Nayaswami Nischala
Director
Nayaswami Nischala is co-founder of Ananda College of Living Wisdom. She and her husband Nakula lived at Ananda’s remote Meditation Retreat for 18 years, started the college here in 2003, and for many years served as Directors of both the Meditation Retreat and the college. She has been a minister and Lightbearer with Ananda Sangha for 25 years, and a practitioner of Yogananda’s Kriya Yoga for over 36 years. Nischala enjoys working with people of all ages and walks of life. She took her Nayaswami monastic vows in 2009. She directs the college curriculum and online programs. For Ananda College she has led spiritual tours to Northern and Southern India, Italy, France, England, Peru, and Egypt. Nischala is also author of Reflections on Living 30 Years in a Spiritual Community, and the Amazon bestseller, The Four Stages of Yoga (Crystal Clarity, Publishers, 2018).
Janaka Keller
Director of Development & Online Classes
Janaka’s lifelong passion for education and teaching comes across as soon as you meet him. Though he went to college to become a teacher, he quickly realized that the traditional system wasn’t what the world—or its young people—truly needed. He was seeking a more holistic, soul-centered approach. After taking the Ananda Meditation Teacher Training in his late teens, he discovered Education for Life (EFL) and began working in the Ananda Living Wisdom Schools, teaching multiple classes and advising students. He is both a certified Project Manager and EFL teacher and also serves as the Director of the Living Wisdom Online International High School. He also teaches the college’s “Superconscious Living” course, one of our most popular online courses, and heads up Ananda College’s accreditation process.
Nefretete Rasheed, PhD
Instructor
Nefretete is a graduate of New York University. She has a rich and varied background in the arts, education, and creative arts therapy. She has received poetry and theater awards from the Princess Grace Foundation, NJ State Council on the Arts, DC Arts and Humanities, and the National Academy of American Poets. A guest lecturer for Rutgers University, NY State University and others, she was also a Geraldine Dodge Foundation poet, and instituted a number of innovative arts and education programs for many cultural organizations including The New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater, The New Jersey Performing Arts Center, New York Council on the Arts and the Westchester Arts Council.
Nayaswami Atmajyoti, PhD
Instructor
Atmajyoti holds a PhD in Business Strategy and has over 30 years of international business experience as a Management Consultant (Coopers & Lybrand, US) and Executive Coach across different industries and governmental and social institutions worldwide. For 14 years she also served as an Associate Professor at the University of Southampton, UK, teaching undergraduate and Master’s programmes, as well as founding and leading a Research Centre for Strategic Renewal.
She is a Raja Yoga & Meditation and Education for Life (EfL) teacher and serves at Ananda Assisi/Europe, Ananda College’s Living Wisdom Institute program, as well as a visiting teacher at different Ananda Centres worldwide.
She has lived and taught in various Ananda Communities and Centres (US, India, and Europe) and is a member of Ananda Assisi, Italy.
Byasa Steinmetz
Instructor
David (Byasa) Steinmetz is an expert in the Yuga Cycles of Time and is co-author of The Yugas, Keys to Understanding our Hidden Past, Emerging Present and Future Enlightenment. He has been on the faculty of Ananda College since the beginning, and has been a Kriya Yogi for over four decades. His background as a scientist and astronomer and his knowledge of history and ancient cultures offers students a rare opportunity to learn about the cosmos. He is also the founder of Ananda College’s Library of Higher Consciousness.
Scott Marcom
Instructor
Scott Marcom is a Vedic Astrologer who uses the tropical zodiac. He focuses mostly on Indian Astrology, but also employs some Western Astrology methods, creating an integrated approach. He facilitates, assists, and serves people through the multilayered use of Indian Astrology. Inspired by a new paradigm of utilizing astrology in a way that directs people on the path of self-discovery. Scott has been studying Vedic Astrology since 2015, evolving a personal curiosity into a lifelong passion. Though his focus is on Vedic astrology, he believes all astrological traditions – both East and West alike, offer unique approaches to the grand science and that we live in a new age where the various methods and traditions of astrology are being integrated. Formally trained under Ernst Wilhelm, he has been influenced by other Vedic and Western astrologers, most notably, Drupada Macdonald and Ryan Kurczak. He has been an avid spiritual seeker and meditator since 2011, following the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda.
