Neyla Martinez was introduced to the Siddha Yoga path as a young adult in Mexico City, during the Siddha Yoga Meditation Tour in 1997. Shortly thereafter, Neyla began offering seva as a baker in the Siddha Yoga Ashram in Mexico City. An accomplished musician, she studied tabla with Pandit Samir Chatterjee, one of India’s foremost tabla players. Neyla served for many years as a Siddha Yoga musician in Shree Muktananda Ashram, both as a staff member and as a visiting sevite. She has also offered her musical talents as a lead chanter, drum teacher, and music coordinator in the Siddha Yoga Ashrams in Mexico City and Oakland, California.

Neyla received a bachelor’s degree in visual arts from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and currently works as a visual artist. She lives in Davis, California, with her husband and their two young sons.