Stéphane Chollet

Stephane Chollet has been teaching yoga since 1990.

He started the practice of martial arts and Taijiquan in 1984 before discovering Yoga in 1986 with Jean Villetelle, a student of Gérard Blitz and Michel Coquet in the lineage of Krishnamacharya from Chennai. After visiting the yoga academies of India and wishing to immerse himself deeper into spirituality, he then visited different spiritual teachers in India over the next 20 years.

Having also being educated and working in computer science and project management, he realized the need for a rational process of self-development and wellness going beyond the limitations of traditionalism and postmodern materialism.

His approach is an Integral synthesis of methodologies for self-development and wellness both traditional and modern including: Fitness, Martial Arts, Yoga, Psychology, Meditation and Ecology.

His Vision inspired the beginning of the SURΨA project in 2008 based on the Synthesis for the Unification of a Rational on Integral Arts. He spends his time animating the dynamic of the Surya group through conferences, training, seminars and retreats.

He also leads SURΨA on several charitable projects in India, Mexico and South-East Asia focusing on sustainable development.

Karla Chollet

Karla Alvarez is a certified nutritionist, astrologer and instructor of Ashtanga Yoga.

She began practicing yoga at a very early age with her parents, both of whom are yoga instructors from the GFU, so grew up with the philosophy of yoga as education since childhood. In 2000 she completed a workshop with Baptise Marceau (Ashtanga Yoga) and in 2001 – 2002 traveled to India to immerse herself deeper into the practice of asanas.

Karla completed a 3-month yoga teacher certification at Pathanjala Yoga Kendra Foundation in Bangalore, India with Masterji M.S Vishwanatha (Ashtanga Yoga) nephew of Phathabhis Jois.

That same year she met Stephane Chollet and has since been studying Yoga permanently with him in France and throughout their travels in India, Mexico, U.S.A, China and Thailand, developing her practice of Yoga and other disciplines such as Taijiquan and Qi Gong.

Karla also organizes workshops, seminars and retreats in México, France and India to transmit the knowledge of Yoga. In 2009 Karla married Stephane Chollet and they are currently working together on developing Surya World.

Jite Brume

Jite Brume is a British trained architect of Nigerian origin who graduated from the Architectural Association, London in 2001. She has been practicing as a designer and consultant in Europe and Africa specializing in architectural, urban and landscape design as well as cultural research and analysis. Early works involved collaboration with architects, planners and sociologists on regeneration, infrastructure, social housing and public space projects in France.

In 2005 she co-founded Mappamundi Design, an international multi-disciplinary practice in London followed by its Lagos based sister company Mamu Designs in 2008.

Jite’s work focuses on guiding clients towards the realization of their vision with reverence to context and scale. Due to her expertise in project initiation, she is a motivator and is engaged in ongoing research of ecological and vernacular building techniques, traveling regularly between Africa, Europe and Asia.

A humanitarian by instinct Jite is also co-founder and trustee of the Ovie Brume Foundation, a registered educational charity established in memory of her brother. Her work has placed emphasis on holding the Nigerian and African aspect with the British and European.

She is currently developing several social and cultural projects still in their embryonic phase. Her ability to understand issues on a large scale combined with her energy and drive are essential in all projects.

Jaype Gams

Jean-Philippe Gams is a martial arts teacher in France and a web developer and designer.He also graduated from the Institut Vatel in Hotel business and management in Lyon France.

He has been practicing and studying martial arts for more than ten years and especially Chinese internal arts in China for 5 Years, during witch he studied Taiji Chuan under Chen Yu for some time until becoming a student in Bagua Zhang under the guidance of Master Ma ChuanXu.

He is now a 5th generation in the Liang style Lineage of Bagua and indoor disciple of Master Ma.

Jean-Philippe has been trying to share his vision of internal arts through his teaching in France and on the internet combining his two passions.

He is actively involved and trying to promote the wonderful Project that is SURΨA in Lyon and on the web as well.

Dominique Laurence

Dominique Laurence is a medical doctor specialized in psychiatry.

He began his career as an engineer in agronomics concentrating on animal physiology.

He then turned his attention to the study of the human being, and decided to go to medical school and graduated as a medical doctor.

Ever passionate by life’s mystery, Dominique is now fully engaged in the comprehension of the human psychology as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist practitioner.

  • Location: France, Paris

Stephane Colliege

Stephane Colliege is a French yoga teacher based in Montreal, Canada. He graduated with a degree in civil law from the University of Paris Panthéon.

He enlisted in the French Air Force as an officer and for 10 months served in a Head Quarters Communication Department. He then trained in graphic and web design and for 10 years worked as a graphic designer and artistic director in corporate communication and business to business.

After his experience with companies in Paris, Stephane went freelance and studied video graphic design for 6 months, eventually working on the DVDs of a range of movies. It was during this time that he began his yoga teacher training.

Stephane has now been teaching yoga since 2003 and more recently Taijiquan and Qi Gong following his reconnection with martial arts and boxing, which he had practiced from the age of 13 to 24. Since settling in Canada in 2005, Stephane has primarily been dedicated to teaching. He organizes workshops in Montreal on a regular basis and yoga retreats once a year in India.

