Hailey 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.
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.
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.
Gary teaches at Living Wisdom School, specializing in the most fun, and perhaps most challenging time: middle school. He is loved and respected by his students, and has a gift for the discipline and support that kids that age crave. He was manager of the Ananda Community for many years. He has a terrific sense of humor and is a calm, unflappable fellow.
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.
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 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.
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.
