Instructors

Nayaswami Asha (Praver) is the spiritual director of Ananda Palo Alto with her husband, David. She is one of Ananda’s principal speakers worldwide, and regularly gives Sunday satsang at Ananda in Palo Alto. She has been a student of Swami Kriyananda since 1970, and a founding member of Ananda Village. She served as Kriyananda’s personal secretary for many years. She is author of Swami Kriyananda as We Have Known Him (Crystal Clarity, Publishers, 2006), miracles and stories of an American sage, and the many lives he has helped to transform.

Nayaswami David (Praver) is the spiritual director of Ananda Palo Alto with his wife, Asha. He has guided and developed many enterprises, including an alternative high school, a restaurant, Ananda’s publishing company, and Ananda’s guest retreat (now the Expanding Light near Nevada City, CA). He has been meditating for 30 years; he specializes in teaching advanced meditation and Yogananda’s Energization Exercises. What is a nayaswami?

Dambara Begley has practiced meditation for 20 years. He is engaging and warm, with a deep sensitivity to the needs of meditation students, and a keen sense of humor. He has been one of Ananda’s principal beginning meditation teachers for many years. He is also a gifted soloist who performs regularly at Ananda events.

Nayaswami Chidambar is one of Ananda Palo Alto's founding members and long-time manager of the Ananda Community, home to more than 50 Ananda members who live together in an intentional, spiritual community. Chidambar teaches advanced meditation training. He also provides one-on-one support and mentoring for long-time meditators and those with a Kriya Yoga practice (Yogananda's most advanced meditation technique). He is wise, patient, and awake.

Shanti Rubenstone is a Stanford M.D. with a full-time medical practice who also finds time for regular meditation and teaching. Shanti teaches meditation, energy and healing, and what she calls ‘living wellness’. Brilliant and passionate, she is an energy dyanamo, and a lively and engaging teacher. She has the gift of a loving heart, one that always has room to give more to anyone in need.

Steven Manus has been applying spiritual principles in business and academia for many years, and has a Master’s degree in Urban Planning. He has been meditating for more than 15 years. He is a dynamic teacher with breadth of knowledge and depth of insight.

Santosh LaMarche, a former public advocacy attorney, has devoted his life to service in the non-profit sector. He is a lively and engaging teacher with a deep enthusiasm for helping others. When he is not teaching, he is helping to manage East West Bookshop in Mountain View, one of the largest metaphysical bookstores in the world today.

Nirmoha Gladen, prior to becoming an Ananda Minister, served as a Lutheran Pastor for 16 years, mostly in Minnesota and North Dakota. He came to the Bay area to study Transpersonal Psychology, and discovered his true home in Ananda. He has been a student of Yoganada since he was 15, when he first read the Autobiography of a Yogi. Long familiar with the variety of roles played by a minister serving a church, trained and experienced in pastoral counseling and music, he brings diverse experiences to his service on our staff.

Edwin Bonilla came to America from Guatamala at the age of 10. He was a skilled aircraft mechanic for United for many years, and a loan officer during the real estate boom. He struggled with alcohol addiction, when one night, he felt God come to him and urge him to change his life. Within a week, he discovered a meditation class at Ananda, began meditating, and soon found that his life was improving in dramatic ways. The more he practiced, the more calm and happier he felt. The addiction disappeared. He has been a devoted meditator for the past 4 years and is a certified Ananda Meditation instructor. He feels a special calling to share these teachings with the Spanish-speaking community.

Graham Waldon graduated from Stanford, worked at Google for several years, and currently manages Ananda's East West Bookstore in Mountain View. He loves to teach, whether the subject is meditation, music, dance, computer skills, or anything else, and he has a particular gift for making concepts accessible with humor and clarity.