The world in crisis: economic collapse, government gridlock, climatic disasters, senseless violence, pervasive corruption. Protests, anger, disillusionment, despair.Against this background, journalist Juliet Palmer, a lead writer who specializes in feature stories that expose corruption, is given an unusual and unwanted assignment from her boss at “Profiles” magazine:  to visit a spiritual community in northern California that has been working on solutions and alternatives for nearly half a century, and to interview its visionary founder.Reluctantly, a fair portion of skepticism mixed with a dash of curiosity, Juliet embarks on a professional and personal journey to the real-life community of Ananda World Brotherhood Village.

Filmed on location at the Ananda communities in California, Italy and India, the fictional Juliet meets real people who not only answer her questions, but welcome her to a reality she had never imagined.

The story that emerges has its origins in the 1920s, when yoga was first brought to the shores of America by Paramhansa Yogananda, who became famous as the author of the most-read autobiography of all times: Autobiography of a Yogi. His two main messages – that change comes from within; and that environment greatly influences our life experiences and spiritual evolution – were embraced by one of his youngest disciples, J. Donald Walters, later known as Swami Kriyananda, who in 1968 founds the first “world brotherhood community,” envisioned by Yogananda.

As Juliet researches her story, a self-portrait of the community emerges. The audience meets the people who, in their own unscripted words, have journeyed from idealism, to inner transformation, to practical, viable solutions for a sustainable, harmonious, fulfilling way of life. During her interviews, and especially those with Kriyananda, she comes face-to-face with her own odyssey through life, and her own quest for happiness. His answers lead her to discover not only the facts about the community, but the universal truths that hold the power to transform her own life.

Finding happiness: you change, everything changes.

Dancing on the ridge atop the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas

Dancing on the ridge atop the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas

Swami Kriyananda in Finding Happiness

Swami Kriyananda in Finding Happiness

Virani, the lead at the Yogoata goat farm

Virani, the lead at the Yogoata goat farm