“Training caring, compassionate healers rooted in the spiritual core of the teachings.”

Program Overview
A word from our faculty…
Our mission as gurukula faculty is to combine the best of new paradigm medical education with the best of the ancient gurukula contemplative pedagogy. We seek to empower our students by placing in their hands the tools needed to garner and evaluate knowledge and information and by cultivating the seeds of stillness, altruism and compassionate service in their hearts. Honoring the multiple gifts brought by our students’ diversity of learning and experience, we see our students as both teachers and learners. We encourage the creation of a community of sharing and support on all levels.

Alandi School of Ayurveda is a Gurukula, or traditional Ayurveda school. As such we employ a multi-modal, experiential, whole-person learning methodology. Our program is designed to support your practical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual growth. Each of the facets of the program contributes to your holistic development as a healer.

This is an Oxford or Cambridge-style education with very small classes and close personal attention from your teacher. In an apprenticeship-type situation, you will have the opportunity to learn from a compassionate and experienced practitioner who will share her heart and wisdom with you. Our emphasis is not only the transfer of information but also the transformation of consciousness. The program is suited to dedicated students who have a high commitment to excellence, service and deep transformation.

Educational Philosophy
Alandi Ayurvedic Gurukula offers the best in traditional apprenticeship education along with case-based classroom instruction. According to our teaching philosophy, intellectual knowledge is necessary, but not the only component of becoming a healing professional. Our program provides holistic support to our students' development as healers. Through the nurturing and rich atmosphere of a gurukula, students can blossom in their personal understandings, interpersonal skills and spiritual practice, as well as in their competence in Ayurveda.

Although we are not primarily academic in focus, we do offer a substantial core curriculum. Core courses provide you with the necessary theoretical knowledge, diagnostic skills and in- depth understanding of herbology and therapeutics. Core courses also develop both general abilities, such as communication skills and deep listening as well as very specific skills such as massage and herbal preparations. Our core classes take place in an informal setting, using the time-honoured method of sitting with the teacher. You may also find yourself digging dandelion roots, experiencing a castor oil pack, or learning massage during core class.

Homework is a way to make the material your own. Much of the homework at Alandi consists of interesting projects. You could be participating in creating the Ayurvedic Herbs of the Rocky Mountains or researching an Ayurvedic herb to be planted in our garden or giving a short lecture on Ayurveda at a local school.

Course Calendar
The program will occur in two academic years, each divided into two fifteen week semesters. Students will be in school three full days a week, with a total of over 1200 instructional hours.

Regular Weekly Program
Tuesday: Half the students participate in clinic with Alakananda Ma
Wednesday: Diagnostic skills and case based studies with Ma
Thursday: Half the students participate in clinic with Alakananda Ma
Friday: Satsang with Ma and classes in various topic such as Sanskrit, Our Plant Allies, Medicine Making, Health and Environment, Clinic Roundtable etc.

Intensives
Two Week Intensive in Basic and Advanced PK Techniques with Ameya.

Course Descriptions
Business Development
This course is designed to teach the nuts and bolts of organizing, running, developing and promoting a successful healing practice.

Case Based Studies
In line with the new medical curriculum, this is a problem based, student directed approach designed to provide participants with the tools needed to garner and evaluate knowledge and information. Working with real life cases, students will research and study the features of anatomy, Ayurvedic physiology, classical pathology, Western pathophysiology, herbology, nutrition, recipes and therapeutics appropriate for the cases. Targeted lectures and tutorials help provide direction and conceptual framework for student-directed learning. Students at various levels of knowledge participate in the course together, enhancing opportunities for peer mentoring. The course is designed based on the sixteen major srotansi, with one module for each srotas.

Clinical Clerkship
Students enter their clinical clerkship (internship) from the outset of the program, gradually developing their abilities in diagnostic skills, clinical interview and diet and lifestyle counselling. Students see the patients before Ma does, taking vital signs and filling out a prakruti questionnaire. They also take the opportunity to practice their diagnostic skills. From the second semester, students begin conducting supervised diet and lifestyle counselling sessions. First year and second year students are paired in the clinical clerkship to allow for peer mentoring. Students are gradually prepared for their clinical externship, in which they will conduct the entire diagnostic interview themselves.

