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Meet Our Teachers
Most of our teachers are Ananda Village residents and are dedicated to the path of yoga as expressed by Paramhansa Yogananda and his direct disciple Swami Kriyananda, founder of Ananda. Our teachers honor and respect all paths to God and strive to help each guest on their individual journey.
Each of our Hatha Yoga Teachers is trained in Ananda Yoga, which is registered with Yoga Alliance, the international organization which sets the standards for yoga certification. In addition to offering their own unique backgrounds and specialties, all of our teachers are also Meditation Teachers.
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Living Wisdom School Teachers
Hridaya is the co-director of Ananda's Living Wisdom School, and raised two teenage boys and a step-son as a single parent. She also teaches the girls' high school at Ananda and is a gifted writer. What she brings to her students, children, and countless friends at Ananda are the heart qualities of warmth, disarming humor, and a deep understanding of human nature.
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Hassi is the director of Ananda's Family Ministry and a teacher in the Living Wisdom preschool. She initiated and directed Ananda's Summer Camp for two years. During those first two years, the camp hosted guest children from Taiwan and India. She has raised two sons and two daughters, as a single parent after the death of her husband in 1994. Her name means “laughter,” and she brings a radiant joy and warmth to her sharing with others. Hassi's quiet inner strength, compassion and just general goodness make her a wonderful friend and teacher.
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Hatha Yoga Teacher
Barbara is a Hatha Yoga Teacher, a Registered Physical Therapist and a
former gymnast. She brings all of her training together in her yoga teaching
and helps people enjoy using their bodies in the healthiest way possible.
Known for her playful, approachable style, Barbara finds the greatest joy
in making yoga accessible to everyone. Barbara created a video, Yoga for Menopause, and is working on a book of the same title. A woman of many talents, Barbara also serves as a photographer and graphic designer for The Expanding Light.
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Minister, Counselor, and Raja Yoga Teacher
Anandi is a Minister, Counselor, and Raja Yoga Teacher, as
well as a founding member of Ananda. She is a wonderful teacher and a
loving and insightful counselor who has been sharing the teachings of
meditation for the last 30 years. An Ananda minister since 1980, Anandi has directed and taught in many of Ananda’s guest and outreach programs, including the Palo Alto Ananda Community, Ananda’s membership training program, and The Expanding Light. Anandi, which means “bliss” in Sanskrit, always has a smile on her face and is a true embodiment of her name.
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Minister, Counselor, and Guest Teacher
Bharat Joseph Cornell has helped people experience inner peace through his meditation and nature awareness work for thirty years. His "Sharing Nature" books have "sparked a worldwide revolution in nature education." Bharat created the Ananda Meditation Support website and the 5-minute video about meditation, called "The Gift of Inner Peace." He will share his meditation-oriented nature activities as part of Meditation for Successful Lilving and the Meditation Teacher Training.
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Hatha Yoga Teacher
A popular guest teacher at Ananda, Nicole is a highly trained Hatha Yoga Teacher and Therapist who has worked in the field of chiropractic physiotherapy and sports medicine research. She specializes in how best to work with the body in compromised or challenging situations such as pregnancy or recovering from injury. Her teaching approach comes partly from her own experience with pregnancy and her own healing from numerous surgeries and injuries. An accomplished writer and speaker, Nicole has written a sports and exercise column for the Marina Union in San Francisco and coauthored an article for The American Journal of Sports Medicine.
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Hatha Yoga Teacher
Brook Dunwoody, though the youngest member of our teaching staff, is among
our finest instructors. She is a Registered Level II Yoga Teacher and one
of the primary teachers in Ananda’s Yoga Teacher Training program. Brook grew up at Ananda Village and then worked and traveled around the world before coming back to The Expanding Light to teach. She is a gifted and accomplished yoga teacher who many describe as “wise beyond her years.” Brook is adored by everyone for her lovely, supportive energy and delightful sense of fun.
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Cellist, Choir Director
David Eby made his public debut as a cellist with the Pittsburgh Symphony at age 16. He studied at the Eastman School of Music, and continued his studies at Indiana University with Janos Starker. He has performed around the world with orchestras, ensembles, and other groups. He joined Ananda in 1996, and has dedicated his musical abilities to working with Ananda's music in the form of playing, singing, teaching, and conducting.
His discography includes Mystic Harp 2, Secrets of Love, Surrender, and Relax: Meditations for Flute and Cello for Crystal Clarity Publishers.
