Yoga Teacher Training in a somewhat unorthodox mixing of direct traditional yoga and meditation from India mixed with the more Yin method of Yoga taught by Felicitas Kusch-Lango at Yoga Ma, the first yoga studio in East Aurora, NY. She has taught Hatha Yoga, Prenatal Yoga, Yin Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Mindfulness and Meditation.
Saraswati is a devotee of Sri Sri Anandamayi Ma.
Saraswati Barbara has studied extensively at the Sivananda Yoga Ranch ashram, attending numerous workshops and family and kid camps with her three daughters.
She has studied the Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutras, and Sanskrit with Prem Sadasivananda. prem-sadasivnanda.com
She has been trained in Yoga Nidra and explored a variety of Tantric studies with ShivaShakti School of Yoga.
Saraswati Barbara has been studying Veda mantras with Shantala Sriramaiah for several years. @veda_studies.
She also enjoys doing Yantra and Mandala workshops with Mavis Gewant @sacredmotherarts.
Saraswati is a student of Jyotish astrology with Steven Highburger. vedictraditions.com
Saraswati went through a comprehensive course of Sri Vidya worship with Indica Courses.
A Varied Career
Saraswati Barbara has worked as a Wildland Seasonal Firefighter in Southern California, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala and back again to work serving human birth and human milk feeding, as a International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and Doula. She was on a number of boards that promote childbirth, breastfeeding, and families. She has taught in many settings including hospitals, medical schools, healthcare professional conferences, private clinics, private homes, and corporate settings.
She has a BS in Environmental Studies and a MEd. in Secondary Sciences, having taught high school level science and all middle school subjects at Mandala School in East Aurora. Most recently, she is the Director of the Wildlife Department at the SPCA Serving Erie County, a large wildlife rehabilitation center. She is also the Symposium Program Director at the National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association (NWRA). She is blessed to serve the community of wildlife and humans and aid her community in practical ways of living together on Earth without cruelty and with mutual respect for our Mother Earth and Her creatures.