Clinic Extern Roundtable
Students in their final semester will begin building up their future practice by seeing their own clients at their location. During a weekly meeting, Ma and the senior students will discuss the clients seen that week and consider their treatment plans.

Compassionate Communications
This course introduces a step-by-step method of connecting with patients to provide a better experience for them. You will learn how to make your natural compassion visible to clients, how to recognize when you don’t have a high quality connection with them, how to step out of the “emotional line of fire” with a “difficult” patient, how to negotiate solutions that work for your practice as well as your client. This class will be a blend of experiential exercises as well as theoretical discussion.

Diagnostic Skills
This in depth course develops skills in pulse assessment and ashtavidha pariksha, the eightfold examination. Each class is preceded by a meditation class designed to cultivate the mindfulness and compassion necessary for pulse diagnosis and is followed by practice time. During practice time students will have ample opportunity to develop their pulse reading skills with Ma’s supervision.

Environment and Health
This class will introduce students to critical thinking, problem solving and systems theory and will develop their ability to assess the health impacts of occupational and environmental challenges. Special attention will be given to the environmental hazards affecting each srotas.

Lifestyle Counselling Skills
Introduces students to methods for getting care plan compliance from different doshic types, how to change habits, how to package information and create handouts and how to conduct a lifestyle counselling session.

Medicine Making
This practical class is rooted in the Sharngadhara Samhita. Students will learn how to prepare and use herbs within the traditional pancha vidha kashaya–the five methods of processing herbs—including swarasa (fresh juices), kwatha ( decoctions), ushna kashaya (hot infusions), hima kashaya ( cold infusions), kalka ( pastes/pulps), as well as churna (powders), avaleha (confections), medicated and ghee and oils, and herbal wine. They will also learn some traditional preparations—Gandharva Haritaki, Shatavari Kalpa and Ashwagandha Rasayana.
After taking this course, students will gain in depth experience by working in our educational pharmacy.

Meditation
This course introduces specific practices designed to enhance pulse reading skills and teaches the Four Foundations of Mindfulness and the art of self-enquiry. Second year students then develop compassion through the Four Immeasurables and the bodhisattva teachings.
.
Our Plant Allies
We will first learn some fundamentals of plant morphology and physiology, which will complement our studies of the ecology of plants. Ecology, the study of the homes and relationships of living organisms and their environments, will include principles of landscape structure and function. This will complement our direct experiences, field trips and understandings of wildland plants and their human uses.

Pancha Karma Treatments, Basic and Advanced
This two week course is focused on diving deep into specialized techniques traditionally used in the purification process of pancha karma. First we will learn the fundamental treatments used in a pancha karma program, including: Snehan/abyangha (oil massage), swedan (full body steam therapy), nasya (nasal treatment), shirodhara (pouring oil/milk/yoghurt to third eye region) and Netra Basti. After these treatments have been absorbed we will move on to learn more specialized treatments not commonly taught in the West such as nadi swedana(localized steam), patra/churna/shastika shali pinda swedana (hot bolus massage), sarvangadhara (warm oil bath), kadhi/griva basti (lower back/neck treatment and udvartana (dry powder massage).Through gaining knowledge of these treatments, one will be able offer the patient a complete pancha karma experience. This course is followed by a 150 hour onsite supervised internship in administering pancha karma therapies.

Portfolio
Students will maintain a portfolio of their studies, including an integrative essay written at the end of each semester. Portfolios will be reviewed periodically by faculty.

Satsang
Satsang with Ma is a unique opportunity to sit at the feet of a spiritual teacher and delve into the philosophy of the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, as well as to learn Ayurvedic ethics through the yamas, niyamas and paramitas.

