Arts for Humanity

Genevieve came to America from France in 1992 to study Piano Performance at the University of Oregon. She discovered meditation at the Dharmalaya community in Eugene in 2013. Her experience of the community inspired her and led her to engage deeply in the study of yoga and the philosophy of P. R. Sarkar. She is now a trained teacher of advanced meditation practice and aspires to bring the yogic way of life to people seeking spiritual experience. Genevieve helps organize cultural programs and retreats for Ananda Seva, and she is developing activities in which art, music and literature uplift individuals and society.

Treasurer

Sara Levine ( Sharanya) serves as Treasurer. She feels grateful to have been a part of the Dharmalaya and Ananda Seva since 2009. She feels her greatest calling in life is Seva. Professionally , Sharanya serves in a leadership and training position with the Senior and Disability Services division of the Lane Council of Governments. She also serves as a Union Steward with the Service Employee International Union ( SEIU), promoting Neohumanism and front-line worker rights!

Retreat Coordinator

Kaverii Blochlinger has been teaching meditation and yoga classes since 2006. She completed her Meditation Teacher Training in 2008, and the Yoga Therapy program through Ananda Seva in 2012. She studied Ayurveda at the California College of Ayurveda, and has completed an advanced herbalism program through Sunnyside Herbs in 2020, though she has been studying herbalism since the 1990s through self-education or taking classes within the community. These practices form the basis of Sattva Yoga Therapy and meditation instruction, which she currently offers in her home studio or through video. Kaverii is also a part of the Training Department for Ananda Seva, offering classes in yogic health practices. Kaverii believes that “a regular rhythm or yogic lifestyle nourishes the sense of feeling empowered to make healthier daily choices, resulting in feeling vibrant and embodied each day.”

Communications Specialist

Sophie serves the organization as a member of the Board of Directors and as a Communications Specialist.

They first learned about Ananda Seva in 2013 through Dharmalaya’s permaculture gardens and were drawn into the community by attending a yoga retreat. As the Communications Specialist, Sophie develops and implements outreach strategies, manages social media accounts, designs graphics, and assists with web management.

Sophie previously worked as Program Manager for the arts nonprofit Sidewalk Detroit, where they learned many of the community outreach strategies they use today. Sophie feels connected to Ananda Seva’s non-dogmatic and practical approach to yoga as a means to ultimately serve one’s community. Outside of Ananda Seva, Sophie works as an independent contractor for other private clients through Taproot Communications.

Dharmaseva Head, Board Chairman

Chris is a meditation teacher who completed his Acharya training in 2003, and is referred to by the spiritual community as Acharya Chandranath. He has been an active meditator and participant within the community for more than 40 years, and considers himself to be a “full time yogi with a daytime job.” During the week, he is working on architectural projects, inspired through creative process cultivate by his daily sitting process. He truly believes that in “any line of work, meditation (especially Sahaj meditation), can enhance a person’s focus and life.”

Chris currently teaches and guides meditation classes for people who are interested in the spiritual path with Ananda Seva, and is working on creating free meditation video resources that are accessible to the public. Register for free weekly meditation classes from Chris or use the contact form below to request more information.

Training Department Director, PROUT Institute Representative

Ravi Logan is the Director of the PROUT Institute, and the Director of Transformation Education, the training and education department of Ananda Seva. He is the principal author of PROUT: A New Paradigm of Development. His new books are A New Interpretation of Revolution and Transition to a New Era. He is also the co-founder and program director of Dharmalaya, which has as its mission, “to promote dharma holistically in personal, social and ecological spheres of life.” Ravi has dedicated his life for the past 50 years to the project of the liberation of human beings and society. Ravi has been teaching yoga and meditation since 1972, and shared the yogic teachings of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti in Jamaica in 1974.

In 1996 Ravi became a family acharya in Ananda Seva and has been involved with the organization since its inception, volunteering as publications secretary, retreat organizer, and developing training manuals for the mediation teacher training. His latest publication in that capacity is the Ananda Sutram Primer, an accessible format for understanding the philosophy of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti.

