Savitri Simpson

Minister, Counselor, Raja Yoga Teacher
What is a nayaswami?

A resident of Ananda since 1975, Savitri is a Minister, Counselor, Raja Yoga Teacher, and former co-diirector of the Ananda Meditation Teacher Training program. Among Ananda's most popular teachers, Savitri has taught at The Expanding Light and several of Ananda's branch communities since she came to Ananda. Prior to becoming co-director of the Meditation Teacher Training program, Savitri was the Director of Ananda's Yoga Teacher Training program.

An expert in the chakras for the last 20 years, she has taught hundreds of classes, workshops, and seminars on understanding and awakening the chakras. Among other courses, she currently teaches Mystical Keys to Awakening and The Seven Gates to Freedom, an experiential chakras course. She also is the author of the Chakras for Starters book and video as well as a video / DVD called Yoga Postures to Awaken the Chakras.

Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee (not far from where Elvis lived), Savitri was raised in a loving, but staunchly Southern Baptist home, an unlikely beginning for a yoga and meditation teacher! A few years after college while traveling the world as a reservation agent for Eastern Airlines, Savitri began a spiritual search (which, in Texas in those years, was not an easy thing to do)! She is grateful that her search lead her to Autobiography of a Yogi and in 1975, the Ananda community. Though Savitri left Tennessee long ago, the best of it didn't leave her – she is well known for her southern charm and her delightful, down-to-earth, humorous style.

Savitri says:

“I have a passion for sharing the teachings of yoga and meditation with anyone who is drawn to them. It is a thrill beyond describing to watch people come for a stay at The Expanding Light, participate in the classes on these magnificent teachings, and then to see how are they are changed and filled with Divine Light.”

From one of her students:

Read her article: Self-Esteem Issues, Anyone?