Teachers and Instructors
Naṭarāja Chris Protheroe
North Wales, United Kingdom
chris.L.protheroe@gmail.com
Through a period of depression and burnout in 2012 I discovered Buddhism through a Buddhist Monk called Matthieu Ricard, from his TED talk called “Habits of Happiness”. From complete atheist, and having never meditated, I applied everything from the book and my life transformed. I even met Matthieu Ricard a year later when he visited my uncle’s church in Cambridge to give a talk, and compassionate energy radiated from him in a way I had never seen before.
Eventually I joined a Buddhist community, lived in a Buddhist household, and took the path seriously, but in 2018, very suddenly, I found myself in another pit of depression and burned out again. I felt very confused and desperate, and questioned whether Buddhism was actually solving my existential issues. I realised that it wasn’t Buddhism, but my spiritual practise that was incomplete and lacking. I still didn’t understand what insight practise or awakening was, or what a complete path looked like, so I resolved to find answers.
After a two week solitary retreat in summer 2019, sitting in front of a wood carving of Guru Rinpoche the entire time, the answer came: that I needed to surrender my life to the Dharma and go wherever it took me. I decided that in order to awaken, I needed to become a monk, and literally an hour after I made this commitment from my heart, I discovered Amrita Baba and the Two-Part Formula to awakening. I read the “Awake!: handbook of awakening” and started practising that evening. A few weeks later I had my initial awakening.
Since, I have had many more awakenings and perfections, and things are very clear now. There are many confusing times and dark nights along the way, because the practises are so effective at bringing the karmic stuff up. Now things are less confusing, the existential pain is nearly gone, and at times the ‘self’ disappears altogether. My main practise so far has been Rainbow Body Yoga: the path of ‘wisdom and clarity’. However, it is obvious to me there is a long way to go, that I am just in the early stages of the so called path of ‘healing and light’, purification of the meridians. I don’t think complete freedom, or the full benefit of your practise to others, is found until both paths are complete. I have had small glimpses, and there is nothing that could compare to such lightness and freedom of body and mind.
It blows my mind how extraordinarily lucky I have been to stumble on such a path that takes one all the way in Amrita Mandala. I hope it is not long before others start realising it’s potential, and may all beings everywhere benefit.
Bhole Baba James Ferguson
Birmingham, United Kingdom
james@phetgallery.co.uk
I was born in 1969 into a family in the military. I was sent to boarding school when I was seven and stayed there for 11 years. This gave me feelings of low self worth, anxiety and anger that together formed the basis for developmental trauma that has stuck with me throughout my dhatmic life.
I went travelling at the age of 24 by which time I was drinking heavily and taking drugs. And I stayed away for 6 years. It was whilst in India that I came across ‘The Autobiography of a Yogi’ by Paramahansa Yogananda, I say came across, it felt like it flew off the book shelf at me, a most strange experience and one that completely changed the direction of my life.
After spending some time orientating myself on the Path, I settled with Aloka David Smith's ‘DharmaMind Group’ for around 15 years before joining the Amrita Mandala Sangha. After sitting with energy blocks for years in my Zen group with no real idea of their cause or best treatment, I have found the teachings of Baba immensely helpful.
My main experience and so understanding of, is how developmental trauma manifests in the body and the different ways to go about healing.
Amrita Uma Gwen
Birmingham, United Kingdom
drgwenhollis@hotmail.com
I was born post World War 2 into a family with few financial or emotional resources. At 5 yrs I was sent to a Plymouth Brethren Sunday school. I liked the Bible stories but was confused about the 'choruses' we sang ' Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin'. What did it mean?
At 6 I started at a strict and regimented Primary School. There seemed little joy or enjoyment in the World. At 11 my parents became Jehovah's Witnesses, and my next few Years were spent fighting involvement in this.It is only recently that I've been able to deeply connect with Jesus (Isha Natha).
