Areas of Study


Yoga Philosophy

Yoga Philosophy provides students with a profound understanding of self-realization's yogic traditions and scriptures, especially in the ways these principles translate into everyday life. As part of the program, students also progress in the practice of yoga postures, meditation, service to one's greater community, and the attributes for living a balanced life. These attributes include: how to live a healthy and energetic physical life; how to live with mental focus, clarity and intuition; and how to live a spiritual life that offers direction, serenity, inspiration, and higher guidance.

In addition, students go deeper into this discipline with the study of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, Vedic Sciences, the Gunas, and such scriptures as the Bhagavad Gita, Mahabharata, Ramayana, and other vedic texts.

Students also study Yoga in the Bible, and the Science of Religion. Classes in The Yoga of Sustainable Living, Ayurveda, Yoga, and Consciousness offer students an experiential exploration of how Yoga Philosophy offers an ethical and creative foundation for a lifestyle that is harmonious and successful. In their junior and senior years, students can take Yoga Teacher Training (YTTC) and Meditation Teacher Training (MTT), and gain experience teaching in our community. Yoga Philosophy is ideal for aspiring yoga teachers, classroom teachers, arts teachers, and counselors.


World Cultures & Consciousness

Why is it that some cultures seem to thrive and expand while others seem trapped in a noose of poverty and contraction? Is our planet "going to the dogs" or are we on the brink of an age of higher awareness?

World Cultures & Consciousness presents a yogic approach to history and consciousness that examines individual cultures as well as planetary cycles of growth and decay. Students study such classes as Current Events & the Emerging Higher Age, World Cultures & the Search for Higher Awareness, The Cyclical Model of History, Vedic India, World Mythologies & the Golden Age, Eastern & Western Cosmology & Astronomy, Visions of the Future & the Yugas, Global Shifts in Consciousness, and World Consciousness and the Arts. Individual projects are encouraged. Students with a focus in World Cultures & Consciousness are guided towards a career in international relations, teaching, consulting, business, economics, politics and sociology.

Study Abroad Program

As part of this program, students partake in our annual study abroad tour, which is integrated with the World Cultures & Consciousness study. In addition, students with this focus may elect to spend considerable time in their junior or senior years applying what they have learned to an investigation and research of world cultures supporting the cycles of time. Students are encouraged to travel and study in countries like India, Egypt, Peru, Greece, Italy, Mexico, and more. These countries provide a stage for students to explore and document their findings for future generations. Student programs can range from the scholarly to the creative, with the guidance of faculty well-versed in World Cultures & Consciousness.

Inspirational Arts

Inspiration Art can be a powerful influence for meaningful existence and positive attitudes in society. For those drawn to art, music, dance, writing, drama and film, Ananda College offers a higher consciousness perspective on the creative arts. Inspirational Arts views both artistic expression and artistic appreciation as creative communication. Students learn how to become artists not just in a mechanical sense, but as channels for the expression of a greater reality and consciousness. Building on our foundation course of Creativity and Self-Awareness, advanced studio classes are offered in Music Composition & Performance, Painting & Visual Arts, Drama & Performance, The Yoga of Movement & Dance, Film Studies & Production, Graphic Design & Advertising, and Creative Writing. Students in the B.A. program are also encouraged to complete individual projects and internships.

The College’s secluded forest hermitage offers an idyllic setting for study of the visual and creative arts. Students have the opportunity to gain experiential training in the rich cultural environment of the adjacent Ananda Community, which offers a variety of musical productions, drama and art opportunities. With the focus in Inspirational Arts students are guided towards a career as an inspirational arts teacher, as a consultant for art and consciousness both domestically or globally, or in a profession that includes art, music, drama, creative writing, dance, film or graphics design.


The Small Communities Solution

In these turbulent times when global warming, a crowded planet, wars, religious strife, urban decay, and stifling bureaucracy threaten our very humanity, a fresh approach to living is desperately needed. At Ananda College we offer The Small Communities Solution as an ideal pathway for students wanting to make a difference in today's world.

Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi, predicted that "world brotherhood colonies" would be the social pattern of the future. Our campus is located adjacent to Ananda World Brotherhood Community, the first of these colonies, founded in 1968. The village, one of the oldest and most successful intentional communities in the world, offers an ideal living laboratory for the study of the many facets of small community life.

Students also have the opportunity of visiting and studying other intentional communities that offer working examples of small communities. In the past, we have visited a Sikh community in New Delhi, the Auroville community in Southern India, Ananda Communities, and several small to large intentional communities in Northern California.

