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Pooja Bhakta

Pooja Bhakta

Pooja Bhakta 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.

Nayaswami Shanti

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 Sairaman

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.

Brahmacharini Lakshmi

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 Nayaswami

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 Kellogg

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 Betts

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.

Dr. Connie Hernandez

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.

Eric Munro

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.

Nayaswami Anandaprem

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

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.

Nayaswami Chidambar

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.

Saranya LaCosse

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.

Nayaswami Lahari

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.