In my 50's I became a member of the DharmaMind Zen Buddhist Group. Although I never seemed to get anywhere, and wasn't sure where I was meant to be going, I stayed with this for 10 years. Maybe because of my upbringing, I thought this austere approach was right for me.
By this time I had become a Clinical Psychologist, needing to examine the mind more closely.
When my Dharma teacher died, our search for another teacher led us to Amrita Baba. This has been the greatest blessing of my life. Initially I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Rainbow Body Yoga and my first live Retreat where I awakened. This was like a dried up seed receiving water and becoming alive.
After 6 years of practice , I opened my 10th Bhumi, which is known as 'Enlightenment, and I'm now practicing for the second stage of enlightenment, known as 'Lightbody'.
I'm teaching a Relaxation and Meditation class, in the hope of finding someone else with an unrecognised seed that is ready to burst into life, as mine did.
Thank you Amrita Baba for the excellence of your teaching.
Omkara Baba
Oregon, United States
bdkessler84@gmail.com
I live with my old dog Perkins and teach classes outside of Portland, Oregon. I was born in 1984 into a high achieving family. I always had a strong sense of wanting to do something important to help the world, but nothing seemed to work out and I was a perpetual dropout of any endeavor I pursued. I encountered dharma at age 15 and was very interested in the idea of Enlightenment but couldn't accept that you had to go live in a cave. So I joined the US Marine Corps instead and fought in the Afghanistan war.
My 20s was marked by trauma, loneliness, and depression. I started using psychedelic drugs to deal with these symptoms. Meanwhile I became completely disillusioned with worldly pursuits. In 2018 I had a spontaneous awakening. This began a phase of intense seeking during which I started looking for my teacher.
I found Amrita Baba in late 2020 and knew immediately that he was to be my teacher. I became an Acharya in 2023. Having the chance to spread the dharma and contribute to Amrita Mandala's mission is a priceless opportunity that I am eternally grateful for.
Robert Andersson
Stockholm, Sweden
robert.nils.andersson@gmail.com
Hello, my name is Robert and I live in Stockholm, Sweden. Here I will first give a brief overview of my time with Amrita Mandala, then I will tell you something about my seeking process, and finally how that led me to Amrita Baba why I choose to be a member of Amrita Mandala Sangha today.
I have been studying and practicing the teachings offered by Amrita Baba since 2016, received first empowerment in 2017, and during the covid-19 pandemic I underwent formal training to become a meditation instructor to lead local meditation groups in the Amrita Mandala training system. In September of 2021 I completed the Path of Wisdom and Clarity and have since then been working with practices more geared toward Light Body-completion. I am a lay practitioner with regular responsibilities like family and chores, and I work full time with computers for the educational branch of the city of Stockholm.
All my life it felt like there was something seriously wrong with me, or with the world I saw, although I never believed it fully. In my teen years I began taking an interest in altered states to get a clearer picture of things hoping that it would help me make better sense of the situation. When that had failed, and departing from the cradle of adolescence, the sense of desperation had seized a subliminal hold of my entire life. One day, around the end of my twenties, when I felt I had tried just about everything, I stumbled upon a simple act proposed by a gentleman named John Sherman. He said that there is a sensation, always present in our experience, that we call “me”, and that this sense of “me” could be felt directly, if we only looked for it deliberately. Without speculating too much I’m quite sure that, if I hadn’t done so and seen for myself that I was now and always fundamentally perfectly fine, my adult life would have been characterized by the same negativity I had so compulsively been trying to shake.
As my perspective shifted quite soon it became apparent that instead of working to help myself it would be of better use to try and help others, but it proved hard to do on my own. After almost two years of trial and error, I was drawn back to the teachings of the Buddha. Having used so much time and effort looking into what was promised to be the most universally beneficial transformation, what the Buddhists call the Rainbow Body of Great Transference, this new direction, in combination with sheer curiosity of what is ultimately possible, but also a deep fear of causing more harm than good in the end, were deciding factors that eventually led me to find Amrita Baba and Amrita Mandala Sangha. The key reason that I’m an active member of the Sangha today is that I feel a natural connection with my guru Amrita Baba. I also feel such a connection with many of the members of Amrita Mandala Sangha, and for all I can tell, the practices really work as they’re supposed to.
