Karen has been singing Swamiji's music for over 30 years. She performed with the touring Ananda Joy Singers in Italy in 2002-04, and has guided Ananda Palo Alto's vocal program (choir, ensembles, soloists) for the past 10 years.
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.
Sita Reed
Rammurti Reed
Books and serving people are Rammurti’s lifelong passion. He has served as the head of Ananda's publishing arm in India. A lifelong book lover, he and his wife, Sita, owned and managed Bookbuyers, a Bay Area used book haven, for many years. He is a teacher, counselor, and lends his considerable gifts as an actor and singer to many Ananda events.
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.
Steven Manus
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 Biraj
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.
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.
Navashen Jones
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
David G has been with Ananda for 40 years. He has a gift for making complex ideas and situations easy to understand, with both clarity and humor. For the past 27 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.
Nayaswami Ramani
Nayaswami Ramani is a Lightbearer at Sunday worship services, and a longtime meditator. She has deep experience with Yogananda's healing techniques and has served for many years with the Healing Prayer ministry. She has given years of loving service to Ananda's works in Berkeley, New Delhi, Pune (India), and most recently Torrance and LA in Southern California. She has a passion for healing, plants and sustainable farming as deep as her love for helping people.
Rose Atwell
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
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.
Nayaswami Sharmila
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 Graham
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.
Esther Corona
Esther Corona, se acreditó como profesora de yoga y meditación para compartir con los demás los beneficios que estas prácticas han tenido en su vida. Esther es madre de cuatro hijos y empresaria. Ella, a través de la práctica diaria de estas técnicas, ha visto como su vida se ha transformado en una vida con más significado y menos estrés.
Eloisa Fuentes
Eloisa Fuentes, profesora de meditación, comenzó su propria práctica de meditación durante una época de transición difícil en su vida. Eloisa es médico especializada en patología y ha comprobado de primera mano los beneficios para la salud atribuidos a la meditación. Su deseo es compartir estas enseñanzas con la comunidad latinoamericana.