Rina Deshpande

Rina is an educator, author, researcher, and artist. After teaching in NYC public schools, she was a founding Assistant Professor of Practice with Relay Graduate School of Education in 2010 and is currently a lead advisor to various organizations on hybrid learning design. Raised with yoga as an Indian American, Rina completed her ERYT-500 yoga certification at ISHTA Yoga and earned a masters in neuroscience and education at Harvard, designing yoga and mindfulness research curriculum. 

She currently writes and illustrates for YogaWorld Germany and Yoga Journal magazine on the Indian culture and science of Yoga. Her writing is also published in Self Magazine, The Huffington Post, Headspace, Talkspace, Sonima.com, and Learning & the Brain and is a co-author on “Yoga participation associated with changes in dietary patterns and stress: A pilot study in stressed adults with poor diet” (Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 2021).

Rina is the author and illustrator of Yoga Nidra Lullaby (North Atlantic Books, 2022), a children’s picture book to prepare for restful sleep. Follow Rina at @rinathepoet on Instagram.