Certificate Programs Overview

Certificates:

Education for Life (EFL) Teacher Training Certification

Becoming an Education for Life Teacher can be a rewarding way to serve the world. Students learn the holistic Education for Life (EFL) techniques successfully used by the Living Wisdom Schools (pre-school -12th grade) since 1972. Today, there are Living Wisdom schools throughout the US and in Europe and India.

The purpose of the EFL Teacher Training is to train students to work in an EFL or Living Wisdom™ School, to apply EFL principles to other educational settings, or, to start your own school or program. The standard program involves a one year series of classes and internships that provide both the theoretical and experiential components necessary for becoming a successful EFL teacher. Some students may need a second year of study to attain the necessary proficiency. At the completion of the course, students are awarded an EFL Teaching Credential. This residential program provides an experiential living component that is necessary to help students attune to these holistic methods. Students live and study at the Ananda Living Wisdom College, the only college campus dedicated to living and teaching Education for Life principles. Internships are available in Living Wisdom Schools in nearby Ananda Village or at other schools in the US, in Italy or in one of two EFL schools in India.

Placement: While the Ananda College of Living Wisdom does not guarantee placement in an Education for Life School or Living Wisdom School, there are options for graduates teaching in preschool through twelfth grade. Those interested in teaching at the college level should contact the Academic Dean, Dr. Celia Alvarez. Potential occupations include Teacher, Aide, or Administrator in an Education for Life or Living Wisdom School. Currently, the EFL Teacher Training Program is the primary means for preparing people to teach in the Education for Life (EFL) and Living Wisdom Schools throughout the United States, in Italy and in India. Sample Curriculum Courses:

  • Basics of Education for Life (EFL)
  • Building Positive Relationships with your students
  • Progressive Development
  • Tools of Maturity
  • Working with Parents
  • Curriculum Categories for Age Groups
  • Flow Learning
  • Development of Maturity Skills
  • Lesson Plans
  • The Art of Firm, Loving Discipline
  • Classroom Standards of Behavior
  • Class Leadership
  • Experiential Learning
  • Personal Development
  • Characteristics of a Successful EFL Class
  • Yoga & Meditation for Stress Reduction
  • Creativity & Self-Awareness
  • Music for Higher Awareness.

The Education for Life Course is a combination of the following:

  • Classroom presentations and discussions based on assignments
  • Personal conferences with mentor teachers on individual progress in developing skills
  • Opportunities to practice skills as intern teachers
  • Assigned papers and student generated presentations on what they have learned.

Tuition for 2012-2013

Student-Teacher Ratio: One EFL credentialed mentor teacher for each student, one program director for all students in program.

Applicants must apply through our admissions department and complete the application for the Education for Life certificate. There will be an interview (by phone) with one of the Directors of the EFL Teacher Training Program once we have received your application.

Yoga Philosophy Core Curriculum

The purpose of the Yoga Philosophy Core Curriculum is to offer students a holistic understanding of life, spirituality and higher consciousness. This course is a core curriculum for the Education for Life Teacher Training, Cooperative Communities Training, and the Holistic Health & Healing Training. The standard program involves a one year series of classes and programs that provide both theoretical and experiential components.

Sample Course Syllabus Topics:
Basics of Education for Life; Psychological Chart for Balanced Learning & Living; History & Evolution of Cooperative Communities; Tools of Maturity for Education for Life; Sustainable Living & Simple Living Modalities; Alternative Energy & Technology; Material Success Through Yoga Principles; The Art of Supportive Leadership; Raja Yoga Philosophy; Yoga Postures for Higher Awareness; Money Magnetism; The Art of Written & Oral Expression; Meditation for inner peace & clarity of mind; Developing Intuition & Understanding Others; Service to Others; Holistic Health & Healing; Alternative & Subtle Energy Healing Principles; Foundations of Intentional Community Life; Affirmations for Self-Healing; Directional Psychology & Healing; Vegetarian diet for health & well-being; The role of The Arts in Uplifting Society; Music & Higher Consciousness; Music for Healing; Creativity & Self-Awareness; Visual Art & Consciousness; Drama & Consciousness; The Peace Treaty; Western and Eastern Philosophy; Plant Energy & Gardening; Basic Hindi, Italian or Spanish for travelers.

Instructional Modes: Classes, Lectures, Guest Speakers, Experiential Classes, Studio Classes, Papers, Tests, Evaluations.

