
Puja Sue Flamm
Puja Sue Flamm
My name is Puja Sue Flamm (Susana), 500 ERYT, I am the Best Selling Author of the book Restorative Yoga with Assists in English and in Spanish, a teacher trainer of yoga and the creator of the Puja Method of Restorative Yoga. I am a certified Massage Therapist and I have been teaching yoga for 35+ years.
I have given numerous trainings, retreats, workshops and thousands of classes in the U.S.A, throughout Europe, China, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, South Africa, and India.
I took my first Transcendental Meditation class at 12, my first yoga class at 16, and have continued to study and practice throughout my rich and diverse life.
I spent 6 years as part of the Kripalu Center staff as a yoga and programs teacher, massage therapist and cook at the center (ashram).
I have owned two Yoga centers in Massachusetts (USA), managed a third yoga studio and also managed a pre and post natal learning center in the Westchester, New York area.
Certified in Kripalu Yoga, with intensive studies in Iyengar, Ashtanga and Anusara styles. I have extensive experience in teaching yoga and many years of personal practice.
In recent years I have dedicated myself to yoga trainings in Spain and around the planet.
My trainings includes certification in the Puja Method of Restorative Yoga, The Nature of Nurture a Restorative YTT for the menstrual cycle, and a 200 hour YTT training, all approved by Yoga Alliance.
Dedicated to my students, my classes promote an internal connection between body, mind and spirit, meditation, teaching different ways to help the body to have more physical strength and toning the internal organs, teaching how to relax deeply and cultivate the practice with kindness towards ourselves .
I speak English and Spanish, and now I live on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in Valencia, Spain.
My family…
I come from Armonk, New York where I spent my first 18 years living with my parents and brother who I remain very close with.
My father immigrated from Baku Azerbaijan (formally the Soviet Union) who married my mom a daughter of immigrant grandparents who grew up in Brooklyn, NY.
We lived close to the woods where I spent a lot of my childhood communing with nature.
Then I moved to Boston to study at Boston University followed by Harvard Extension (night school) and studied psychology and nutrition.
I had a spiritual awakening when I had my astrological chart read and began to understand the interconnected nature of our life here on planet earth with the planets, nature and the electromagnetic vibratory interconnection of our beings.
I began to deepen my understanding of spirituality and began studying yoga more intensely. I became a ski bum in Alta Utah, followed by being a beach bum on Martha’s Vineyard, MA.
Afterwards I discovered Kripalu Center For Yoga & Health and moved there for a three month program and stayed there for 6 years living a yogic lifestyle and deepened my yogic practice and studies while enjoying the ashram.
I received many teachings there. I have always maintained a deeply spiritual connection in my life, I spent a few years with a Native American Medicine Family in South Dakota of the Lakota Tradition, years with indigenous peoples of Guatemala and I am deeply connected to India and both Yogic and Buddhist Teachings.
I am a single mother with a daughter and stepdaughter whom I hold close to my heart. Motherhood has been a continuation of my devotion to the single most important aspect and practice of my life, love.
My philosophy of life…
My personal spiritual practices, sharing my gifts through teaching, connection with nature, family and many incredible friends around the globe are the heart and loves of my life.
These things bring depth, meaning and joy to my life. I believe in continuing to cultivate joy, in growing spiritually, in learning from life experience, in the practice of loving kindness and in the eightfold path of Yoga.
This is how I choose to live my life.
My mission is to lovingly hold each person and facilitate their transformational process through yogic and other spiritual teachings and practices.
The origin of my name Puja
Puja is a common name in India. It means to see the purest divinity in everything.
This spiritual name was given to me when I was living at Kripalu Center in west of Massachusetts in the 1980’s (at that time it was an Ashram and teaching center).
In a “Puja” Yogic Ceremony, the five elements: earth, water, fire, air and ether (or space), are offered to a deity, divinity or the higher spiritual essence of any living being.
Traditionally rice, water, candles, flower petals and incense respectively are used to represent these elements.
A deity is a representation of one or more divine aspects that we all carry inside us.
So when we perform a puja ceremony, among other things, we are honoring that aspect of our being and we are cultivating those characteristics in our own being.
In Puja Yoga we recognize the divinity that is within us.
In addition to the numerous physical benefits of the practice, we consciously find and nurture the flame of kindness and compassion.
Through the practice of yoga, we honor the divinity within and around us.
Puja Yoga gives us a foundation and connects us with divinity and through practice, we deepen the connections of inner peace, health, compassion, understanding and love.
Book Restorative Yoga with Supports and Assists
I am the author of the Best Seller“ Restorative Yoga with Assists” in English and Spanish, a method that combines yoga postures with supports, with conscious breathing, relaxation and other techniques to calm the body and calm the mind.
As you know, the practice of yoga is not just a physical practice. It is much more: working, understanding and calming your own mind is an integral part of the knowledge and practice of yoga.
Therefore within my method of teaching restorative yoga there is a clear and deep relationship and influence with Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga and Bhakti Yoga.
Book 93 Prescriptions for Joy
My experience with yoga, the people I have met and the spiritual life I try to lead, have also inspired me to write another book that seems very special to me.
A book that contains simple but very powerful ideas and suggestions for you to experience inner joy and peace through connection with yourself, with others and with nature.
From my own experience, I am sure that our desire to obtain something outside of ourselves can be replaced by finding ways to create joy.
I have experienced the cycle many times: wish, longing, have, and then next wish. Because when you’ve reached it, and the desire ends, the enjoyment often fades quite quickly.
To know more details about the meaning of number 93 you will have to read the book, but I tell you that 93 is a symbol of love towards ourselves and towards others.
And love is the reason I am here on the planet.