Yoga and More

In 1973, while a student in law school, I also became a student in a yoga class.  After starting my law practice as a courtroom lawyer, I continued to use Yoga stretching and Yoga breathing techniques for relaxation.  Not only did this Yoga feel good, the Yoga made me more alert, more aware, more strategic in my thinking.

In my mid 40s, during a test in a hospital, a staph infection found its way into my lung cavity.  I was hospitalized with collapsed lungs two weeks later.  I used Yoga breathing to take in the air I needed to survive.  Later, during the hospital stay, while my chest was hooked up to three drainage suction tubes, such that I was restricted to about 9 square feet of space, and very much weakened, I remembered yoga poses I learned about 1973.  At first, I did them mentally, and then physically, to regain my strength.  Upon discharge from the hospital, I relied heavily on Yoga breathing to resume marathon running.  I ran an additional 8 marathons after I was permitted to resume normal activities, for a total of 14 marathons.

At the age of 50, with a new baby, I decided that fatherhood required more of my presence in my home, instead of being outside, training for marathons.  So Yoga became my primary exercise activity.  About 2005, I tried a Kundalini Yoga class.  I immediately enjoyed the experience of Yoga exercises that rarely required getting into an awkward position, but allowed me to attain strength and endurance never experienced before.  If there was an occasional awkward pose, perfection of it was never required.  This form of Yoga included a Meditation in every class.  Learning about Yoga meditation gave me insight why I so enjoyed training for and running marathons.

About 2007, I met Shakta Khalsa at a workshop, and attended another of her workshops in 2008, where I learned about her training to teach yoga to children.  Teaching Yoga to children fit in with having an 7 year old who liked to mimic me while I practiced Yoga at home, and having a 3 year old crawling under and around me at the same time.

As of 2008, I established a daily yoga practice.  After my initial teacher training in 2010 I taught Yoga at the former Cedars Community Hospice, in Monroeville, Pennsylvania, to employees, patients and their family members.

In 2014, I developed a smoking cessation program using Yoga breathing, finger and hand mudra, and hand massage.  My smoking cessation program is designed to be integrated with a research study.

I am registered with the Kundalini Research Institute’s International Kundalini Yoga Teacher’s Association (IKYTA) under my Yoga name: Satyajeet Singh, as a Level 2 teacher.

1993 through 2000:  I trained for and ran 14 Marathons.  I qualified for, and ran, the Boston Marathon.

1975 to present:  Self employed as a sole practitioner lawyer, licensed in Pennsylvania as John M. Silvestri.  Employment included working as a judicial law clerk in the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County from 1975 to 1977 and working in the Legal Department of the Allegheny County Board of Property Assessment and Review from 1978 to 1998.

Am licensed as a Real Estate Broker in Pennsylvania and Florida.

Am a distributor of Kangen Water machines.