President, Communications Director

Michele Renee, known as Acharya Madhuliika and Madhu, has been involved with the organization since 1995 at its inception. Her roles have evolved over time, from volunteer and retreat organizer to her current roles as Communications Director and President. She was elected president of Ananda Seva in April of 2021. She takes great joy and consideration in the communication and collaboration aspects of Ananda Seva, including welcoming new people, maintaining the public face of the organization, and promoting classes and events. Acharya Madhuliika expresses that she “has never worked with another group of people who were so motivated by a true sense of service, and so unmotivated by ego. It makes it easy to work together, and contribute to this organization, and ultimately, the larger community of humanity.”

Before joining Ananda Seva, Madhu had been initiated into Tibetan Buddhism, and found herself truly inspired to go deeper into meditation when she was given initiation and a practice through Ananda Seva. She shares that “this practice is the most treasured jewel she possesses.” Outside of the organization, Acharya Madhuliika has been a high school teacher for over 30 years, co-founder of Dharmalaya in Eugene, Oregon, a loving wife, and a mother to her daughter, Asha.

Media Specialist, Board Secretary

Guy Prouty, Ph.D., known as Acharya Jayadeva, is an Instructor of Anthropology at Boise State University, and has been a practicing archaeologist and a scholar of North American and world prehistory since 1982. In the mid-2000’s, Acharya Jayadeva became involved with Ananda Seva when he learned about a permaculture course taking place at Dharmalaya in Eugene, Oregon. From there, he joined the Ananda Seva non-profit board and the leadership and management team of the organization.

As a young person, growing up up in a conservative area of the world, where he learned a lot of religion, but was not inspired by the dogmatic approaches that religion took. He described himself as “spiritual, but not religious.” As such, when he encountered Ananda Seva, Acharya Jayadeva was inspired by the spiritual and meditation practices of Ananda Seva, and through this organization, learned that he had been experiencing life through a neohumanist lens since he was a child. He shares, “I was deeply embedded in the natural world around me growing up, which helped me develop my spiritual life. What I was missing was a spiritual connection with people, and when I started learning about neohumanism, it filled the void I felt missing around spiritual connection with the planet and the beings on it.”

Since becoming a part of the Ananda Seva community, Acharya Jayadeva has taken a variety of classes to learn more about meditation, yoga, and neohumanism; completed the yoga teacher training in 2002; and completed his Acharya training in 2010. Acharya Jayadeva shares that “meditation serves as a connection point to humanity, myself, and Parmaparusa (God).

In addition to teaching Archaeology, Jayadeva enjoys film making and editing, contributes his talents to editing Transformation Education classes for the Teachable website.

Board Advisor

Joshua Nelson, known as Acharya Giriisha, began meditation in 1971 after engaging in anti-Vietnam war protests in California, and continues to be an active Meditation Teacher since 1998. It was a happenstance occurrence when he came across a meditation retreat poster on a telephone poll, just as he was thinking, “if I’m going to go into meditation, I’m going to go in fully.” From that retreat onward, he has become an astute meditator that believes meditation is an “inherent birthright of all people, which helps to calm and strengthen the mind.”

In his line of work as a neurologist, Giriisha has been fascinated by the link of the mind and brain and is repeatedly inspired in his practice of meditation to be a compassionate and empathetic doctor for his clients.

Acharya Giriisha was the President of the Ananda Seva from from 2014 to 2021. In this role, he devoted himself to apply the principles of Shrii Shrii Anandamurti through increasing social justice, and promoting ideas of economic democracy, Neohumanism, and PROUT. He now serves as the Board Advisor. Giriisha believes that “you cannot truly do deep meditation without doing service work. When you engage with deep meditation, you become sensitive to the suffering around you, which brings a person to want to help relieve the suffering in the world.”

In the past, Acharya Giriisha has been involved within the meditation community as an ashram manager in Oakland, and Los Altos Hills, California; teaching yoga asanas since 1971; and trained as a Family Acharya in 1998. Currently, he and his wife, Susan, are retired in the Columbus, Ohio area, with two adult children and grandchildren.