Rebecca Davis, PhD
Instructor
Rebecca has taught writing to college students since 1998, most recently as a senior lecturer at Antioch University Seattle. She is also a workshop presenter who delights in helping others give birth to creative projects and sharing writing techniques designed to help people develop intuition and manifest their most joyful lives. A long-time meditator, she lives at the Ananda Community in Seattle. She holds a PhD in Literature and Critical Theory from the University of Washington and an MFA in Fiction from Purdue University. Her work has appeared in literary magazines, scholarly journals, and newspapers; visit storyconscious.com to read samples of her work.
Laura Beebe
Instructor
Laura has been a college professor, outdoor educator, and park ranger. For the last 17 years, she has worked as a college professor and undergraduate instructor for Sterling College, Prescott College, and the University of Alaska. Laura’s educational philosophy is steeped in experiential and self-directed learning. To this end, Laura has designed and led wilderness and international college courses that integrate the disciplines of cultural studies, ecology, spirituality, and education. Additionally, Laura has 25 years leading multi week expeditions in the outdoor pursuits of mountaineering, sea kayaking, white-water canoeing, and technical backpacking through NOLS, the University of Colorado, and Manito-wish. Laura has led outdoor and cultural courses on four different continents and is particularly drawn to the high mountains of the world, especially the Rockies, Sierra Nevada, and Himalayas. She has also worked as a park ranger and naturalist guide throughout the Alaskan and western Park Systems. Laura’s ultimate passion is helping college aged students discover their unique path and purpose for life.
Laura is a certified Wilderness First Responder, Leave No Trace Master Educator, Avalanche Rescuer, and Naturalist Interpreter. She has a M.A. in Geography and a B.A. with double majors in Environmental Studies and Adventure Education from Prescott College.
Laura has been following the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda for close to twenty years and is a practitioner of Kriya yoga. She has studied both the traditions of Christian mysticism and Vedic philosophy.
Jenny Kellogg, PhD
Instructor
Jenny holds a PhD in Modern Languages and Literatures from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium and a BA in Classical Philology from Beloit College. She has worked in academia and non-profits in a variety of administrative and leadership roles, including ten years at Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies. Since 2005, Jenny has developed and led many service-learning programs for college students in Greece. Jenny is a Kriyaban and a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda since 2013. She teaches the courses “Comparative Mythology of Greece, India, and Egypt,” “Finding Your Dharma,” and leads travel-study tours to Greece for Ananda College. Besides teaching, Jenny is both an astrologer and spiritual coach, helping her clients navigate change, find meaning in their lives, and reconnect to their authentic selves. She specializes in trauma-informed astrology, combining the Compassionate Inquiry approach of Dr. Gabor Mate with modern astrological techniques and ancient wisdom traditions. She is also a literary translator from the Modern Greek and enjoys volunteer work within Greece’s refuge crisis.
Nicole DeAvilla
Instructor
Nicole DeAvilla is an IAYT-certified yoga therapist, longtime kriyaban, and graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz. She began her yogic journey with Ananda in 1984, when she was certified as an Ananda Yoga Teacher, and has had the blessing of studying directly with both Swami Kriyananda and Rev. John Laurence, direct disciples of Paramhansa Yogananda.
A pioneer in integrating yogic wisdom with modern life, Nicole is a multi-title international bestselling author, PubMed-published researcher in yoga and sports medicine, and a mentor to yoga teachers and therapists around the world. She is also a leading voice in responsible, healthy tech, having earned two innovative awards in a global AI training cohort of nearly 1,000 students.
Nicole loves teaching all ages, especially supporting young adults as they discover their dharma — and guiding older adults as they transition into more purpose-driven lives. Her coaching spans from tech-savvy solutions to intuitive chakra readings, always grounded in the principles of yoga and inner awakening. Whether consulting, advising, or photographing wildflowers and bobcats, she brings a joyful, wise presence to all she does.
