Gitte Bechsgaard, Ph.D.
Gitte Bechsgaard, founder of Vidya Institute International, Toronto (2002), has studied, taught and researched in the field of Yoga, Psychology and the Vedic Wisdom Traditions for almost 30 years. She is certified as a Senior Iyengar Yoga teacher (CIYT), and teaches throughout North America and Europe. In 2011 Gitte completed her PhD thesis on The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali which is published as The Gift of Consciousness: Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras(Cambridge Scholars Press). Her other book, The Sacred in Exile: What It Really Means to Lose Our Religion, co-written with Dr. Gillian McCann,was published with Palgrave in 2017. Together, Gillian and Gitte have facilitated University Conferences in the area of Health, Healing and Religion for Nipissing University, centered on themes related to the cultivation of religious tolerance, holistic health, contemplative practice and spirituality. They also co-write for Psychology Today on a monthly basis.
Gitte has studied privately with her mentor Sri Krishan Mantriji in the areas of Sanskrit, Yoga philosophy, Jyotish and Contemplative practice. She has also been actively engaged in Yoga research in various hospital settings in Toronto for the last 18 years, in conjunction with York University. Aside from Gitte’s work in the field of Yoga and spirituality she is also a registered psychotherapist (RP). Her main area of interest is the dialogue between Eastern and Western approaches to the mind, health and healing. She is a graduate from the Centre for Training in psychotherapy (CTP), Toronto.