Sanskrit and Ayurveda
Sacred Sound for Healing (first year)
Sacred Sutras for Healing (second year)
This course will provide students of Ayurveda with a comprehensive foundation in the fundamentals of the Sanskrit language as it best applies to the art of healing. We will explore all the dimensions of Sanskrit as sacred sound as developed in the Vedic, Yoga, Tantra and Bhakti traditions of ancient India. In addition, students will gain practical skills in the following areas: 1.) expertise in pronouncing, reading, and chanting the most important Sanskrit healing chants; 2.) skill in comprehending the essential meaning in key Ayurvedic Sanskrit texts; 3.) and integration of the various healing technologies of Sanskrit within their own healing practice.

Scientific Writing
Students will learn how to write and present clinical research, review articles and monographs, with a special focus on writing up the findings of their summer community project.

Summer Studies
Community involvement, research and service learning are essential components of the success of case based, integrative learning. During the summer, students will work together as a group to carry out a six-week project to introduce Ayurvedic preventative care to a selected community. (e.g. Whole foods workers, Naropa students, lupus Foundation, Celiac Association, Boulder County AIDS project etc.) The student group will self-determine the timing and nature of the project.

About Boulder
Boulder is located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, just 35 miles northwest of Denver. Home of the University of Colorado's main campus as well as Naropa University, Boulder sits 5,430 feet above sea level and is surrounded by a greenbelt of city trails and open spaces. Boulder is known for its natural beauty, outdoor recreation, natural product retailers and restaurants, outstanding alternative transportation options, diverse businesses, and technological and academic resources. Boulder is a Mecca for practitioners of yoga, kirtan and Buddhism as well as for peace and environmental activists.

Admissions and Tuition
Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula accepts a limited number of qualified Ayurveda or Yoga graduates into its program. Applications must be received by February 15 for admission in August. Please note that in addition to their Ayurvedic certification, students are required to complete a college-level class of Western Anatomy & Physiology prior to joining Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula.

Tuition for the two year program will be $5,500 per annum. A non-refundable deposit of $500 is payable on acceptance with additional payments of $2,500 due eight days before the start of each semester. (Non refundable after this date). There will be a 5% discount for payment in full upon acceptance.

To order an Application Packet, or receive additional information, please call 303-786-7437 or email info@alandiashram.org.

Our Faculty

Alakananda Ma, MB, BS
Alakananda Ma has practiced Ayurveda and Flower Essence Therapy since 1988 in Boulder, Colorado. Her extensive medical background and training at one of the world’s best medical schools combined with years of study of Ayurveda in India and the US serve to make her an outstanding Ayurvedic Practitioner and Ayurvedic Pulse Reader. She is also the first physician since Dr. Edward Bach to research and make her own flower essences out of Rocky Mountain wild flowers. One of the first Western physicians to practice Ayurveda in the US, her unique, unadorned style provides a simple, powerful healing environment for her clients. (Resume)

Jane Bunin, PhD, Ayurvedic Educator
Jane earned a BA in genetics and MA in biochemistry before she turned to more holistic scientific interests and a PhD in plant ecology. She is a graduate of Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula as an Ayurvedic Educator, is involved in Andean Shamanism, and teaches in Environmental Studies and Wilderness Therapy at Naropa University. She is a former faculty member of the Rocky Mountain Center for Botanical studies, where she taught ethnobotany.

Donna MountainSun Diamond, Clinical Herbalist, Ayurvedic Practitioner
A graduate of Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula as Ayurvedic Practitioner, May, 2002, Donna has been personally trained by Alakananda Ma for many years. She is a graduate and former faculty member of the Rocky Mountain Institute for Botanical Studies, where she also ran the pharmacy. Donna holds a degree in early childhood education from Naropa University. She is also trained in Ayurvedic post partum care.

