Anoop is a student of Yoga, an entrepreneur, a coach and a father of two young boys. He has led successful leadership stints in both the corporate and non-for-profit sectors. On encountering the country’s water/farmer crises at close quarters, he decided to pause and examine the impact various ‘isms’ – capitalism, colonialism, etc., were having on us as individuals, families, the society and the environment at large. This quest led him to formally engage with traditional Indic knowledge systems while also learning from the latest advances in science – about our physical and mental wellbeing, importance of body and mind work in healing trauma and the urgent need for a conscious rebuilding of family / work / social structures if we have to thrive individually and collectively. Insights, frameworks and processes gleaned from these on-going studies, an anchorage in his own personal practice and his wide-ranging experiences is what Anoop brings to facilitation/coaching spaces in Ritambhara and his various professional engagements.

Anisha has been on an exploration to understand herself through yoga for the last 15years which led her to teaching yoga, yoga therapy and inner work through yoga.

It is in Ritambhara she found a framework to make sense of all the rich Indian culture in the current context which enhanced her self exploration. It is amongst the Sakhis of Ritambhara she found her voice and self expression which has transformed her life.

Apoorva chanced upon Yoga in her early 20s. A spark was lit within and there was no turning back. Her exploration led her to the Krishnamacharya tradition more than a decade ago. Curious about human behaviour and what drives it, she was thrilled when her search ended (and also began) when she first came upon the Yoga Sutra, which illuminated a path towards answering many questions that had been held for a long time.

Along with Yoga, her experience in energy work and transgenerational healing, led her through a journey has been one of deep transformation and growth in all aspects of her life. She now offers learning and healing spaces for others through one on one sessions and curated workshops.

She has been a part of the Ritambhara Sangha since the early years. What drew her to this community was to walk together with like-minded people, in pursuit of exploring themselves and discovering enlivening ways of living in today’s times.

Apoorva lives in Gurgaon with her family and when not in a session, enjoys cooking, learning music, and tending to her balcony garden.

Anita is a yoga teacher and therapist in the tradition of Sri.T.Krishnamacarya and Sri T.K.V. Desikachar, a Reiki practitioner and a Life Coach. She is also the founder of Vishoka, a center for learning Indic and energy-based frameworks for living and healing. Her deep concern for human suffering and the problems of unsustainable living kept her on the path of seeking an integrated approach to looking at life, living, learning and healing.

Her study with teachers at Ritambhara, YogaVahini, and Pink Mist Retreat has led her to learn, synthesize and use Yoga (philosophy and practice) and reiki as the basis for living life, parenthood, and her work. She enjoys and is drawn to hold space and create processes for moving inwards (antaraṅga sādhanā) using energy-based coaching and healing sessions, chanting, āsanā-prāṇāyāma, and life itself. She has also contributed to the book Antaranga Yoga: A foundation of Indian Psychology written by Raghu Ananthanarayanan.

She currently lives on a farm with her husband, 2 girls, 2 dogs, 5 hens, many trees and countless other living beings. She enjoys spending time with her children, and childrens books and movies. In her free time, she enjoys making recycle-craft projects, reading, singing, walking and just watching the sky.

Kavitha is a mother of 2 grown up kids and  lives in Gurgaon. Her  search as a Yoga teacher took her to  different traditions until she landed in Ritambhara ! Here both personal life as a mother & wife and professional life as a Yoga teacher took a 180 degree turn. She had finally found her path to her inner quest  enriched by the teachings of her teachers and fellow seekers of the sangha! Her way of seeing herself, her relationships and the world has completely changed and the journey now is very enlivening!  Through her intense passion and dedication  towards her path, she brings a great deal of sensitivity, compassion and intuitive wisdom from her life experiences and her learnings to her students through Bahiranga and Antaranga Yoga.

She loves  music, is a reiki practitioner, teaches Vedic Chanting and mentors people who aspire to become Yoga teachers. You can reach her at kavithaelango89@gmail.com

Naveen is a student of Yoga. Over the last 18 years, he has been engaged with the questions: “What does it mean to live meaningfully in today’s times?” and “How may I offer the best of myself to the Whole?”. This ongoing journey has been richly rewarding and fulfilling. He is a co-founder of Ritambhara and the founder of pūrṇam. His interests include Evolutionary Leadership, Integral Psychology and Process Work. He is particularly keen on working with young changemakers and those interested in bridging spirituality and social change. He loves reading, good cinema and spending time in ‘nature’.

Sometime in Jul 2012, a few of us who had been co-journeying on “what does it mean to live an ecologically sensitive life” met Raghu and Sashi to explore Yoga Sutras. We called ourselves Sacred Activists, as students of Eastern thought – some of us were feeling a little burnt out from all the work we were doing; many of us were embarking on a journey as householders.

