Our expert team

Founder of ParParu Academy

Meditation teacher

Since 2003, she has developed and led programmes in meditation, yoga, relaxation and stress management. Since 2021, she has organised and led stress prevention programmes, retreats and the educational programme “The Effects of Meditation on the Nervous System – Yoga Under the Stars” on the island of Obonjan.

Her professional journey began in New York, where she spent four years exploring different schools and styles of yoga and meditation. This intensive period of personal practice gradually gave rise to a desire for a deeper understanding of methods that connect the body, mind and a state of relaxation, and to share them with others.

In 2003, she completed the Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training Course in New York, an intensive residential training programme for yoga and meditation teachers. Meditation, Yoga Nidra and deep relaxation techniques became particular areas of interest and would later play an important part in her work with stress and self-regulation.

She continued her education within the Kundalini yoga tradition and completed KRI Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training – Level 1 in 2015. During this period, she lived and worked in Austria, where she led her own yoga and meditation groups and programmes for adults and children in Graz.

She directed her further training towards Sat Nam Rasayan, a meditative practice of deep relaxation within the Kundalini yoga tradition, and completed Sat Nam Rasayan – Level 1. Her experience of this method further focused her professional interest on the connection between meditation, deep relaxation and regulation of the stress response.

The use of sound in deep relaxation also became a particular area of her work. She continued her education through Gong Academy Prema Vama, under the guidance of Silvana Leskovar, developing her work with gongs, singing bowls and other instruments used in sound relaxation practices.

Over more than two decades, she gained experience working with individuals and groups in the United States, Austria and Croatia. In Zagreb, she led yoga, meditation and stress management programmes at various centres, and today she runs her own ParParu centre.

On the island of Obonjan, she has brought her experience into stress prevention and management programmes, meditation, yoga, deep relaxation and Gong & Sound programmes, working with individual participants, groups and participants in international corporate events.

Today, through ParParu Academy, she is developing a multidisciplinary educational model that connects meditation and self-regulation techniques with the knowledge of specialists from different fields related to stress, mental health and a healthy lifestyle.

Psychologist (prof. psih.) | specialist in biofeedback and neurofeedback

Ana Vodanović Kosić is a psychologist with many years of experience working with children and adults, and a particular professional interest in self-regulation, stress, attention, concentration and the connection between psychological and physiological processes.

She was among the first specialists in Croatia to begin using biofeedback and neurofeedback in practical work. These methods make it possible to monitor physiological and brain signals and use them to learn and develop self-regulation skills.

Throughout her professional work, Ana has combined direct experience with clients with education and professional activities. She has taken part in specialist workshops and training in biofeedback and neurofeedback, and her work also covers topics such as stress, concentration, relaxation and the development of self-regulation skills.

She is the author and co-author of professional and scientific papers on neurofeedback and biofeedback, including a paper on the use of neurofeedback in autism spectrum disorders and a chapter devoted to the use of biofeedback and neurofeedback for migraine.

At ParParu Academy, she brings a psychological and psychophysiological perspective to understanding stress, helping participants learn how to recognise the body’s reactions to stress and develop self-regulation skills.

Gong Master | sound therapist

For decades, Silvana Leskovar’s professional journey has been connected with sound, meditation and deep relaxation practices.

Throughout her professional development, she has continued to train with international teachers and pioneers of sound work, including Peter Hess, Elisabeth Dierlich, Don Conreaux, Mehtab Benton, Jonathan Goldman and John Beaulieu. She is a Gong Master of three international gong schools and a certified practitioner of Peter Hess® sound massage and the gong method according to Elisabeth Dierlich.

Alongside her education in sound, Silvana has spent years exploring various meditative and Eastern practices. Among other qualifications, she has completed KRI Level 1 and Level 2, deepening her knowledge of meditation, conscious breathing and relaxation techniques.

In Zagreb, she founded Prema Vama, which includes Gong Academy Prema Vama and Peter Hess® Academy – Adria Group.

In today’s way of life, characterised by stress, we need a break and a reset. In a state of deep relaxation, the body naturally initiates a process of self-healing. Reaching this state stimulates processes of recovery and healing.

Through her own practice and many years of work, she has developed an understanding of how sound and vibration can help people reach a state of deep relaxation. She uses gongs, singing bowls and other instruments as tools that lead towards peace and deep relaxation, and passes her knowledge and experience on to new generations of practitioners.

Hypnotherapist

Mirela Pavić’s professional journey combines many years of corporate experience with a deep, long-term commitment to personal development and the study of the human psyche. After almost two decades in the business world, personal introspection and a desire for more meaningful work led her towards therapeutic work with people and the field of hypnotherapy, in which she has been active for more than five years.

She has built her expertise through training with internationally recognised specialists and mastering leading hypnotherapy methods, including RTT (Rapid Transformational Therapy), Introspective Hypnotherapy, Past Life Therapy (TVP) and BQH (Beyond Quantum Healing). The wide range of approaches she has learned allows her to tailor each session to the specific needs and goals of the client.

In her work, she uses hypnosis as a powerful tool for accessing subconscious records – a state of deep focus in which deep emotional patterns, inner blocks and limiting beliefs formed at different stages of life are recognised and transformed. She focuses on addressing concrete life challenges such as fears, stress, lack of self-confidence, recurring behavioural patterns and difficulties in making decisions and fulfilling personal potential, as well as relationships, attracting a suitable partner, overcoming a breakup and building healthy, stable foundations for a long-term relationship and marriage.

Alongside individual therapeutic work with clients from around the world, Mirela has led numerous group workshops and seminars focused on a deeper understanding of oneself, awareness of inner resources and achieving lasting life change.

At ParParu Academy, Mirela brings the perspective of hypnotherapy and work with deep relaxation and focused attention, complementing the psychological and meditative approaches to understanding stress and self-regulation.

Meditation teacher

Cornelia Džepina-Burić, also known by her spiritual name Sat Amrit Kaur, is a KRI-certified Kundalini yoga teacher and practitioner at Level 1 and Level 2. She has practised Kundalini yoga since 2011 and has led regular programmes and taught at her studio in Zaprešić since 2014.

She began her teacher training through the international school Amrit Nam Sarovar and has continued to develop her skills with international Kundalini yoga teachers over the years. She became a professional member of the international teacher team within the KRI Teacher Academy and participates in educating new generations of yoga and meditation teachers.

A particular area of her interest is the use of Kundalini yoga and meditative techniques in programmes related to mental health, stress and self-regulation. She continued her education through programmes at the Guru Ram Das Center for Medicine & Humanology, including Foundations of Kundalini Yoga Therapy, Alchemy & Elements of Kundalini Yoga, Transforming Anxiety and Depression, Overcoming Cold Depression and programmes related to PTSD.

In 2015, she helped launch the Kundalini yoga teacher training course in Croatia, together with Silvana Leskovar and in collaboration with teacher Nirmal Singh from the Amar Das centre in Vienna. According to her official biography, the programme has trained several generations of KRI-certified instructors.

Before devoting herself fully to yoga and meditation, she completed English and German studies at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. She worked for almost ten years as a translator at the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, then as a German and English teacher from 2003 to 2019. Today, she brings this extensive teaching experience to the education of participants and future teachers.

In her work, she emphasises meditation, conscious breathing, Kundalini yoga, the development of self-regulation and practical methods that support more effective ways of coping with stress. Through ParParu Academy, she shares her many years of experience with participants who wish to deepen their own practice and those preparing to guide others safely and responsibly.