Ameya Duprey, NCMT, CPKT
Ameya has been working with Ayurveda for the last six years. Her love for Ayurveda blossomed when she met her teacher Alakananda Ma in Boulder in the year 2000, while attending Naropa University. The following year she moved into Alandi Ashram and dove deep into studying ayurveda and spiritual evolution. She graduated from Alandi School of Ayurveda in 2004 as a Pancha Karma therapist and has had her own practice since then, focusing on working with Alakananda Ma’s patients. She has gained knowledge in specialized PK techniques by studying in India as well as with Dr Lad and other teachers from the Ayurvedic Institute. She is a Nationally Certified Massage Therapist. She is dedicated to uphold the name of Ayurveda in the West and to preserve the practice of traditional Ayurveda.

Kanya Likanasudh, M Div.
Teaches Compassionate Communication class.
Kanya completed Master of Divinity at Naropa University, the North American Nonviolent Communication Leadership Program from BayNVC, and a body-centred psychotherapy training program from the Hakomi Institute. Her approach to communications training weaves an integral spiritual perspective with a deep understanding of the role of the body, mind and emotion. She teaches Compassionate Communication and Coaching for Personal and Social Transformation at Binghamton University, New York. Kanya offers communication training locally, nationally and internationally. She has been an invited trainer at retreats ranging from day long to week long. Along with a private psychotherapy practice for individuals, couples and families, she offers coaching, mediation, and consultation to groups, communities and organizations.

Katyayani Poole, Ph.D.
Sanskrit Chanting and Healing Technologies
Katyayani earned her doctorate in Religious Studies and M.A. degree in Sanskrit from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2001. In addition to her academic studies of the Vedic, Yoga, Tantra, and Bhakti traditions, she lived in India for five years apprenticing with masters of Yoga and Sanskrit, as well as enjoying the transformative company of India’s most cherished saints. Most recently, Katyayani created Shruti Institute for Vedic Arts (with her husband, Jeff Poole) in order to make the deeper knowledge of the Vedas available to Yoga and Ayurveda teachers and practitioners, especially the profound technologies of the Sanskrit language. She is the author of a breakthrough Sanskrit training program, Sanskrit for Yogis (designed according to Indian traditional methods of teaching the language of sacred sound) and is a practicing Jyotishi (Vedic astrologer).

Comments From Gurukula Students
“Alakananda Ma is a teacher of great knowledge, a storehouse of wisdom and, most importantly, a woman of great heart. She freely shares these gifts with all those who seek them. I recommend her without hesitation.”
Terra Rafael
Registered Midwife and Ayurvedic Practitioner, Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula graduate

“Alakananda Ma is a unique and profound teacher. Her humble and motherly manner reveals little of the depth, breadth and authenticity that she brings to the world in her teaching, healing and social activism. I have been blessed to be her student and patient, and to witness her lovingly guiding the transformation of other’s lives.”
Jane Bunin, PhD
Adjunct Professor, Naropa University, Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula Graduate

“Alakananda Ma has the gift of a great intellect with the rare and additional skill of making the teachings of western science and comparative esoteric disciplines accessible to lay persons of all backgrounds. She is a master comparative philosopher and pragmatist as well as being a true wise woman of the highest caliber. Beyond her refined intellect is the palpable presence of a master teacher and humble practitioner offering love, guidance, and compassion to the pilgrims of many paths. Her lifelong commitment to the service and liberation of all beings testifies to the universal benefit of being in her presence.”
Beth Sanchez
Yoga Teacher, Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula Student

“Alakananda Ma has opened the well of wisdom from deep within my heart….any person fortunate enough to study with her will receive a wealth that cannot be measured. ”
Ameya Duprey
Massage therapist, Alandi Ayurveda Gurukula Graduate

Ayurvedic Specific Condition Reviews
by Alakananda Devi (Alakananda Ma), M.B., B.S. (Lond.)

Affective Mood Disorder
Alzheimer's Disease
Attention Deficit Disorder
Breast Cancer
Prostate Cancer
Tinnitus
Sinus Infections
Chronic Fatigue: A Case Study
Caffeine and Your Ayurveda Practice
The White Powder: Ayurvedic Strategies for Sugar Addiction
Working with Alcoholics
Working with Smokers
Working with Marijuana Smokers
Managing Depression in the Situation of Brahmi Allergy: A Case History