That one year of study that ensued proved to be one of my most formative in my life – one that really helped establish a ground for working with quite a few very difficult spaces in many fronts: personally (emotional / financial), as a husband, a parent, and a son. I discovered an expanded question: “what does it mean to live a Dharmic life as a householder” and “how does one explore this as a sangha of fellow-seekers”.

So, when Raghu and Sashi proposed the idea of Ritambhara Sangha over a nice lunch at their place, it felt ‘right’ and a clear next step in the journey.

I’m currently a practitioner in the Ritambhara Gharana as a facilitator and a coach and I love working in group spaces – especially in tech organizations – to enable a process of discovering one’s dream and creating workspaces that are aligned, agile, and human.

I’m blessed to have Sangeetha, another student-practitioner of the Gharana, as my partner and we live in Auroville with our daughter.

Gowtham is a father of 2 daughters, husband to a loving wife who is a wellness specialist. His life journey has been filled with various experiences & flavors – IT, entrepreneurial, retail, food industry, building a minimalist natural farm from scratch etc. All through, there has been a flair & a search for what enables a meaningful and fulfilling engagement with oneself, one’s family & the world around.

This led to the discovery of yoga & the Krishnamacharya’s tradition. Since then, the journey with teachers like Raghu Anantanarayanan, Saraswati Vasudevan, Anuradha Ramesh & the co-seekers in the Ritambhara community has been such a life transforming journey that now enables him to have a wonderful life. Gowtham now practices teaching, healing & facilitation for individuals & groups. Gowtham can be reached at balajigowtham@gmail.com

Radhakrishnan (Rkay), a Yoga Practitioner and Instructor from Yoga Vahini, lives in Thrissur in God’s own country. He is passionately pursuing inner work after over a 3-decade stint in global organizations in Corporate Leadership roles.

Rkay, a firm believer in being a ‘Student for Life’ is on a long journey in pursuit of learning Yajur Veda, in-depth studies of Yoga Sutra and other Indian scriptures. He is inspired by the deep reflective evocations arising from the Yoga Sutras and Indic scriptures such as Ramayana & Mahabharata and how these can be applied to the study of self and enable sustainable co-existence. He is a qualified expert in operational excellence through ‘Lean’ framework and is passionate about sharing his learning experiences through coaching, facilitating / anchoring workshops enabling people to touch their purpose and find their path. He loves singing, listening to Carnatic music, spiritual discourses & Sampradaya Bhajans, social networking and cricket.

Saras studied and taught at Yoga Mandiram from 1990 to 2007. In 2010, she founded YogaVahini, along with her husband G Sundar, dedicated to sharing the teachings of Sri T Krishnamacharya and Sri TKV Desikachar through teacher training and therapy training programs, personalised yoga therapy, community outreach programs and research activity. Yogavahini Foundation is today a Public Charitable Trust with operations in Chennai & Hyderabad.

YogaVahini and Ritambhara communities work together in deepening and expanding the scope of yoga, particularly inner work, by bringing together and engaging serious aspirants to develop and sustain practice and self-enquiry towards better ways of living.

Sangeetha’s interest and experience spread across areas like ecology, localisation, sustainable living and livelihoods, education and agriculture, which she has been exploring for over twenty years now.

In her quest for being a ‘Spiritual Activist’ to heal the wounds of our times, she stumbled upon the praxis of Yoga which synthesised many things for her. She is now deeply interested in healing her personal and the collective distorted understanding of ‘What is India?’ and its role in the birthing of the New World.

She is one of the co-founders of reStore, a collective in Chennai promoting sustainable living. She regularly writes about her explorations on her blog and other media.

Padmaja got introduced to Yoga for healing herself at the age of 15 and continued to practice Yoga and became a yoga teacher and a therapist. Padmaja holds a Master’s degree in English Literature.

She has studied and trained in the classical tradition of yoga that is strongly founded in the teachings of Patanjali and follows the Krishnamacharya School. Padmaja specializes in adapting yoga to the unique needs of individuals and groups. She is also trained in Ayurveda. She has been teaching Yoga for the last nine years for individuals of different age groups, conducts community yoga classes and also works with autistic children.

She feels grateful for the opportunity to make Yoga the centre of her life and is committed to learning as she is teaching. She is passionate about helping people transform from within. She enjoys Vedic chanting and is enthusiastic about spreading the message of Yoga. She draws her strength from the teachings of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

Partha is a yoga practitioner / teacher and software architect living in Chennai with his (yoga) family. He is interested in responsible living which includes and goes beyond ecological, social and spiritually sensitive living.

He is engaged in Yoga Abhyasa while also training oneself and others in the bahiranga (externally visible) and the self-discovering aspects of Yoga. Towards this, he is working towards co-creating / sustaining communities and contexts that can assist interested people in this process.