Faculty: One Core Curriculum mentor teacher for each student, one program director for all students in program.

Required Reading: A variety of classics will be selected for each course along with new releases that are relevant to each course topic.

Applicants must apply through our admissions department and complete the application for the Yoga Philosophy certificate. There will be an interview (by phone) with one of the Directors of the Yoga Philosophy Program once we have received your application.

Cooperative Communities & Sustainability Training Program

“You cannot solve a problem from the same level in which it was created.” —Albert Einstein

In these turbulent times when global warming, crowded cities, wars, religious strife, urban decay, and stifling bureaucracy threaten our very humanity, a fresh approach to living is desperately needed. At Ananda College of Living Wisdom we offer The Small Communities Solution as an ideal pathway for students wanting to make a difference in today's world. The 80-acre college community is a self-contained “Eco-Village” with its own off-the-grid power station, experimental “cob” classroom, vegetable gardens, community yoga & meditation temple, community dining and living areas, beekeeping; organic bakery; and surrounded on three sides by 1,500 acres of protected forests 1,000 feet above the Yuba River in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Northern California.

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 a living laboratory for studying many facets of small community life.

Students also have the opportunity of visiting and studying other intentional communities. In the past, the college has studied and visited a Sikh community in New Delhi; the Auroville community in Southern India; Plum Village in France; Damanhur in Italy, Ananda Communities in India and Europe, and a variety of other communities in the US and abroad.

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, and Natural 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.

The challenges that face our planet are formidable. As populations are expanding, natural environments are also being compromised, and strong community values are being replaced by the ideals of assembly-line education, modern economics and politics.

At Ananda College of Living Wisdom, we feel that solutions to these issues will require more than traditional methodologies. 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 Cooperative Communities & 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 Community 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 simple living. Classes include The History of Cooperative Spiritual Communities; Philosophy of Community Living; The Spirit of Gardening; The Yoga of Sustainable Living; World Cultures & Consciousness and Education for Life. From an experiential perspective, students help sustain the college’s own off-the-grid energy system, care for campus gardens, learn beekeeping; cow & goat dairy care; biodynamic gardening; natural building techniques; natural healing methods; holistic education; vegetarian cooking for groups; and more.

Instructors for these courses have created, lived in and maintained small communities for over 40 years.
The program includes travel, experiential learning, classroom discussions, reading assignments, homework, tests and internships.

Tuition for 2012-2013

Applicants must apply through our admissions department and complete the application for the Cooperative Communities Certificate. An interview (by phone) will be conducted once we have received your application.

Holistic Health & Healing Certification

Want to learn ways to heal yourself and others? This unique1-year educational program offers an opportunity to examine the many aspects of holistic health and healing. During this program students will learn techniques for self-healing, as well as study with a variety of holistic healers. Course topics include: Nutrition; Positive Psychology; Holistic Healing Methods of East & West; Ayurveda; Herbology; Naturopathic Medicine; Homeopathic Medicine; Energy Medicine; Chiropractic Medicine; Yoga Therapy; Massage Therapy; Anthroposophic Medicine; Chinese Medicine; Ayurveda & the Mind; Meditation; Polarity Therapy; Tai Chi; Directional Psychology; Art & Science of Raja Yoga; Physical Education; Anatomy & Physiology; Independent Research in Holistic Health; Capstone Independent Research; New Alternative Healing Modalities and a Practicum or Internship. One of the unique aspects of the Holistic Health & Healing Certificate Program is:

  • Students live & study in the heart of a college yoga community and meditation retreat that has been a drug & alcohol free environment dedicated to holistic health and healing since 1968.
  • Residential program includes studying the vegetarian diet, natural cooking methods and three delicious vegetarian meals per day. Students learn Nutrition and have opportunities to practice cooking in the college and retreat kitchen, a California Certified Kitchen.
  • Part of a holistic environment that includes true off-the-grid living sustained totally by solar, wind and generator. The campus has its own “power station” and has been off-the-grid since 1967, when it was first used for a meditation and yoga retreat in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of Northern California.
  • The college is a complete “Eco Village” located on 80 acres of beautiful forests dedicated to sustainable, simple living, low-impact residences, large vegetable gardens and orchards for growing food for the kitchen, a Solar Green House for winter growing, Experimental Natural “Cob” hand-built earth classroom and more.
  • Campus is located in a remote forest location adjacent to 1,500 acres of environmentally protected “Inimin Forest” land 1,000 feet above the Yuba River. The college residents are stewards for this sacred campus that is also home to wild birds and forest animals.
  • Students have the opportunity to participate in daily group meditations in the temple.
  • Student practicums may be available in Ayurveda, Nutrition, Energy Medicine, Yoga Therapy, Herbology, and a variety of other holistic health disciplines.
  • Energy Medicine is also part of the Holistic Health & Healing Program at Ananda College of Living Wisdom. Energy Medicine is taught by the author of “Esoteric Anatomy, the Body as Consciousness.”