Classes in The Small Communities Solution may include: Cooperative Communities: Planning & Development, Spiritual Cooperative Living, The Individual & the Institution, Small Groups as a Basis for Social Change, The Utopian Dream, Communities & Spirituality, and Building with Spirit.

In this focus, students learn what it takes to start, design and maintain communities, as well as small community government and economics. Students also have the opportunity to explore a variety of alternatives for energy, food (vegetarian), and shelter. With The Small Communities Solution students are guided toward careers in developing small communities both domestically and internationally, consulting, teaching, training and management, designing, building and maintenance.


Dharmic Business & Leadership

The future of business and leadership will belong to those who have a dharmic (right action) view of success. From the yogic perspective, success is measured in values much deeper than outward wealth, power and status. At Ananda College students focus on both the academics of business together with an experience of success that encompasses the inner contentment of pursuing self-chosen goals, the satisfaction of a job well done, and the joy that comes through helping others.

In the Dharmic Leadership & Business students learn about the importance of energy and magnetism for success, how to solve problems creatively, how to work in harmony with oneself and others, and the art of supportive leadership. Students gain an historical perspective on famous leaders, identifying those character attributes that support and hinder one's efforts to succeed. Core classes in Material Success Through Yoga Principles, Entrepreneurial Skills, and the Art of Supportive Leadership are offered in conjunction with more standard courses in Statistics, Accounting, Global Economics, Mass Communications & Marketing, and Business Law & Ethics.

A practicum in business skills challenges upper division students to create a working business plan complete with plans for advertising, production, distribution, and a balanced budget. The Dharmic Leadership & Business prepares students to be leaders in a variety of private and public sectors. The course also gives students the tools necessary to become successful entrepreneurs, both domestically and internationally.


Alternative Technology & Sustainable Living

The challenges that face our planet are formidable. Daily headlines call our attention to such concerns as global warming, petroleum shortages, and the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Populations are expanding, environments are being compromised, and strong community values are being replaced by the ideals of modern economics and politics.

At Ananda College we feel that solutions to these issues will require more than traditional science and technology. For us, these problems highlight the need for a change in consciousness in keeping with Einstein's statement, "You cannot solve a problem from the same level in which it was created." Students in Alternative Technology & Sustainable Living will have the opportunity to approach environmental and human challenges from this broadened perspective. Issues of renewable energy, alternative shelter, and earth-friendly food production will be studied in relation to the principles of cooperative spiritual living and the small communities solution.

The program helps students understand the current state of global energy and what opportunities exist in the realm of renewable energy resources, energy efficient technologies, and new and emerging technologies. In addition to such standard classes as Calculus, Chemistry for Alternative Energy, Environmental Biology, and Engineering for Alternative Energy, students take courses in Transportation after Petroleum, The Spirit of Gardening, and The Yoga of Sustainable Living. From an experiential perspective, students help create and sustain the Institute's own off-the-grid energy system as a working, hands-on laboratory using solar, wind, and other alternative sources. With Alternative Technology & Sustainable Living, students are guided toward careers in renewable energy, environmental consultation, how to launch a "green" company, and the creation of alternative solutions for all aspects of today's world.


Directional Psychology & Healing

What are truly the deepest human needs? Beneath a myriad of more superficial concerns, we find such recurring themes as happiness, security, love, and inner peace. By focusing on the needs of the individual, rather than abstract concepts, the goal becomes helping each person sort through their many dreams, ideals, and hoped-for attainments to determine which ones will be ultimately satisfying and beneficial. Directional Psychology helps people to clarify their ideals, understand what they really want; and choose directions in which they themselves would like to move.

In Directional Psychology and Healing, students complete a basic study of yoga philosophy as well as classes on The Tools & Stages of Maturity, Creating Harmonious Relationships, Foundations of Emotional Health, Intuitional Counseling, Subtle Energy Healing, The Body-Mind Connection, and A Yogic Approach to Physical, Psychological and Spiritual Health.

For upper division students, Individual Projects offer an experiential component that allows students to explore real-life situations where the principles they have learned can be applied. With Directional Psychology & Healing, students can be guided toward future careers in counseling, the healing arts, social work, consulting, and teaching.


Education for Life

Education for Life offers a wide background in yogic studies for those students interested in the teaching profession. During the first two years of study, students attend classes from every discipline in the Institute, thereby experiencing how the principles of yoga permeate all areas of life. From this base they begin helping out in the elementary and high school classrooms first observing and then helping to create a learning environment that manifests these yogic principles. Graduates of the Education for Life program are prepared for careers as a classroom teacher, school administrator, or educational researcher and consultant. To learn more about Living Wisdom Schools, go to www.livingwisdom.org

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