About Us
We are a 501(c)3 charitable/spiritual organization and a community of independent Yoga and meditation teachers that teach and practice Hatha Yoga and classical eight-limbed Aṣṭāṅga Yoga from a variety of traditions. Our founders and senior teachers, Larrv Terkel & Matt Lerner, have been training students & teachers of Yoga and meditation since the 1970s.
The Spiritual Life Society
Board, Officers, and Directors
-
Larry Terkel
PRESIDENT & FOUNDER
BOARD MEMBER
BIO -
Matt Lerner
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT & CO-FOUNDER
BOARD MEMBER
BIO -
Barret Bills
VICE PRESIDENT & BOARD MEMBER
-
Jodi Fill
BOARD MEMBER
BIO -
Kevin Karas
BOARD MEMBER
BIO -
Zach Freidhof
BOARDMEMBERBIO
BIO -
Suzanne Larsen
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
BIO -
Alex Pfeiffer
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
BIO
Larry Terkel
Larry Terkel is one of America’s most experienced yoga and meditation teachers, having taught nearly 45 years now. In 1978, he founded the Spiritual Life Society and Yoga Center, one of the oldest New Age centers in the Midwest. He is an adjunct professor of Philosophy and Comparative Religion at Kent State University, and a licensed minister, who has performed over 2500 weddings.
Larry is the author of Small Change; It’s the Little Things in Life that Make a BIG Difference (Tarcher, Penguin). Small Change was endorsed by numerous self-help authors, including Dr. Stephen Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People), Jack Canfield (Chicken Soup for the Soul), and Barbara De Angeles (What Women Want Men to Know). USA Today referred to Small Change as “how to reach the summit of life’s success.” Small Change was a finalist for a National Books for a Better Life Award, and has been published in Japan, Italy, France, and Korea.
Larry also wrote How to Meditate: Secrets to the Easiest and Most Effective Meditation Technique, which describes his unique approach to meditation. His yoga and meditation videos on YouTube have had over 100,000 views.
Larry earned his B.S. and M.B.A. from Cornell University, then his M.A. in Philosophy and Comparative Religion from Kent State University. He has had an extensive career as a business executive, including president of several manufacturing companies and CEO of a public company. He is a professional member of the National Speakers Association, and continues to lecture and teach on college campuses, at the prestigious Chautauqua Institution in New York, and elsewhere.
Larry has studied with many different masters and teachers including Swami Satchitananda, B.K.S Iyengar, and Swami Vishnudevanda. Larry has a Masters degrees in Theology from Kent State University and in Business from Cornell University, and is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with the Yoga Alliance at the 500 hour level.
Larry teaches Wednesday night drop-in Hatha Yoga class and leads the Sunday morning Yoga Teacher Training with Matt Lerner. Email Larry at larry@aum.org
Matt Lerner
Matt is one of Ohio's most experienced teachers of Yoga and Meditation. He has been teaching Yoga and meditation since 1976 and has been certified since 1984. He loves teaching traditional Yoga mediation, Yoga Nidra, as well as traditional asana classes. He equally enjoys introducing new students to the magic and joy of Yoga, training aspiring teachers at his center's Yoga/Meditation Teacher Training program, and providing continuing education to experienced teachers and serious students.
Matt is an E-RYT-500 and is the Chairman of the Spiritual Life Society, (a 501c3 religious/spiritual organization), the parent organization of the Main Street Yoga Centers in Hudson, Ohio (www.AUM.org), Madison, Wisconsin, (www.MainStreetYogaCenter.org), and Stoughton, Wisconsin (www.MainStreetYogaStoughton.org). He is also currently serving as Chairman of Elevate Yoga, the organization that host the Elevate Akron Yoga Festival, one of Ohio's leading Yoga festivals (www.ElevateYoga.org), as well as the sponsor of many other local Yoga/meditation programs.
Matt grew up in Hudson, Ohio, and is a 1974 graduate of Hudson High School. During his freshman year at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, a friend gave him the book Be Here Now by Ram Dass. He was intrigued and began practicing Yoga and meditation on his own, following the simple instructions in the book. Matt took his first formal Yoga and meditation classes when he returned to college in the fall of 1975. He began teaching Hatha Yoga the following year. While studying Psychology at UW in 1980, at the direction of Swami Rama, Matt began teaching meditation and related practices, and served as the President of the Yoga Meditation Society of Madison, an affiliated center of the Himalayan Institute. Matt led the Himalayan Institute's Yoga Teacher training program in Madison until the end of 1981 when he graduated and moved back to Ohio. He then began teaching students and training Yoga/Meditation teachers, along with Larry Terkel, who had founded the Spiritual Life Society a few years earlier. The principals that Matt had learned with the Himalayan Institute became the foundation for the formal Yoga teacher training program at the the Spiritual Life Society, and developed as both he and Larry deepened their practice and understanding of Yoga.