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Kitchen Manager, Head Chef, and Hatha Yoga Teacher
Premdas is the Kitchen Manager and Head Chef at The Expanding Light
as well as a Hatha Yoga Teacher. He has enjoyed a notable 30 year career
in the hospitality industry. Premdas has been the restaurant/food and
beverage manager at several 4 and 5 star establishments, including The
Four Seasons Hotel, The Fairmont Hotel, and the Pebble Beach Corporation.
Premdas was also the Director of the California Culinary Academy's Sommelier
Academy, where he lectured publicly, gave class instruction and consulted
with restaurants and wineries throughout the United States. Of Italian
heritage, Premdas brings a joyful flair to the kitchen, particularly
on Pizza night, where he can be found singing along to Italian music!
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Ministers, Raja and Hatha Yoga Teachers
Pranaba and Parvati are two of Ananda's most widely traveled and experienced ministers. They helped to create and direct Ananda centers in Palo Alto, Portland, Seattle, Dallas, and Assisi, Italy. Pranaba has been Director of the Yoga Teacher Training program and Manager of The Expanding Light as well as Ananda's Retreat in Assisi, Italy. He now is the Director of Living Discipleship, Ananda's membership training program and also works with Ananda's outreach ministry. Parvati currently administers the Janaka Foundation at Ananda. Both Parvati and Pranaba exemplify Yogananda's definition of a yogi: “A yogi is even-minded and cheerful at all times.”
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Guest Teachers
Gitabai Heater worked as a marriage and family therapist for thirteen years before moving to Ananda Village. She enjoys working with small groups toward a goal of greater awareness. Currently she devotes her time to writing and promoting her publishing business. J.T. Heater is an architect talented in both religious and secular designs. He has designed homes and commercial projects in Northern California, as well as temples and community facilities for Ananda communities worldwide.
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Hatha & Raja Yoga Teacher, Registered Nurse & Ananda Director of HR
Suzanne is a Hatha and Raja Yoga teacher at the Expanding Light, a Registered Nurse and the Ananda Director of Human Resources. A multi-talented individual, she brings her medical knowledge to both her yoga and meditation teaching. She also teaches a number of the Anatomy and Physiology classes in the Yoga Teacher's Training Program. Suzanne is a vibrant, joyful individual bursting with energy. She makes everyone she meets feel welcome and at home here at the Expanding Light.
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Raja Yoga Teacher
Santoshi is a Raja Yoga Teacher who is a long time student of yoga
principles. She brings her personal experience and success in the world
to the classes she teaches on personal transformation, leadership, money,
life choices, career, and dealing with fear. Best known for her class Manifesting your Dharma, she is adept at teaching students how to achieve personal and material success through yogic principles.
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Minister and Director of Ananda Healing Prayer Ministry
Mary is a Minister, the Director of the Ananda Healing Prayer Ministry, and a founding member of Ananda. A gifted channel of Divine energy, Mary has healed many through the power of prayer. Though her dedication and magnetism, she has grown the prayer ministry from a core group of 35 people to its present size of over 650 members worldwide. Mary teaches classes on Energy Healing Techniques and she has coauthored a book on Yogananda’s prayer techniques called Divine Will Healing. Many people feel their own healing energy open up during her workshops when given even brief “coaching” from Mary.
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Ministers and Hatha and Raja Yoga Teachers
Long-time Ananda members, Krishnadas and Mantradevi are both Ministers
and Hatha and Raja Yoga Teachers. Working together, they assist couples
in deepening their relationship through the weekend workshop, Spiritualize Your Marriage. Krishna Das and Mantradevi radiate loving kindness and joy. With a playful and engaging spirit as well as deep understanding and wisdom, they create a weekend that helps married couples take their relationship to a new level (even if it’s a good relationship already!), and to grow spiritually.
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Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist, Hatha Yoga Teacher
Mangala has an impressive background in yoga training and teaching, Ayurvedic training and practice, and in-depth medical training and practice.
She was certified as an Ayurvedic practitioner by Dr. Vasant Lad (1999), in addition to her previous certificates as from the California College of Ayurveda and from Dr. David Frawley's Correspondence Course. She was certified as a Yoga Teacher at The Expanding Light (1997), and has taught yoga and Ayurveda in Europe, India, and America.
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In addition to her impressive list of training and qualifications, Mangala is, quite simply, an excellent teacher, who listens sensitively and shares with her students compassion and wisdom.
