MEET THE FACULTY

The Founders
Happy Jack and Hanna

Happy Jack Yoga is a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga School and high-vibe community of yoga teachers, practitioners, and spiritual seekers.

We’re often asked why it’s called Happy Jack Yoga.

Due to Jack’s smiling and joyful nature at birth, he was aptly named Happy Jack by his parents. However, as Happy Jack grew up, he was bullied and ultimately lost touch with this blissful nature. Years later, burdened by the stress of a corporate career, his Mom recommended he try yoga. You guessed it, he fell in love!

In 2010, inspired to share the practice of yoga with others, Happy Jack Yoga was born. Together, Happy Hanna and Happy Jack have launched HJY University; leading teacher training and transformational programs online and around the world.

The goal of yoga is to reveal our blissful true nature.

Whether you're here to deepen your yoga practice or eager to be a certified yoga teacher, we offer a rich array of immersive courses and a vibrant, supportive community.

We're thrilled you're here. 😍

Hanna von Hafenbrädl

Co-Founder and Director of Education, Happy Jack Yoga

Yoga Therapist (Online and in-person)
Integrative Yoga Psychotherapist (London, UK)
Grief Support Practitioner
Graphic Designer & Illustrator (Istituto Europeo Di Design | Milano, Italy)
E-RYT 500-Hour Yoga Alliance Certified  

Hanna is the Co-Founder and Director of Education of Happy Jack Yoga, a leading Yoga Alliance accredited educational institute that offers yoga teacher certifications, global retreats, and spiritual mentorship for an international online community of teachers and yoga practitioners.

Hanna’s yoga journey began in 2007 when she unexpectedly lost her husband to a virus. The sudden loss turned her life upside down, and her psychotherapist recommended yoga to help her with grief. What started as a support system became a lifelong devotion to practice blending philosophy, meditation, breath, and restorative tools to help people meet life with more stability, softness, and truth.

Today, Hanna teaches and mentors through Happy Jack Yoga University, weaving restorative practice, spirituality, and modern psychoeducation into a grounded, heart-centered approach. She supports students and clients in building real-life tools for nervous system regulation, self-compassion, emotional resilience, and meaningful change—without pressure, performance, or perfection.

Hanna is an E-RYT 500 (Yoga Alliance), a certified yoga therapist and Grief Support Practitioner. She offers 1:1 yoga therapy sessions, informed by her master’s-level training in Integrative Yoga Psychotherapy in London, UK. Fluent in seven languages and shaped by both Western and Eastern teachers, Hanna’s work is guided by the belief that yoga is a homecoming: a return to what’s true, alive, and already wise within you.

In 1:1 yoga therapy, Hanna supports people who are navigating:

• Grief (life transitions, regret, life after loss, meaning-making)

• Anxiety & chronic overthinking (stress cycles, worry, inner pressure)

• Low mood & emotional heaviness (depression, numbness, lack of motivation)

• Perfectionism & self-criticism (self-worth, harsh inner voice, shame spirals)

• Over-functioning & burnout (holding it all together, caregiving fatigue, collapse after “busy”)

• Life transitions (identity shifts, separation, relocation, midlife thresholds, “what now?”)

• Nervous system regulation (grounding, sleep support, breathwork, restorative practices)

• Boundaries & embodiment (finding your yes/no, feeling safe in your body, steady self-trust)

You can book a session here.

Live virtual calls with Hanna include:

• Live Yoga (Wednesdays 10 am EST)
• HJY Podcast (Tuesdays 10 am EST)
   

• RYT-200-Hour Hero's Journey
  Meditation Teacher Training
• Yin Yoga
  
• Yoga For Mental Health
• Restorative Yoga
• Trauma-Informed Yoga
  Yoga for Everyone
  Prenatal Yoga
  Yoga Nidra
• Yoga for Grief
• Therapeutic Tools for Yoga Teachers

• Pranayama, Mantra and Mudras
• Yoga For Injuries
• Yoga As Spiritual Care
• The Divine Feminine: Yoga Goddesses

Dr. Edwin Bryant, PhD

Professor of Hinduism, Rutgers University

Edwin Bryant received his Ph.D in Indic languages and Cultures from Columbia University, where his thesis culminated in his first book: The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture (Oxford University Press, 2001). He taught Hinduism at Harvard University for three years, and is presently the professor of Hinduism at Rutgers University where he teaches courses on Hindu philosophy and religion. He has received numerous awards and fellowships, published eight books, and authored a number of articles on the earliest origins of the Vedic culture, yoga philosophy, and the Krishna tradition. These include a Penguin World Classics translation of the story of Krishna’s incarnation, from its traditional source the Śrīmad Bhāgavata Purāṇa.

