lennon

“If you live to be happy, you’ll find the things that make you happy.” –Swami Kriyananda, from Finding Happiness

We can learn to be successful, prosperous, efficient, healthy – and also to be happy. Being happy is an art, the “art of living.” Not something we learn through formal education, but something worthwhile for our well-being of each person.

Money, possessions, power, fame: they might bring happiness for a time, but like drugs and alcohol, there are side affects. But true happiness springs from within; it’s not dependent on anything ephemeral.

Your personal journey is an important one, not only for yourself, but for those around you. With the world becoming increasingly, even exponentially a sad, sad place, happy, positive people who embrace life and its infinite possibilities are very much to be valued.

You find on this page resources to support you on your journey: most of them have been seen or mentioned in the film. Start anywhere you wish, and expect to grow happier each day. When we change, our whole world changes!

During the song, "Many Hands Make a Miracle"

Community Living

To meet the need of increasing numbers of people inspired by Yogananda’s vision, Ananda’s

world brotherhood colonies have expanded to include communities in Sacramento and Palo Alto, California; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, Washington; as well as in Assisi, Italy and Gurgaon and Pune, India. Most of these communities also have farms and sustainability projects which welcome assistance. Currently, about 1,000 devotees live together in these communities, making Yogananda’s vision of “high thinking and simple living” a reality.

Find Ananda near you

Ananda Institute of Cooperative Living
Rajasi Janakanda Day of Service

Rajasi Janakanda Day of Service

The Ananda Institute for Cooperative Living is a school of practical experience and resourceful knowledge in the vital fiend of cooperative living and community.

Cooperative Community is an ideal way of living: a purposeful gathering of like-minded individuals dedicated to living with a common purpose and working toward a common goal.

The results are both meaningful and fruitful. Ananda has established nine such communities worldwide, and a network of many hundreds of similar groups exist and are in development globally.

Through various programs, The Institute for Cooperative Living aims to share nearly half a century’s valuable experience on the successful planning, founding and sustaining of spiritual communities dedicated to simple living and high thinking.

Join us for our Foundations of Community programs at the Expanding Light, Living With Spirit community programs at Ananda Village and abroad, and our Natural Living School programs including permaculture and natural building.

We offer direct experience and dynamic study in a wide range of community areas like Sustainability, Leadership, Operating Principles, and Community Business and Education to name a few. The Ananda Institute for Cooperative Living programs are a unique and in-depth experience for those seeking a meaningful, alternative way of community living.

Contact Info: Badri Matlock, 530-478-7651,  badri@ananda.org, CooperativeCommunity.org

Yoga

Ananda-Yoga

Ananda Yoga®

Ananda Yoga brings yoga back to its original spiritual essence.

Above all, it seeks to raise your level of consciousness by reinforcing the natural effects the yoga postures. With this, it is also designed to harmonize your body, mind, and soul.

Ananda Yoga includes:

  • Asana (yoga postures)
  • Pranayama (breathing and energy-control techniques)
  • Yogic meditation techniques
  • Applied yoga philosophy

Find out more about Ananda Yoga.

lis-meditating-outdoors

Meditation

Learn to Meditate
All you need to know to jump-start your practice! Free introduction to meditation basics, including a simple meditation technique.

Free Meditation Support
Articles on the art and science of meditation, free subsription to The Daily Meditator Newsletter, help with common problems, and email support.

Ananda Course in Self-Realization
Comprehensive home-study course in Raja Yoga as taught by Paramhansa Yogananda. Includes meditation, yoga postures, spiritual living and yoga philosophy. A prerequisite for a Kriya Yoga initiation.

Meditation Teacher Training Program
Offered at The Expanding Light Retreat, our curriculum prepares you to teach meditation to anyone.

Students doing Sharing Nature activities

Child Education/Raising

Education for Life (EFL) is a system of education that emphasizes joyful, experiential learning to prepare students for finding purpose, fulfillment, and happiness.

india

Music

More information about Ananda music can be found by visiting Crystal Clarity.

yogananda1-lg

Spirituality

Yogananda taught that environment is stronger than will power. A person may have the best intention of living a spiritual life, but lacking the support of others, and living in a world focused on materialism, it is all too easy to be diverted, by other desires, from the desire to know God!

Elisabeth with goats

Sustainability/Farming

Find out more about Sustainability and Farming at Ananda.

Nature Awareness

Sharing Nature outdoor activity

Sharing Nature Worldwide

Established in 1979 by naturalist and author Joseph Cornell, Sharing Nature uses creative activities to give people of all ages, joyful and inspiring experiences of the natural world. Sharing Nature books have been translated into over 20 different languages and are used in nearly ever corner of the globe. Joseph’s latest book, “The Sky and Earth Touched Me: Sharing Nature Wellness Exercises” will be published in spring of 2014.

Happiness Online

A Gift of Inner Peace

Online with Ananda

Virtual Community

Happiness India

Happiness Italy