Joseph Selbie
Instructor
Joseph Selbie is one of the foremost exponents of the yugas, India’s tradition of cyclical history. The yugas provide context for ancient anomalies, such as Gobekli Tepe, Sanskrit, and the Great Pyramid, as well as for emerging trends, such as the current explosion of interest in experiential spirituality. His book, The Yugas, has sold worldwide and in numerous translations. Joseph’s studies span East and West; Greek history and archeology at U.C. Boulder and Indian history and philosophy at U.C. Berkeley. He has presented frequently at CPAK.
Joseph is also known for creating bridges of understanding between the modern evidenced-based discoveries of science and the timeless experience-based discoveries of the mystics. He is the author of Break Through the Limits of the Brain, how neuroscience supports spiritual experience, The Physics of God, a unification of science and religion, and, The Physics of Miraculous Healing, an explanation for extraordinarily rapid physical healing.
Anandi Gray
Instructor
Carol is a licensed clinical and mental health counselor and has taught psychology, yoga, and meditation for more than 20 years. She taught Raja Yoga in the Philosophy Department at Southern Oregon University and Substance Abuse Counseling in the Psychology Graduate Program. Anandi has a gift for clarifying the teachings of yoga and making them practical. She currently lives at the Ananda Meditation Retreat where she continues to teach Yoga, Meditation, and Yoga Psychology.
Laura Hermann
Board Member
Laura has been a member of the Ananda Village community since 1979, and is a FNP, Family Nurse Practitioner who has been part of the Sierra Family Medical Center (now Western Sierra Medical Center) for over 40 years. Laura and her husband Michael raised their son Simon at Ananda Village. Simon became the first young man to graduate from LWHS, having attended Ananda School from kindergarten through high school. He then graduated from Chico State University as one of the top students in both Finance and in Economics. Laura’s love of education and her practical and keen insights into people and situations makes her a valuable member of our team.
Nayaswami Nakula
Board Member
Nayaswami Nakula is the original co-founder of Ananda College of Living Wisdom and for many years served as the college’s Financial Director. He is a Nayaswami, Lightbearer and Minister with Ananda Sangha and has been part of the Ananda Community for nearly 50 years, arriving as a young adult in 1970, creating a 12-cow organic dairy and other small businesses, and later establishing a thriving company that provides traditional and natural construction for commercial and residential spaces. He studied architecture at the University of Illinois and mentored with Meridian Construction in Washington, DC. He was project manager for the Temple of Light of all Religions and for the Moksha Mandir, both sacred temples at Ananda Village. Nakula has led the Ananda College WASC accreditation process for 4-year degree-granting colleges, as well as our BPPE (Bureau for Private Post-Secondary Education) certification process for the state of California.
Amit Goswami, Ph.D.
Theoretical Quantum Physicist
Advisory Board / Faculty
Amit Goswami, Ph. D. was a professor in the theoretical physics department of the University of Oregon in Eugene. He is a pioneer of the new paradigm of science called “science within consciousness.” Goswami is the author of the highly successful textbook Quantum Mechanics that is used in Universities throughout the world. His two volume textbook for nonscientists, The Physicist’s View of Nature traces the decline and rediscovery of the concept of God within science.
Mataji Vanamali Devi
Advisory Board / Faculty
One of India’s leading female mystics, Vanamali Devi lives in her small ashram overlooking the Ganges River in Rishikesh, India. She is an expert in Hinduism, yoga, and Sanatan Dharma, the eternal religion. A close spiritual friend of Swami Kriyananda, she has served on Ananda College’s advisory board for over a decade, and is author of many books, including The Song of God and other in-depth books on all the major Hindu deities. After Swami Kriyananda’s death in 2013, when Nakula, Nischala and Rama purchased land across the street from Ananda, Mataji suggested it be named “Karuna Sagara”, which is Sanskrit for “Ocean of Compassion”.