Lakshmi Voelker, YT, E-RYT 500, KYTA, YA, C-IAYT is a certified Kripalu Yoga instructor, a member of the Yoga Alliance and International Association of Yoga Therapists and holder of other certifications. 

Lakshmi has dedicated her life to creating accessible paths to wellness. By creating chair yoga, she was able to bring adaptive fitness and exercise programs to those who could not benefit from traditional methods of physical activity due to age, limiting physical condition or being places where getting on the floor is not practical.

She created Lakshmi Voelker Chair Yoga® in 1982 when one of her thirty-something students was stricken with arthritis and could no longer get down on the floor to practice Yoga. In 1999, she authored and produced her widely acclaimed “Lakshmi Voelker Chair Yoga: The Sitting Mountain Series” CD.

Lakshmi certifies Lakshmi Voelker Chair Yoga Teachers (LVCYTs). She has certified over 2000 people in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and Japan. 

She has studied, practiced, and taught Yoga and other Eastern disciplines since 1969. From her early years, she integrated these disciplines with Western health concepts. Her focus has always been to improve her students’ health and wellness by making the integration of these disciplines accessible to the broadest audience possible.