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Vedic Astrologer
Drupada is a highly-trained Vedic astrologer who teaches Vedic Astrology at The Expanding Light. For the past fourteen years he has brought the fruits of his 20 years of Kriya Yoga meditation practice to his profession as a Vedic Astrologer. He has spoken at conferences and offered readings and private consultations throughout the United States, Europe, India, and Australia. Drupada has made a deep study of both the philosophy and the calculations of Vedic astrology.
Drupada's approach to astrology centers on the potential he sees in each horoscope for personal growth and for overcoming the specific karmic patterns that are most actively present in this incarnation. Classes with Drupada brings clarity, hope, and insight on how best to realize one's potential.
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Hatha Yoga Teacher
Lisa is an Ananda Yoga Teacher and the leader of Restorative Yoga and Restorative Yoga Teacher Training at The Expanding Light. Lisa holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and brings to her teaching both her beautiful heart and experience as a psychotherapist. Her restorative yoga classes are a favorite at The Expanding Light and are deeply nurturing and healing. Students leave her class feeling “bathed in love” and “tucked in for the night.”
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Minister, Counselor, Hatha and Raja Yoga Teacher, and Co-Director of the Ananda Meditation Teacher Training
One of our most popular teachers for the last eight years, Diksha McCord,
is a Minister and Hatha and Raja Yoga Teacher as well as a Counselor. A
native Israeli, she came to America in 1989 via Japan, where she studied
at the Kyoto Art University for three years. A powerful and dynamic woman,
Diksha teaches many different courses at The Expanding Light, including
co-facilitating the Meditation Teacher Training program. She is an outstanding chef and very knowledgeable about the yogic diet and Ayurveda, an Indian system of natural health and healing. Diksha is the author of The Global Kitchen and Vegetarian Cooking for Starters. This coming February, Diksha and her husband Gyandev will be leading a yogic healing vacation to an five star Ayurvedic clinic in India.
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Minister, Hatha and Raja Yoga Teacher, and Director of Ananda Yoga Teacher Training
Gyandev McCord is a Minister, Hatha & Raja Yoga Teacher and the Director of the Ananda Yoga Teacher Training programs and Ananda Yoga Worldwide. Gyandev is also a founding board member of the Yoga Alliance, the non-profit organization that has developed standards for yoga teachers nationally. He has coauthored two books: Yoga Therapy for Headache Relief and Yoga Therapy for Overcoming Insomnia and has produced two videos: Yoga for Busy People and Yoga to Awaken the Chakras, with a third – Yoga Therapy for Overcoming Insomnia – now in production. One of Gyandev's great gifts is the ability to transmit to others the spiritual depth available through yoga. He brings kindness, humor, and insight to everything he does.
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Minister, Counselor, and Raja Yoga Teacher
Uma Meshorer is a Minister, Counselor and Raja Yoga Teacher who is
one of the founding members of Ananda Village. An astute counselor and
teacher, Uma offers a number of classes on Raja Yoga at the Expanding
Light including The Art of Intuitive Guidance. A student and teacher of yogic philosophy and spiritual science for 30 years, Uma has taught at Ananda communities in Seattle and Palo Alto, as well as lectured in India and throughout the United States. A native of the United Kingdom, she brings wonderful wit and charming warmth to her classes as well as obvious depth of experience.
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Living Wisdom Master Teacher, Minister
Narani was a public school teacher before she began teaching at the fledgling Ananda School nearly 30 years ago. She says:
Again and again, we hear comments from admissions officers and others who deal with our graduates, about how confident and secure they are, how at ease they are with people of all ages and walks of life.”
Narani created and now directs the preschool in Ananda Village. She teaches kindergarten and first grade. She is also a master teacher for students in our teacher training program, and has countless guests observe her classroom. She is a wife and mother with a son in the Ananda high school.
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Minister, Director of Karma Yoga, and Co-Director of Ananda’s Residency Training
Trimurti is a Minister, the Director of the Karma Yoga Program at The Expanding Light and Co-Director of Ananda’s Residency Training Program.
Trimurti is ideally suited to lead our Karma Yoga program. By nature, he is an energetic, multi-talented, and generous person who delights in serving others. His life path has taken him through military service, work as a machinist and a farmer, and now on to serving as a minister and teacher at Ananda. Beloved by the Karma Yogis, Trimurti assists people in learning how to perform “seva” (selfless service) and surrender attachment to the fruits of their work.