Sashikala’s life long passion has been the study of the Vaastu Shaastraas and adapting the profound insights of the ancient texts to contemporary living. Having studied the Vaastu texts extensively, assimilating traditional wisdom and exploring its field application, she now works on projects incorporating the wisdom of Vaastu in creative and harmonious ways with the modern lifestyle. She has designed temples for Gurus and has won wide acclaim for her work.

An architect by qualification and holding a Bachelors Degree in Architecture from the Madras School, Sashikala has researched the classical Indian science of Architecture – Vaastu, for over three decades. She was a student of Sri Ganapati Sthapati, a leading authority on the Vaastu Shaastras. Sashikala Ananth is considered to be one of the foremost experts in the field of Vaastu Shaastraas today. She also studied Yoga at the Krishnamaachaarya Yoga Mandiram.

A recipient of the Ashoka Foundation Scholarship for innovative contribution to the field of architecture, she was also part of a team which made the 1991 National award winning film ‘The Living Tradition, A Shilpi Speaks’ that explains the traditions of the sculptor.

Sashikala Ananth is also a behavioural scientist. Her work as a behavioural scientist has been largely focused on helping NGO’s and Educational Institutions.

The thrust of the work:
To be able to envisage a coming together of both design concept and philosophy and to be able to apply this in the field effectively, she has been consolidating all the streams of learning and wisdom that have been part of her training. This includes yoga, behavioral work, fine arts, mythology, craft, Vaastu Shaastras, architectural training and human psychology. Sashikala has conducted several seminars across the world where she brings together this unique confluence of learning and experience. She and her husband Raghu Ananthanarayanan have been running a design and self-development centre called Vadivam for the last three decades.

Books By Sashikala:
The books she has written on Vaastu are considered definitive works in the field.

1. Penguin Books: ‘A Penguin Guide to Vaastu’
2. Penguin Books: ‘The pocket book of Vaastu’
3. Roli Books: ‘Vaastu – A Path to Harmonious Living’
4. Aurobindo Ashram Press: ‘Indian sculpture and Iconography – forms and measurements’

Sashi can be contacted at: sashi_ananth@yahoo.com

Raghu has been enquiring into three questions relentlessly in his life, these are how does one become the best that one can be? How do organizations and groups become the best that they can be? What does it mean to be an Indian?

This quest has led to more than a decade of intense study of Yoga with Yogaachaarya T Krishnamaachaarya and Desikachar. During this period he also had the opportunity to interact deeply with J.Krishnamurti and learn Process Work from Prof. Pulin K. Garg. Raghu’s work with people and organizations has been founded on the profound impact this period of study and introspection had on him. The Core of Raghu’s approach to teaching Yoga is based on the Krishnamaachaarya tradition, however, he has brought in aspects of experiential learning and introspection that make it contemporary and accessible. He obtained his Postgraduate Degree in Bio-Medical Engineering from IIT Madras during this time for which he studied the application of Yoga and Praanaayaama in curing back pain. He has published a very well received book “Learning Through Yoga”.

Raghu has also delved deeply into the Behavioural Sciences to develop a unique approach of personal unfolding and organizational transformation. He has devoted almost three decades to transforming the organizational culture across the spectrum from grass roots developmental organizations to modern industrial organizations. He has developed a unique methodology called “Totally Aligned Organization”, and a model called the “Tensegrity Mandala” that brings together his understanding of Organizational Processes and Yoga.

Raghu’s abiding interest in the question what is India was triggered by his years of contact with Dharampalji. He has been engaged with grass roots developmental work and has enabled the development of many craft groups and a Tamil theatre group called Koothu-p-Pattarai. He has pioneered an approach to process work that brings together the laboratory learning method with Yoga and theatre.

This juxtaposition of inner and outer exploration has been invaluable in making his personal spiritual journey meaningful and pragmatic. By working with a variety of groups across the spectrum: Dalit groups and developmental processes for the downtrodden, craft groups, traditional communities, groups focusing on the arts as well as with business organizations, he has developed an insight into human processes that cut across superficial categorizations on the one hand and processes that are circumscribed by the context on the other hand. Some of his pioneering designs for community mobilization like the ‘Koodam’ have been deployed in working with the Governance processes with great success.

Raghu Ananthanarayanan has co-founded Sumedhas Academy for Human context, The Barefoot Academy for Governance and FLAME TAO Knoware (Pvt. Ltd); He serves on the board of several companies. He is now engaged in mentoring a young group of “sacred activists” called Ritambhara, as well as co-creating a platform of Yoga Teachers from the Krishnamaachaarya Tradition called “Ananta Yoga”.