Patricia Gando
Lucerne, Switzerland
patgando@gmail.com
Acharya Pat lives in Lucerne, Switzerland and leads the Spanish Amrita Mandala Sangha. She has been practicing since 2019 in Amrita Mandala and completed the Instructor Training (Acharya) with Master Amrita Baba in 2023. Since 2023 she has led the weekly Amrita Mandala sessions in Spanish and soon Retiros. She also performs the Awakening accompaniments with the 2-Part Formula, with excellent results.
Along with her Passion of more than 15 years for Meditation and more recently for the Practices of the Essence (Mahamudra), including Vipashyana, Bhakti Yoga as well as for the unstoppable development of Dharma-motivation for the liberation of all sentient beings, Pat also shares a natural inclination for Traditional and Buddhist Clinical Psychology. As a professional physician specializing as a neurosurgeon in the United States and as a neurologist in Switzerland, she carries out a practice as a clinical neurologist with special interest in epilepsy and chronic pain.
In case you want to talk to Patricia 1-1 about Non-Dual Practice, you can contact her by writing to her email: patgando@gmail.com. See Amrita Mandala Espanol for more information on the Spanish speaking sangha.
Tiina Malinen
Helsinki, Finlnand
tiinam81@gmail.com
I have been an entrepreneur in the beauty care industry since 2005, which encompasses almost all my working years. The search for spiritual well-being began in 2015 when I was 34 years old. A few years back I had set up a new company, around the same time I started my postgraduate studies at the University of Applied Sciences. Long working days as an entrepreneur together with my studies forced me so tight that I became aware of my suffering. I was constantly looking for happiness and satisfaction outside of myself like work, constant doing, and partying. I had drowned myself with work and had absolutely no healthy boundaries to say no for new job proposals. This is where the research journey into my inner self began.
I read books, learned about the concept of awakening and went to a few yoga philosophy classes until I found Amrita Mandala. I had my first awakening experience in 2017 under the guidance of head teacher, guru Amrita Baba. I continued training under my Guru and from now on clarity of my mind began to stabilize and I began to experience increased contentment and peace. When I began to understand my true nature, I started to feel the happiness I always sought. That has become such a solid experience that I wish everyone to experience so I have trained as a teacher of mindfulness and relaxation. I want to help people also find permanent satisfaction in themselves.
I co-lead the Finnish sangha. See Amrita Mandala - Nondualistinen Meditaatio & Tantra Jooga for more information.
Helena Nymark
Helsinki, Finland
yogini.helena@gmail.com
Since a young age I have been intrigued by idea of finding that something that is unchangeable and stabile. What would remain if all excess was taken away, if everything was reduced to its bare essence? To that something where only the essence was left. I had my first awakening experience in 2015. Since then I have experienced more than twenty further awakenings and put in practice towards meridian purification. It's quite clear to me, that the constant movement and dirve we have to find something, comes from inside ourselves. We know we want to feel good, authentic, real and alive. So we take all kinds of actions, but all leave us feeling dissatisfied eventually. Nothing external feels like a permanent solution to happiness. If we want to get to the root of our wandering mind and address our own confusion and reactive mind, awakening is the first logical and instrumental step to take.
I am very thankful that I get to guide people who are interested in looking deeper inside. Seeing their willingness to put in the effort to work through what isn't serving them anymore. This is a rewarding way to pay forward what has been taught me and for me to share the enormous change practice has had on my life and outlook on life. What happened to finding that essence in everything? I found the answer through practice. It comes with the deepening understanding of the nature of things. We all share the same essence and base nature, free of confusion, biases, patterns, avoidance, preferences. Everything is inherently good and compassionate. Perfectly present in all experiences always…
I co-lead the Finnish sangha. See Amrita Mandala - Nondualistinen Meditaatio & Tantra Jooga for more information.