Warriors Heal, Teach & Lead™

Approved Programs for Veterans at
Ananda College of Living Wisdom:

“The compassion I’ve received at Ananda College of Living Wisdom has made me secure enough to heal what needed to be healed. As a young woman veteran, I was fully accepted here as just a person trying to improve, no matter what I’d done in my past. This is a huge relief from much of society, who would prefer to label me and always see me as ex-military, or someone who went to war. I’ve taken EFL Teacher Training and Yoga Teacher Training and now I’m taking Holistic Health & Healing. I plan to finish my B.A. here and create healing programs for veterans. I have a passion for those who have served in the military, and I can’t think of a better way to spend the rest of my life than helping those who have served their country.”
—Brooke Cannon, Former US Army Staff Sergeant, Intelligence Analyst and Veteran of the Iraq War

Warriors Heal, Teach & Lead™ is a unique blend of certificate programs offered for veterans through Ananda College of Living Wisdom. These 3 certificate programs are ideal for those seeking a nurturing and healing educational environment or for those who want to develop a dynamic career in Holistic Healing, as an Education for Life Teacher or as a leader in creating Cooperative Communities. We are approved to offer the following professional certificate programs through the State of California Bureau for Private Post-Secondary Education (BPPE) and the Veteran’s Administration for those who qualify for G.I. Bill:

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

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.

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.

Receive our Newsletter: