Anaya has guided Ananda Palo Alto's vocal program (choir, ensembles, soloists) for many years. She has been singing Swamiji's music for over 40 years and performed with the touring Ananda Joy Singers in Italy in 2002-04.

She helped create the Ananda Songbook with Ken Salisbury and Chris Thorman, and is co-author of At the Feet of a Saint: Lessons, Stories, and Experiences with Swami Kriyananda.

She and her husband David have been providing training to companies and government agencies in meditation and resilience since 1996.

Anaya has been marketing and writing for Ananda since 1983, including this website. Clear communication and beautiful expression give her great joy.

Aryavan is Director of Living Wisdom School (pre K-8) in Palo Alto. He and his wife, Ishani, come here from India where they shared EFL principles with the schools there. What became known as the EFL Inspired Schools program was based in two KG-12 schools in Gurugram, where over one hundred teachers are now practicing EFL’s child-centered approach with over two thousand students.

Premi serves full time at Ananda Valley Farm, growing and sharing produce, making herbal products, and helping to facilitate community participation events at the farm (You can learn more by visiting www.anandavalleyfarm.net). She is a gifted yoga teacher with over a decade of experience guiding yoga and meditation classes in various settings.

Pooja Bhakta (Copley) is long time devotee and Kriya yogi, and a certified teacher of Yoga and meditation. She grew up in Kolkata, India and later moved to the United stated to pursue a career in hi-tech. She lived and served at the Ananda Center of Laurelwood, Gaston, Oregon from 2011 to 2018. Before moving to the Ananda community here, she lived at the Ananda community in Portland. She is warm and personable, and always willing to help and serve in numerous ways both at the Ananda temple and the community.

Jitendra is Director of Online with Ananda, serving students with in-depth spiritual training from every part of the globe. He also travels widely for this purpose, and we are fortunate to be close enough to host him a few times a year. He has a special love for devotional chanting as a way to bypass the mind, and deeply touch our hearts.

Nayaswami Shanti is a lifelong devotee and is now a co spiritual director here at Ananda Palo Alto. She teaches, counsels and still maintains a practice of medicine through her coaching practice of “Transformational Medicine.” Her talks are rich with stories from her life as a physician and her many years on the path. With her warmth and wisdom, she is a much-loved counselor and teacher. Shanti’s talks online.

Saiganesh is an Ananda minister and one of the co-managers of Ananda Palo Alto. He is a deeply thoughtful, clear speaker, and connects easily with people. He has a passion for sharing the teachings of Kriya yoga and meditation. A world citizen, he grew up in a traditional Hindu family in India and was trained as an Indian Classical musician. He is a former tech manager in the silicon valley, and applies his tech acumen to many Ananda projects.

Lakshmi is an Ananda minister and one of the co-managers of Ananda Palo Alto. She also serves as an English teacher and a mediator at a local high school, dedicated to merging mindfulness and academics in a professional setting. She is a thoughtful and delightfully engaging teacher at Ananda, as well. Lakshmi serves Ananda Palo Alto in many ways, with a rare gift for organizing major projects with ease.

Asha’s talks and online classes are a spiritual lifeline for thousands over the past 45 years. She has a gift for deep spiritual clarity, and the ability to offer it in a way that reaches the mind and the heart. She is author of Swami Kriyananda: Lightbearer: The Life and Legacy of a Disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, Ask Asha, and other books, and has appeared in the film Finding Happiness. Asha’s YouTube Channel  • All of Asha’s talks (audio and video) 

Kshama is a long-time teacher in Living Wisdom School, and herself a former student. This deep immersion in the experience and ideals gives her a unique sensitivity to the needs of students. She is a gifted mentor/coach to young people. She is also a skilled yoga and meditation instructor, athlete, singer, and actor.

Keshava is a teacher at the Living Wisdom High school in Palo Alto. He is a lifelong performing artist—cellist, vocal soloist and actor. Unusually, he is also a lifelong student of Yogananda’s teachings, immersed since birth at Ananda Village. Keshava also has a deep love of astrology and has studied with Vedic astrologer, Drupada MacDonald. As a teacher, astrologer, and musician, Keshava aims to share the transformative vibration of wisdom and joy in everything he does.

Vivekadevi is a gifted teacher and counselor. Her warm and engaging style allows students to relax and dive deeply into the essence of her topic, whatever it may be. She teaches weekly classes on yoga, meditation and the spiritual life and offers private sessions for individual support.

RYT 500, Certified Ananda Yoga Teacher, Certified Meditation Teacher

Dr. Connie is co- founder and director of Pacific Naturopathic in Mountain View, and Pacific Naturopathic Retreat Center in Hawaii. She is a gifted teacher: clear, thoughtful, and warm. In her busy medical practice, she has worked with many chronic and acute concerns. She believes that Yogananda’s healing principles offer keys to the deepest healing of body, mind, and soul.

Amara is co-manager of the Ananda Community, home to some 60 Ananda members. She serves also on staff at Ananda's East West Bookstore in Mountain View. She teaches classes in healing and yoga, and is a warm, welcoming friend to newcomers.

Eric, a retired high tech executive, has been a member of Ananda for over 17 years. He served at the Living Wisdom School as Development Officer. Recently, he doffed his farm hat and is managing Ananda Valley Farm. Eric is a man of many unusual talents. Inspired by his personal practice, he guides a weekly Devotional Walk at Ananda Community Thursdays at 7 pm.

Anandaprem serves as an administrator for the Sangha, and is often the warm voice on the other end of the phone when you call for any reason. She is a counselor, a friend, and a support for all. She spent 30 years in high-tech electronics, raising 3 children as a single mother. Her passion is creating beautiful and welcoming environments for devotional celebrations at Ananda.

James Noh-Kuhn is a former senior executive with a San Francisco based coffee company. His calm, cheery management style in a fast-paced environment is born of many years of yoga and meditation practice. He directed the yoga program at Ananda Santa Rosa in 2003. In the corporate world, he was often asked how he remained so calm. He joyfully answered by sharing Ananda's breathing and meditation practices. He brings years of management and strategic planning experience to the Sangha staff.

Chidambar is one of Ananda Palo Alto's founding members and long-time manager of the Ananda Community, home to more than 60 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. He is wise, patient, and awake.

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 20 years.  He is a dynamic teacher with breadth of knowledge and depth of insight.

Saranya LaCosse is a gifted professional educator; her life-long passion has been teaching and working with deaf children of all ages, from babies to college students. She has presented workshops on many topics in English, Spanish, and American Sign Language. She has also taught Sunday School for many years in many settings. You may know her from her rich alto voice in choir and Ananda kirtans.

Biraj’s warmth and joy are contagious. He has been practicing and teaching meditation since 1987, including at Ananda's Expanding Light retreat, on the east coast, and in India. He was a founding member of Ananda India, and also helped begin Ananda Valley Farm. His passions are singing, selfless service, and connecting meaningfully with others.

Lahari is insightful, wise, and present. She has served in many of Ananda's colonies since 1986, including Ananda Village, Sacramento, Rhode Island, and India. She and her husband, Biraj, helped to found the new Ananda community near Pune, India, and more recently, the new Ananda Valley Farm in Half Moon Bay. Lahari is a pastoral counselor and teaches many programs at Ananda.

Navashen helps others fulfill their highest potential through the Ananda teachings in a fun, positive atmosphere. Before Ananda, he was involved in operations services for baseball teams, and as Director of Operations at Facebook’s corporate fitness center. Navashen teaches meditation, and also has a gift for working with young children through nature awareness activities and guided play. He serves in many ways with kindness, a ready smile, and a deep wellspring of inner calmness.

David G  has been with Ananda since 1983. He has a gift for making complex ideas and situations easy to understand, with both clarity and humor. For over 30 years, he has provided stress and meditation training for government and the private sector (see his public work here). He has devoted his life to understanding the spiritual life and the complexities of the human mind. His greatest enthusiasm is to help others have deep insights that have been be life-changing for many.

Rose Atwell has been teaching young children in Living Wisdom School for years (she is now "famous" for her appearance in the Finding Happiness movie with the very young ones). She has many years of expertise in teaching nature awareness, yoga, and music to young people. She is a gifted actress and singer, her soprano solo voice gracing many Ananda performances.

Rita Deierlein is a lifelong professional in body mechanics and movement — as a fitness trainer, yoga instructor, and dancer. In listening to the music of Kriyananda and Yogananda, she feels a powerful, uplifting energy deep within her being. This energy inspires flowing movement, expressed in spiritual choreography for herself and others.

Sharmila Barbara Hoffman has a private practice as a Marriage and Family Therapist in Palo Alto. She helps individuals and couples change negative and destructive thinking and habits, and helps them to reduce anxiety, stress, and depression. She teaches beginning yoga, as well as offering yoga and meditation to people suffering from stress and anxiety who would like to find greater peace, balance, and joy in their lives.

Tandava is a Stanford and Google alum. He's a gifted teacher, whether the subject is meditation, music, dance, computer skills, or anything else, making concepts accessible with humor and clarity. It's hard to find a moment when Tandava isn't cheery, willing, and just on the verge of a terrific one-liner. He’s a frequent soloist and guitarist for Ananda.

David has been the foundation and steady hand guiding Ananda Palo Alto since 1987. He has long experience and patience working with a wide range of personalities (a rare skill, indeed). Under his guidance, Ananda has grown in many areas, developing the Living Wisdom School, expanding East West Bookshop, helping to birth Ananda Community in Mountain View, and most recently Ananda Valley Farm.

Yudhisthira Doug Andrews E-RYT 500, YACEP

Yudhisthira’s classes are popular, interweaving the physical practice of Hatha Yoga with the teachings of Raja Yoga. He has nearly 30 years’ experience in the teaching and practice of Ananda Yoga, including many years of working with those in recovery from substance abuse. Yudhisthira is certified with Yoga Alliance as an E-RYT 500 and with Yoga Alliance as a Continuing Education Provider (YACEP). He is an Ananda Certified Yoga Therapist with decades of experience working with clients individually and in groups. He has extensive knowledge and experience with whole food, plant-based diets, and exercise.

E-RYT 500, Certified Ananda Yoga Therapist, C-IAYT, Nutrition Coach, Life Coach

Adriana's lifelong passion for health and wellness and her extensive training help her clients to reach optimum health, calm anxiety and find joy and purpose in their lives.

She is an internationally certified Yoga Therapist and an Ananda Meditation Instructor. She is inspired to teach and lead retreats in English and Spanish so that her clients can also learn to cope with anxiety, stress and both physical and emotional pain that are often roadblocks to a happier, healthier and more fulfilling life. As a certified Nutrition Coach and Fitness professional, Adriana incorporates her love of health and exercise not only training for half marathons, but inspiring her clients to live the life of their dreams.

Bhawani is an E-RYT 200-hour certified Yoga Instructor, Ananda certified Meditation Teacher, and a long-time meditator. Inspired by yoga since the age of 18, Bhawani’s creative, playful approach makes her classes fun, as well as a relaxing and centering experience. She is passionate about helping people live in a balanced way and reach their highest potential through relaxation and dynamic energy awareness. Bhawani loves to be outdoors and connect with nature. She holds a Master’s degree from CIIS in East-West Psychology, with a specialization in Spiritual Counseling.

Vivekadevi is a gifted teacher and counselor. Her warm and engaging style allows students to relax and dive deeply into the essence of her topic, whatever it may be. She teaches weekly classes on yoga, meditation and the spiritual life and offers private sessions for individual support.

RYT 500, Certified Ananda Yoga Teacher, Certified Meditation Teacher