Matt has a BS Psychology and an Masters in Business from the University of Wisconsin, and is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with the Yoga Alliance. Read his full bio on the Yoga Alliance website. Email Matt at matt@aum.org
Barret Bills
Bio coming soon…
Jodi Fill
Bio coming soon…
Kevin James Karas, MA, E-RYT 500
Kevin is an international yoga professional on a mission to develop greater awareness, connection and wellbeing in the hearts of all through sharing Yoga. He specializes in yoga nonprofit leadership as Board Governance Manager for Yoga Alliance as well as the volunteer CEO and President of Elevate Akron, and board member of Spiritual Life Society / Main Street Yoga Centers. He facilitates Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) Programs as the lead trainer at The Shaw JCC of Akron and Yoga Squared Akron. He’s consulted with several yoga studios to successfully develop/improve their YTT programs. His multi-lineage approach is inspired from 15 years of study in Sivananda, Integral, Sampoorna, Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Mindfulness traditions as well as modern styles.
His award winning 4-year graduate thesis explored the presence, communication techniques, pedagogy and contemplative practices of master yoga/meditation teachers and deeply influences his teaching methods today. In his free time, he loves going to yoga festivals and retreats to connect with like-minded people and has partnered with many talented musicians to provide yoga with live music experiences such as Guided Sound Journey and Elevate Akron Online. If you are interested in connecting, please reach out at kevinjameskaras@gmail.com or at 330-592-0530.
Zach Friedhof
Zach Friedhof is a Troubadour of Peace from Akron Ohio. His music is an uplifting blend of folk & soul immersed in love.
25 years ago after a nearly fatal appendix rupture, Zach began writing and performing music in Northeast Ohio, releasing his first CD and making his way onto stages across the country, sometimes with the likes of Neil Young, Richard Thompson, Gin Blossoms, Bo Diddley, Trevor Hall, Steve Poltz, and Brett Dennon. Since then he has performed across North America in diverse venues from living rooms and yoga classes to clubs to theatres, to festivals. Recently he was awarded the John T Looney Justice and Peace Award. Other accolades include Humanitarian of the Year, Local Band of the Year, Best Singer/Songwriter, and the he was invited to perform in Toronto in 2018 at the Parliament of World's Religions.
In addition, Zach has released four Kirtan records (Jai Ma Vol 1-4), which he leads weekly in person and through Facebook Live. He is a yogi, leads meditation and is a co-director of the Yoga Summit of Ohio. He also co-created and is the Executive Director of the Big Love Network, which seeks community uplift and engagement though neighbor-led neighborhood initiatives involving arts, skills, and gatherings. As a photographer, his first book of meditations and photography, Tiny Meditations, was released 2016, and has since released 3 more books of photography and meditations / poetry.
Performances with his high energy band Zach & the Bright Lights (Neil Keating, Charlie Trenta, Michael Marotta and Drew Thornberry) get the body and soul moving! Visit his music website https://zachmusic.net
Suzanne Larsen
Suzanne Larsen earned her original certification in 2002 from At One Yoga in AZ. The robust program was built around alignment/Anusara yoga and featured a faculty of guest teachers traveling on the international circuit and sharing their specialties. It was an amazing introduction to an endlessly fascinating discipline. Since then Suzanne has completed many training sessions and taught thousands of hours of yoga in a variety of styles, earning the Yoga Alliance’s Experienced Yoga Teacher (E-RYT) credential, as well as becoming qualified to train teachers.
Suzanne completed her 500-hour certification through International SomaYoga Institute Yoga North (Duluth, MN) in 2022, and was so enthralled by the transformative therapeutic modality of SomaYoga that she decided to continue her training in the 1000-hour Yoga Therapy program offered by Yoga North and accredited by the International Association of Yoga Therapists (C-IAYT). She will complete this master’s level program in summer of 2024.
In April 2023, Suzanne teamed up with the Spiritual Life Society / Main Street Yoga Centers, and opened Main Street Yoga - Stoughton in Stoughton, Wisconsin (www.MainStreetYogaStoughton.org), a non-profit community yoga space. She holds the mission to offer a safe and welcoming practice space to ease suffering and support Self-realization. The newly renovated building on Main Street in Stoughton is ADA-compliant and an accessible place to study and practice Yoga and meditation.
Alex Pfeiffer
Alex left a career in Engineering to dedicate his life to the modalities that healed his back pain: yoga & bodywork. Alex is best known for his ability to make sense out of elusive experiences, whether they be biomechanics, alignment, creative consciousness, yoga history, traditional yoga methods, or their interaction with 21st Century realities. In the words of his students, he sets an ideal space for inner growth and insight to thrive.
Having taught many styles of yoga, dance, and other embodiment disciplines over the years, Alex started the 21st Century Yoga on the Mat Yoga Teacher Training in 2010 in an effort to create a more universal system of yoga that could make sense of and help link multiple modalities of yoga and other movement disciplines.
After leaving his career in 2004 to explore yoga, Alex spent years traveling to find the best teachers to learn from in yoga, dance, and bodywork. With the heart of a philosopher, the soul of a mystic, and the mind of an engineer, Alex was dedicated to an Integral approach that could find the depth of and connect all these modalities. This led Alex to create the training that he wishes had existed when he started exploring embodiment practices.
In Summer 2022, Alex teamed up with the Spiritual Life Society / Main Street Yoga Centers, and opened Main Street Yoga Center in Madison, WI (www.MainStreetYogaCenter.org) a non-profit community yoga space. He offers teacher training, as well as a full schedule of Traditional Hatha and Vinyasa Yoga classes, along with music- and dance-influenced classes, chanting, and more.