Publications: “Learning through Yoga” (Krishnamachaarya Yoga Mandiram, 2nd Edition 2002); “Totally Aligned Organization” (Productivity and Quality Publishers, 2nd Edition 2008), “Organization Development and Alignment” (Co-authored with Gagandeep Singh; Sage Response, 2013), a chapter titled: On Spirituality And Organized Religion: Conversations With Yogi Raghu Ananthanarayanan in the book Traversing the Heart – Journeys of the Inter-religious Imagination; Edited by Richard Kearney and Eileen Rizo-Patron as well as many papers in reputed Journals; Raghu is on the editorial Bureau of Integral Leadership Review (a journal that looks at a convergence of spirituality and management).

He can be contacted at : raghu@totallyalignedorganization.com

Mr Sowmithri BT is a professional banker serving in a private sector bank in Bangalore where he resides with his wife and two children. Parallelly, he has been pursuing the study and research of various streams of Jyothishya and vAstu since a decade now. He has been conferred doctorate in Jyothishya by Omkareshwar Jyothish vishwa vidyapeeta with a specialization in Nadi Jyothisha and is currently pursuing research on Temple architecture and residential vAstu in Manushyalaya chandrika and other classics. He is proud to be associated with Ritambara ashram and Sashikala ma’am since 2018 and to be a part of the vAstu sangha.

Madhura Bhavin Modi is a practising architect, primarily working on residential projects in Mumbai.
In search of health, happiness, healing and harmony, she has turned towards her roots. She is discovering that vAstu offers a way of life and scientific philosophy that is very beneficial to us.

One lamp lights another lamp;
that lamp consecutively lights many lamps;

Under the guidance of teacher Sashikala Ananth, Madhura is working closely with the Ritambhara vAstu sangha towards a common vision of connecting individuals with their living spaces, inculcating feelings in forms and blending modern with traditional architecture with an intention to offer something valuable to the larger community.

She is inclined towards healing buildings and their spaces by providing solutions to problems through vAstu (Chikitsa vAstu).

Her mantra is- ॐ सर्वे भवंतु सुखीन: । May all be happy !

The search of balance into the life and space, drew Shivangi to learn and commit to studying, practising and taking forward the Indian knowledge of Architecture- vAstu into her professional and personal work. She works as a researcher, facilitator and an Architect in the Ritambhara vAstu Sangha team. Born and brought up with the teachings of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother, and studying Architecture attracted her to explore living in the township of Auroville. Now that has become her home, and journey towards Inner Exploration. With over 5 years of experience in Architecture, currently she is a practising Architect and founder of Studio Collective- Architecture & Design, working with the ideals of a collective practise, exploring Eco-friendly and cost effective Housing solutions.

After graduating from Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Radhika’s interests have been strongly developing in the areas of Indian philosophies and appropriate building materials. For sustainable development, she believes that there is a confluence where both of these meet, evolving into a holistic approach.

Since 2014, she has been part of the Auroville Earth Institute (UNESCO Chair Earthen Architecture), a non-profit organization which specializes in earthen building technologies.

Through the practice of vAstu, Sanskrit, Kalaripayattu and Bharatanatyam she is delving into ancient wisdom, aspiring to renew the Indian spirit.

Chandana studied architecture in Chennai and was drawn to exploring community-centric and ground-up approaches to design and architecture through her work in Auroville, Chennai and Himachal. Her search for ‘what makes spaces alive? And how can we create them?’ further led her to vAstu and Ritambhara. In vAstu and knowledge held by the Vishwakarma craftsmen, she sees the rich convergence of Indian art, philosophy, architecture, yoga & inner work. With this foundation, she has been facilitating workshops aimed at understanding and designing ‘healthy spaces’ that promote well being and sustainable lifestyles. She believes the way forward lies in reclaiming our connection to the land, environment and the larger collective wisdom, simultaneously honouring our innate sense of creativity and ability to create beauty by working closely with nature.

Ar. Anand Ukidve is a practicing Architect and a post graduate in Urban Housing. He is deeply interested in the study, research and resurrection of lost traditional wisdom. He firmly believes that the answers to the harmonious future lie in the cultural wealth that we inherit. Apart from an active practice, he is an academician at heart and presently heads one of the Architectural Schools in Pune. He is also an avid sketcher who loves to travel and explore places.

Amarendra Nammi is a Hyderabad based builder with a focus on sensible living and building solutions. It was this mindset coupled with the need to understand the wisdom of our forefathers that brought him to Ritambhara.

He builds homes that not only focus on aesthetics, but also on living standards that align with vAstu principles. He prefers to use local, environmentally friendly materials, to ensure balance and wellness in built spaces and its occupants.

As part of the Sangha and Brahmasutra (vAstu designing and consultation wing of Ritambhara) he has oversight of management and execution of its projects.

He enjoys long walks, hot filter coffee and good conversations.