As a personal practitioner of bhakti yoga for over 45 years, a number of them spent in India studying with traditional teachers, where he returns yearly, Edwin strives to combine academic scholarship and rigor with appreciation towards traditional knowledge systems. His teaching method is to allow the ancient texts to speak in their own voice and through their own terms and categories.

Edwin’s translation of and commentary on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2009) is specifically dedicated to contributing to the growing body of literature on yoga by providing insights from the major pre-modern commentaries on the text with a view to grounding the teachings in their traditional context. Edwin’s most recent published work is a sequel to this by the same publisher entitled Bhakti Yoga: Tales and Teachings from the Bhāgavata Purāṇa (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2017). This work, too, seeks to ground the practices of bhakti in the traditional Krishna-centered framework of the Vrindavan devotional traditions.

Edwin is presently working on a translation of the Bhagavad Gītā with a commentary based on the insights of the principle traditional commentators (viz, in the same vein as theYoga Sūtras commentary). The Gītā‘s teachings in many ways serve as a link between those of theYoga Sūtras and those of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa in the Bhakti Yoga volume, and upon completion will conclude Edwin’s vision of a Trilogy of Yoga texts offered to scholars, students, practitioners, and the intellectually curious.

He is also co-authoring a book entitled ‘In Defense of a God with Form,’ and working with his sister on translating his Penguin translation of the 10th book of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa into Italian (their mother language). 

• Bhakti Yoga: Tales & Teachings of the Bhagavata Purana

• Yoga Philosophy & Spirituality
• The Bhagavad Gita
• Krishna & Christ

Dr. Harsh Agarwal

Graduate Degree in Ayurveda Medicine and Surgery

B.A.M.S (Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery)  Gurukul Ayurveda College Haridwar, India - Kanpur University

Founder of Vardan Ayurved Niyalam, Rishikesh, India

Ayurvedacharya Dr. Harsh Agarwal is a well-known name of International repute and highly respected in the field of Ayurveda and Yoga Consultation and Spiritual Healing. 

Dr. Harsh comes from a family of Doctors, whose Grand Father was a very famous Ayurvedacharya during the 1970s. He carries a rich experience of over 15 years in the field of chronic disorders and their treatment through Ayurveda stream. He has been a pioneer in Rishikesh Medical fraternity and more than 20,000 patients from India and abroad.

Dr Harsh has been an active participant of multiple medico-social initiatives e.g. Social Welfare Camps, International Ayurvedic Exhibitions, Health Fairs, Seminars, Symposiums and other activities of Shanti Kunj, Clinical Research for Ayurveda wing. He has also been a calming influence and great helping hand in the face of various natural disasters by being an active member of the Disaster Management Team for catastrophes like Gujarat Earthquake and Cloud Burst in Sri Nagar.  

• Ayurveda
• Bhakti Yoga: Tales & Teachings of the Bhagavata Purana

Sarah Beth Yoga

Online Yoga Teacher
1.7M YouTube subscribers

With 14 years of experience teaching millions of yogis around the world, Sarah Beth helps students and yogis to stretch, strengthen, tone, de-stress and peel back the layers to becoming your best self through yoga. 

With a background as a chiropractic assistant, functional movement is intertwined into all of her sequences. Sarah Beth has also had an autoimmune disease called Ulcerative Colitis for most of her life—making stress and anxiety relief with mindfulness, breathing exercises & body awareness a top priority of her videos.

Sarah Beth has recently released her first book, Trauma Alchemy. 

• RYT-200-Hour Hero's Journey
• Business of Yoga
• Prenatal Yoga
• Meditation Teacher Training
• Yin Yoga

Jen Mark, RKin, BSc., CAT(C), RYT-200

Athletic Therapist

​Jen has a BSc in Kinesiology & Psychology from York University, Canada and Athletic Therapy at York University, Canada.

Jen is currently an Athletic Therapist and Wellness Coach at Everest Academy in Toronto. She has served as the Head Therapist and Director of Holistic Health with the Field Hockey Canada Junior Development Program and as the Head Therapist with the Markham Majors 2005 and 2006 teams.

Courses authored:

• Yoga For Injuries 

• RYT-200-Hour Hero's Journey