He has recently begun research into Herbal Medicine as a complement to his training in Yoga and Ayurveda (Traditional Indian Medicine), with an ecological and spiritual perspective.

Suzy Mendes

Suzy Mendes is a product manager in the children fashion industry and has been teaching yoga since 2007.

She has been interested in the foundations of yoga practise since her very first classes. On discovering the ancient texts, Suzy realised that the postural practise she encountered in Europe were nothing like the yoga of the ancients, which is about a kind of spirituality wherein each person had a particular role.

After her yoga teacher training, Suzy attended numerous workshops and courses that helped her integrate the notion of biomechanics and develop her physical knowledge of the asanas. However the most important aspect of her work in this field became the need to progress in meditation work. Despite her efforts she found the direction of the teachings she encountered fairly limited, with methods that did not seem appropriate for a Westerner.

In the early summer of 2010 Suzy met Stéphane Chollet and the Surya team, with whom she has been closely affiliated ever since. Won over by the specificity of the teachings, the philosophy of the group and the people involved, she decided to follow their approach.

She is deeply convinced that through a synthesis of physical, mental and spiritual work Surya offers the opportunity to access the traditional path of Patanjali’s 8 Limbed Yoga in a modern way.

  • Location: France, Paris
  • Twitter: @suzyogi

Sophie Aman

Sophie is a writer. This career emerges from a background in several professions, all unified in their diversity: to serve.

She began as a volunteer for youth and later worked with the Red Cross as a first-aid worker and team leader. As a woman of action and conviction, Sophie worked as a ski and horse-riding instructor before going on to serve her country in the French Armed Forces at home and abroad for over 10 years. This mentally and physically intense experience drove her to develop all manner of capacities.

Her path was punctuated by a serious skiing accident at the age of 22, which left her in a coma for over 4 months. It would take another 10 years before Sophie recovered her full potential.

As a Christian animated by intense faith, she is always at the service of others. In her commune in l’Oise she is an elected local councilor for the founding and running of Solidarité Montagne, a French association providing mutual aid to widows and orphans of mountain guides. Sophie was awarded the national trophy for benevolence by the French Ministry of Youth and Sports as a testimony of her dedication to others for over 20 years.

Sophie’s writing is directly inspired by her personal experience. In 2001 she published « Raconte, récit extraordinaire de 126 jours dans le coma » and in 2009 « Trajectoires dans le cercle ». Both works are currently available in French.

Clementina Ferrer

Clementina Ferrer Silva, Mexican, was born in La Paz Bolivia due to her parents profession as Mexican Diplomats. She grew up in Ghana, Mexico, California and Ethiopia. She has travelled extensively and that has given her a unique vision of humanity.

She studied International Relations at UC Davis. In 1994 she returned to Mexico and worked in Human Rights. later she began Master Studies in Anthropology. In 1997 She moved to Queretaro México, where she presently lives with her husband, two children and two dogs. During her first child’s pregnancy she became acquainted with Yoga and since her love and admiration for the discipline has grown. Since 2005 she has been studying, Yoga with Stephane Chollet and Karla Alvarez and has travelled with them twice to Southern India. Clementina is a proud member of Surya-World.

She also is an artist at heart and enjoys tremendously transmitting her passion for the Arts, the diversity of peoples and cultures and her love for life to children in her workshops.

Christian Faivret

Abhayan has been passionate about martial arts since childhood, when he began practicing.

During his late teens this discipline revealed its physical and mental dimension to him. In an effort to unite this passion and vision with professional life, he decided to undertake studies in psychomotricity.

This paramedical profession, which scientifically unites the body and the mind, became a vocation for him. Whilst studying, Abhayan persisted with his practice of martial arts, passed the 3rd Dan and the DIF (Diploma of Federal Instructor) and subsequently followed various teachings including the Rose Cross for 9 years and Raja Yoga.

Following a life-changing trip to India spent in several ashrams, Abhayan returned to a life of service, dedicating himself to the disabled, to family life and took an active role in the activities of Amma (mata Amritanandamayi) in France.

He completed his studies by training in Chinese energy and ayurvedic massage and complemented this with theoretical studies of karmic astrology combined transactional analysis and the teachings of A.A Bailey.

Abhayan currently practices in an institution of visual impairments and freelance. He is a teacher at IRSP (institut supérieur de rééducation psychomotrice) in Marseille, and teaches Taï Chi (Chen style) and yoga. He has replaced the external illusionary aspect of martial arts with African dance and percussion drums, which is more joyous, and pursues an internal practice with Taï Chi and Qi Gong through the teachings of Master Wang Feng Mi

Thibault Velter

Thibaud Velter is a father, an engineer and a project manager in telecommunications.

He has been practicing Yoga and studying Indian philosophy since 2005. He completed a one-year Yoga teacher-training programme with Stéphane Chollet, with whom he traveled to India to meet Yoga masters. Through his association with Stephane, Thibaud also discovered several Chinese martial arts (Taï Chi and Wing Chun), as a complement to his Yoga practice.

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