Yogini Erica Kaufman, MFA, E-RYT500, is an internationally renowned and beloved yoga teacher, inspirational speaker, and contemporary modern dancer focusing on Contact Improvisation.
With a career spanning over 5 decades, Erica’s introduction to yoga came in childhood, as a remedy for debilitating asthma and painful eczema, under the guidance of her mother. With unwavering dedication, Erica has continued to cultivate this practice, yielding profound benefits that have shaped her life and inspired others. This foundational practice blossomed into a lifelong journey of exploring prana’s transformative power.
Erica is owner of Lila Yoga Studios and founder of Lila Yoga, a hatha vinyasa practice devoted to spiritual awareness of prana moving through subtle creative channels of energetic connectivity. In the Lila Yoga tradition, each asana provides an opportunity to tune into unique physical alignment and unique qualities such as courage, worthy-trust, and gratitude. Her teachings help us discover and ignite energy pathways within and around the body, connecting us with nature, the larger rhythm of life and the energy of the universe. Imagery is often drawn from the natural world helping us transcend the limitations of mind-stuff to experience true oneness.
Erica tours the USA, Europe, China, Israel, and India teaching seminars on Mindfulness, Meditation, Lila Yoga and Contact Improvisation. Her global outreach includes teaching at prestigious institutions like National School of Drama in Delhi, Aatakkalari Center for Movement & Arts in Bangalore India, as well performance at the acclaimed Academy of Arts in Berlin Germany, and as faculty member at both University of Denver in Colorado, and in the Kinesiology Department at Pennsylvania State University, USA.
As a teacher and Studio owner, Erica has the highest level of registry offered with Yoga Alliance. Her expertise and skill earned her first place winner of the World Yoga Championship, yet her home life with family continues to be her greatest joy. Erica has trained hundreds of yoga teachers with 200 and 500 hour trainings. For healing and therapeutic purposes, Erica offers 1-on-1 private classes in person and online. Through her teachings and mentorship, she continues to inspire a global community, fostering mindfulness, meditation, and the practice of Lila Yoga.