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Ministers and Spiritual Directors of Ananda Worldwide
Jyotish and Devi, both Ministers, are the Spiritual Directors of Ananda Worldwide. Longtime devotees of Yogananda, Jyotish and Devi have worked closely with Swami Kriyananda since the founding of Ananda. They have been personally trained by him to guide Ananda’s work worldwide and they have taught and lectured around the United States, and in Europe, Russia, and India. We are privileged, at The Expanding Light, to also have them as two of our finest teachers. They each bring to their classes over 35 years of meditation and devoted spiritual practice, as well as in-depth study of Yogananda’s teachings. In addition to offering regular Satsangs (spiritual talks), Jyotish and Devi teach two programs designed for serious spiritual aspirants: The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita and The Yoga Sutras.
Jyotish and Devi are also both authors who have published several books.
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Minister, Counselor, Raja Yoga Teacher, and Co- Director of the Ananda Meditation Teacher Training
A founding member of Ananda, Savitri is a Minister, Counselor, Raja
Yoga Teacher and the Co-Director of the Ananda Meditation Teacher Training
Program. For the past 24 years she has taught at The Expanding Light
and several of Ananda's branch communities. 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 Chakras, she teaches a course called Mystical Keys to Awakening and is the author of Chakras for Starters book and video. Savitri is among Ananda’s most popular teachers. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee (not far from where Elvis lived), she is well known for her southern charm and her delightful, down-to-earth, humorous style.
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Minister, Meditation Teacher
A founding member of Ananda, Sudarshan has always been very at home out of doors—hiking, backpacking, and exploring. He has tremendous knowledge about nature, and more importantly, a sensitive attunement and awareness for what is happening around him. He is a gifted storyteller and writer—just the person to hang out with around a campfire, swapping stories.
Sudarshan is also a great lover of meditation, has practiced it devotedly for over 30 years, and has taught hundreds of others to practice it as well. Sudarshan is married to Savitri, one of The Expanding Light's best-known teachers.
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Hatha Yoga Teacher
Sahaja is a Hatha Yoga Teacher who has been practicing yoga postures
and meditation since 1975. After seeing the powerful effect it had on
her own life, Sahaja become an Ananda Yoga Teacher in 1998. She loves sharing yoga and meditation with others because she has experienced their transformational results firsthand. Her bright, upbeat energy and the calm, dynamic joy she brings to her classes are a testament to the effectiveness of yoga. Today, Sahaja is certified to work with cardiac and cancer patients and, in addition to The Expanding Light, she teaches at Sierra Nevada Hospital’s Wellness Center, where she works with seniors, heart patients, and hospital employees.
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Minister, Raja and Hatha Yoga Teacher, and Director of Personal Retreat
One of Ananda’s best loved teachers, Jyoti is a Minister, Raja and Hatha Yoga Teacher and the Director of the Personal Retreat Program. In her role as Director of Personal Retreat, she coordinates guests’ time at The Expanding Light, assisting and advising them on how to get the most from their stay here. Before coming to Ananda, Jyoti was a success in the business world. Now, she brings that same dynamism to The Expanding Light. Full of joy and fun, Jyoti is ideally suited for her role and guests consistently share that she added greatly to their experience here.
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Director of the Music Ministry
Jeannie is a founding member of Ananda and, as the
Director of the Music Ministry,
she plans major musical events for guests and the community throughout
the year. A gifted singer, harpist, and director, she has performed with
Ananda groups around the United States and in Europe. Jeanne also has
been instructing voice and harmonium for
over 15 years. She specializes in teaching people how to infuse God’s
energy and consciousness into their music and chanting. Swami Kriyananda
has praised her sensitive spiritual understanding of and ability with
music.
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Minister, Raja Yoga Teacher, and Director of the Kriya Sangha
A long-time Ananda Minister and Raja Yoga Teacher, Dave is
the Director of the Ananda Kriya Sangha.
He teaches the Kriya Yoga programs at
The Expanding Light (Introduction, Preparation, and Initiation). Having
experienced the accelerated spiritual growth that comes from practicing
Kriya Yoga, Yogananda’s most advanced technique, Dave is now thrilled
to be able to facilitate others’ initiation into this ancient yogic
practice. Prior to joining the Kriya Sangha, Dave held a position on
Swami Kriyananda’s personal staff for seven years and recently
served as the Webmaster and creator of Ananda’s award-winning
website.
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Sanskrit Teacher
One of our guest teachers at The Expanding Light, Dhananjaya teaches Sanskrit, the spiritual language of the Hindu and Buddhist religious traditions and the most ancient language known to civilization. A disciple of Yogananda for over 30 years, Dhananjaya has been teaching Sanskrit around the world for more than 12 years. An engineer and former Silicon Valley executive, he studied with and was personally trained by Vyaas Houston, the foremost Sanskrit teacher in the United States.
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