Tuition & Application

Ananda College of Living Wisdom Study Abroad

Educational Objective: This dynamic course offers an experiential understanding of world religions & cultures, spiritual cooperative communities, holistic healing modalities, and the study of the history, culture and economics of the country visited. Prior to the trip students study yuga cycles of time and history of the country visited as well as foreign language in Hindi, Italian or Spanish.
It can be a standalone program but is required for students taking the Core Curriculum, the Education for Life Teacher Training, Cooperative Communities Training, & Ananda Holistic Health & Healing Training unless there is a special arrangement with the course director.

Countries: In the past, we have visited Northern India, Egypt, Peru and Southern India. Each year is different to accommodate our current curriculum.

Cost: Costs of the 2010 Study Abroad program is approximately $5000, depending on the itinerary and current airfare.

Applicants must apply through our admissions department and complete the application for the Study Abroad certificate. There will be an interview (by phone) with one of the Directors of the Study Abroad Program once we have received your application.


Certificates Catalog:

Admission: To be admitted to all our higher education certificate programs, students must be a high school graduate or at least 18 years of age, tour the school, receive certain disclosures, and sign an enrollment agreement. Students under the age of 18 are only admitted with written parental consent and the approval of the college Director.

Nondiscrimination Students are admitted without regard to race, color, sex, religion, age, national origin or disability (as long as the student has the capacity to perform the hands-on skills normally required for service projects and for living at the facility, which is an off-the-grid, alternative living facility)

Accommodations All students attending the Ananda College of Living Wisdom programs live on site, with the exception of the time spent in the study abroad program.

Room, Board, Tuition All students attending the Ananda College of Living Wisdom programs pay an all-inclusive fee for room, board and tuition. Tuition.

Financial Aid: To apply for Financial Aid and Scholarships you must complete an Admissions Application and a Financial Aid Application, and mail these, to:

Ananda College of Living Wisdom,
Admissions,
14618 Tyler Foote Rd., #114,
Nevada City, CA 95959

Library & Reference Materials The Institute maintains a small library with required reading material, plus books and audio tapes related to course study. These books may be checked out from the library. In addition, a variety of references are brought into class. During the course a list of reference books is provided, with an explanation of how and when they might best be used.

Student Counseling It is our desire for students to succeed in their studies. Towards this end, the instructor works closely with each student throughout the course. Students requiring special assistance are encouraged and invited to bring their special learning needs to the attention of the instructor.

Tardiness Instruction presentations are limited to small groups, usually under 12 students, so as to insure that each student receives individualized attention from the instructor. When students come to class tardy, it can be disruptive to the flow and distracting to the sensitive nature of the subjects that we deal with in class. Consequently, promptness to class helps enhance the learning experience. Students more than 15 minutes late will not receive credit for that hour of instruction. Students will need to make up time missed through the tardiness. Make up can be discussed with the Director.

Dropout Students dropping out of the course may receive a tuition only refund based upon our refund policy outlined in this catalog. The last day of classes attended will be considered the date of cancellation, whether or not a cancellation notice is given by the student to the Director.

Leave-of-absence Students may request a leave of absence in the event of illness, family emergency or other compelling reasons. The student may then be admitted to a later course when they are covering the same material that was missed. If the student would like to review the part of the course they already took, the fee will be only 50% of the per-diem fee at the time of review—these fees do not include room & board, which would be extra. Fees for the part of the course that was not yet taken will reflect the per-diem fees at the time of attending the rest of the course.

Student Conduct Any student may be dismissed by the Director, for any behavior that could lead to injury, or which could damage the school facilities or disrupt the normal presentation of course work or other operations of the school or boarding facilities. The use of alcohol or non-prescription drugs are strictly forbidden while living on the premises and attending classes at the Institute. Intoxication, drugged behavior, behavior deemed inappropriate, possession of a weapon or behavior creating a safety hazard to other persons at the school, or repeated absence without valid excuse are grounds for immediate dismissal.

