Faculty
The Faculty members at Alandi are chosen to help provide students with an excellent quality Ayurvedic education. The majority of our teachers hold degrees in both Ayurveda and a western medical subject such as Doctor of Medicine, Midwifery, Herbalism, Plant Ecology, etc. They also must hold to the traditional “Gurukula” style of education and be committed to encouraging and supporting the “transformation of consciousness” which Ayurveda can so readily provide.
Dr.
Alakananda Devi (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 EducatorJane 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, CPKTAmeya 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.
Renay
OshopRenay left the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center after five years of being a geneticist in order to study Ayurveda with Dr. Lad at the Ayurvedic Institute during 2000-2002. She has taught at CU, Metro State, RMIYA, and the Boulder Valley School District and now specializes in Ayurvedic Astrology. Teaches Sing the Sutras and Ayurvedic Astrology.
Sadananda
Sadananda was born and raised in a mixed Catholic and Baptist family in a Mexican
neighborhood of Denver. A series of mystical experiences during his teens
and twenties led him to study with the masters of the East who were arriving
in America during the late 1960's and early 70's. After studying at the
Naropa Institute and Insight Meditation Society, Sadananda travelled to
India to follow in the footsteps of the Buddha. For seven years he lived
the life of a traditional sadhu, meditating in temples, ashrams
and cremation grounds and he became a beloved disciple of his sadguru,
Raghudas Maharaj. Currently, Sadananda continues his advanced study of
Vipassana under Joseph Goldstein and has made several long retreats.
Sadananda has always been a musician. In the 70's, as a singer and songwriter,
he studied and performed at the Denver Folklore Center. In India he imbibed kirtan at
the feet of the true kirtan masters of Maharashtra. Today Sadananda
is a soulful kirtan leader (video
link) and inspiring meditation instructor. Teaches
Meditation.
Dr.
Bharat Vaidya, B.A.M.S., M.D.Dr. Vaidya is a skilled Ayurvedic physician who received his basic Ayurvedic medical training in Mumbai and then obtained a medical degree in the Netherlands. He comes from an Ayurvedic family who was instrumental in the establishment of modern Ayurvedic universities in India. He has practiced medicine in India, in Europe, and in the U.S., and specializes in history of Ayurveda, pharmacology, gerontology, rejuvenation, vajikarana, and other branches of Ayurveda. Teaches History, Philosophy and Sutras of Ayurveda and Ethnopharmacology.