Gary Olson
Master Yoga Teacher, Author, and Founder of PATH
Gary Olson’s life has been inseparable from the practice and philosophy of yoga. Raised in a home where yoga was a daily ritual, he watched his mother practice from birth and has no memory of life without it. At age seven, he began formal martial arts training—setting the foundation for a lifelong path of disciplined physical and spiritual development.
At 12, Gary participated in a research study on telepathy at the University of Washington. By 14, he was contributing to groundbreaking research in the development of biofeedback at the same institution. Over the next 20 years, he earned multiple black belts in Taekwondo, Hapkido, and Kenpo, including two years of intensive private training (10 hours per week) with legendary martial arts master Bong Soo Han. His background also includes extensive training in combat systems.
Gary is the founder/creator of PATH—a Personalized Approach to Transformation & Harmony—a system of inner evolution rooted in classical yogic wisdom and designed to meet the needs of the modern practitioner. PATH emphasizes individualization, structure, lasting transformation, and inner harmony.
Gary and his wife Claudia have owned five yoga studios and he has authored seven books on yoga, performance, and self-mastery. He has also built an extensive online platform, producing hundreds of instructional videos, posture clinics, and live-streamed classes. Today, he continues to teach sold-out classes while expanding the reach of PATH courses and retreats to a growing global audience.
Throughout his life’s work, Gary remains deeply committed to awakening the full human potential—one breath, one student, one moment at a time.
At 21, Gary received advanced instruction in the Transcendental Meditation (TM) Siddhis directly from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. He later spent seven years in a “school of mysteries,” deeply immersed in the study of music and metaphysics. For over 45 years, Gary has maintained a devoted daily practice of TM and the TM-Sidhis and has taught these transformative techniques to more than a thousand students. From this depth, he developed Deva Meditation, a refined meditative path shaped by decades of practice, teaching, and insight.
As a full-time yoga teacher for over 23 years, Gary has taught thousands of students across more than 10,000 hot yoga, power yoga, and kriya-based classes—including hundreds of Hamsa and Hamsa Hatha Kriya sessions that guide practitioners into deeper states of awareness and transformation.
He has led over a dozen formal teacher training programs, producing hundreds of active yoga teachers. His graduates are recognized for their skill, clarity, and presence, and are welcomed across the yoga teaching community for the depth of their training.
Claudia Alabiso
Yoga Teacher, Therapist, and Mentor
Claudia Alabiso began practicing yoga in 2004 after earning her undergraduate degree in Psychology and English Literature from Franklin & Marshall College. What started with a Bikram yoga class quickly became a daily practice that expanded her flexibility, sharpened her focus, enhanced her athleticism, and supported deep personal healing. In 2005, she discovered Gary Olson’s power yoga and found a practice that felt like home.
While completing her Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy at Seattle Pacific University, Claudia continued her yoga journey while working in psychiatric inpatient hospitals, offering both group and individual therapy. In 2008, she relocated to New York City, where she built a full-time private practice as a relationship and chemical dependency therapist. Although she explored many studios across the city, none matched the depth of her experience at The Ashram, and she devoted herself instead to S Factor dance, cultivating movement as another form of embodiment and expression.
Claudia has served as a lead instructor in seven highly regarded teacher trainings, mentoring many current teachers now active in respected studios. Her former roles also include teaching master’s-level psychology courses at Antioch University and instructing pole fitness at Divine Movement—both of which reflect her broad expertise in mind-body integration and her diverse experience in movement, teaching, and healing.
Today, Claudia maintains a thriving and respected Marriage and Family Therapy practice and has appeared on local television news and daytime programs to share insights on mental health and wellness. Her presence is uplifting and steady, offering students a grounded space to reconnect, realign, and leave feeling lighter, stronger, and more joyful.
Upon returning to Kirkland, Claudia immersed herself fully in yoga. She trained extensively with Gary Olson, completing the first two 200-hour teacher trainings and participating in every available advanced course—including Raja and Advanced Raja Yoga, Anatomy, Ayurveda, hands-on adjustments, posture clinics, and specialty workshops.
Over the years, Claudia has taught thousands of power yoga classes and has owned and operated three successful and well-loved yoga studios. She is a sought-after instructor known for her dynamic and heartfelt teaching. Her class offerings include a deeply restorative class, a skillfully designed arm balance and inversion class, her unique “on the wall” series, and a signature heart-opening class that many students find profoundly moving. Claudia also teaches Yoga Nidra and has practiced Transcendental Meditation for over a decade, with advanced training in the TM Siddhi program.
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