Complaint Resolution If you find you have a problem with the Ananda College of Living Wisdom, please discuss the problem with your instructor. The school is dedicated to providing an atmosphere that fosters learning and inner growth. If for any reason you are unable to resolve the matter, you may submit a written complaint to: Ananda College of Living Wisdom, 14618 Tyler Foote Rd., #114, Nevada City, CA 95959. The written complaint should contain your name and address, the nature of the problem you encountered, the date the problem occurred or began, the names of the individuals involved in the problem, copies of documents, if any, which contain information regarding the problem, evidence that, or an assertion that the complaint procedure was properly followed. A response will be sent to you within 10 days. If you are unable to resolve the problem, you may contact the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education at 400 R Street, Suite 5000, Sacramento, CA 95814-6200 or you may call (916) 445-3428.

Federal & State Funding. This institution does not participate in federal and state financial aid programs.

ESL Students This institution does not provide English as a Second Language (EDL) instruction.

Students From Other Countries Students from other countries are advised that all classes are conducted in English, that all legal entry and residency requirements are the responsibility of and the expense of the student. Conversations will need to be conducted ahead of time, between the prospective student and the Director, to determine if the student has an acceptable level of English proficiency to insure successful participation and completion of the full course of study.

Student’s Right to Cancel The institution, for all students, without penalty or obligation, shall refund 100% of the amount paid for institutional charges, less the registration fee, if notice of cancellation is made prior to or on the first scheduled day of instruction. The institution advises each student that any notification of withdrawal or cancellation and any requests for a refund must be made in writing.

Student Tuition Recovery Fund The State of California created the Student Tuition Recovery Fund (STRF) to relieve or mitigate economic losses suffered by California residents who were students attending schools approved by, or registered to offer Short-term Career Training with the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education (Bureau). You may be eligible for STRF is you are a California resident, prepaid tuition, paid the STRF fee, and suffered an economic loss as a result of the following:

  • The school closed before the course of instruction was completed.
  • The school’s failure to pay refunds or charges on behalf of a student to a third party for license fees or and other purposes , or to provide equipment or materials for which a charge was collected within 180 days before the closure of the school.
  • The school’s failure to pay or reimburse loan proceeds under a federally guaranteed student loan program as required by law or to pay or reimburse proceeds received by the school prior to closure in excess of tuition and other costs.
  • The school’s breach or anticipatory breach of the agreement for the course of instruction.
  • There was a decline in the quality of the course instruction within 30 days before the school closed, or if the decline began earlier than 30 days prior to closure, a time period of decline determined by the Bureau.
  • The school committed fraud during the recruitment or enrollment of program participation of the student.

You may also be eligible for STRF if you were a California resident student unable to collect a court judgment rendered against the school for violation of the Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform Act of 1989.
You must pay the state-imposed fee for the Student Tuition Recovery Fund (STRF) if all of the following applies to you:

  • You are a student, who is a California resident and prepays all or part of your tuition either by cash, guaranteed student loans, or personal loans, and
  • Your total charges are not paid by any third-party payer such as an employer, government program or other payer unless you have a separate agreement to repay the third party.

You are not eligible for protection from the STRF and you are not required to pay the STRF fee if either of the following applies:

  • You are not a California resident,
  • Your total charges are paid by a third party, such as an employer, government program or other payer, and you have no separate agreement to repay the third party.

It is important that you keep copies of the enrollment agreement, financial aid papers, if any, receipts, or any other information that documents the monies paid to the school. Questions regarding the STRF may be directed to the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education, 400 R Street, Suite 5000, Sacramento, CA 95814-6200, (916) 445-3428. (Authority Cited: CEC 94944)
Record Retention Student records are retained for 5 years. Transcripts are available upon written request.
Credit for Prior Experience or Training The Institute acknowledges the value of prior experience. Because of the unique nature of our training programs, credit for past experience is only available after consultation with the Director and the head of the program you wish to enter.
Specialized Instructional Materials & Equipment (please refer to each course overview for related information)
Fees for 2010-2011
Enrollment & Financial Agreement Students must sign an enrollment agreement and have met with the Institute Director and the Financial Assistant before admission.

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