AWAKENING COMMUNITY CIRCLES
Radiant Health and Spiritual Empowerment forAll
For anyone searching for deeper connectedness, our by-donation Circles are an opportunity to share from your heart, to recharge, and to walk away inspired and renewed
We all want to feel seen and heard by others on a deep level and to be held by community. The technology that allows us to talk with anyone around the planet nearly instantaneously can also hold us back from actually connecting with each other.
Studies have shown that having meaningful social connections helps you live longer. In our high-tech world where social media has replaced face-to-face interactions, it’s no wonder so many of us feel so alone. And we don’t even have to be “alone” to feel this isolation – many of us feel trapped in relationships with our partner or relatives who don’t understand us.
About Awakening Community Circles
Awakening Community Circles offer an inspirational, authentic heart-based space for inner growth and greater well-being. Through facilitated sacred sharing, we collectively awaken personal, social and community well-being, allowing for profound connections with our own innate wholeness, each other and our planet. People of all ages, traditions and life experiences are welcome.
“True peace between nations will only happen when there is true peace within people’s souls.” – Native American Proverb
Being in this safe space helps us erase the lines of separation and feel more connected to ourselves and to others. It’s amazing how much we all have in common, and how it is possible for people who have never met before to be able to share so authentically with each other in these Circles.
Join Us to Experience:
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Your own inner wisdom
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Rich, authentic sharing from people of all walks of life
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Being honored for who you really are by compassionate facilitators and a caring community
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Themed circles of sharing on real life issues (like navigating change, self-love, independence)
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Rich sharing from people of all walks of life
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Some circles incorporate creative projects to help you to move from your head to your heart
Awakening Community Circles: Inspiration
The Awakening Community Circles program team is inspired by Vedika's founder Acharya Shunya’s great-teacher and personal great-grandfather. Paramatman Shanti Prakash, a 19th century renowned Vedanta Guru in India, was a social reformer, creator of the Adi Bhagwad Gita (a sacred scripture), and a role model in the way he devoted his entire life to serving and uplifting his community. In 1931, Parmatman Shanti Prakash established the historic Sadharan Dharma Sabha and Sangha, a Veda inspired spiritual and humanitarian foundation, and laid the ground for his pioneering ‘Sarva Arogyam Sarva Mukti Movement’, a Sanskrit phrase meaning “Radiant Health and Spiritual Empowerment for All”. This historic mission has resurfaced in 21st century America, as the tagline and guiding vision for the Awakening Community Circles program.
Arogya Mandala was a special social service initiative that Parmatman Shanti Prakash set up as early as 1900. The Mandala restored dharma (universal values) and hope in society, and fostered community support during a time when the presence of colonial rulers had left Indians feeling greatly alienated, disempowered and demoralized in terms of their cultural heritage and pride. At a time when the caste system was heavily prevalent in India, Bade Baba brought people together across caste and class differences by exploring mutual spiritual inter-connectedness and a conscious life. In this modern time of great division in our country and the world at large, the Awakening Community Circles, inspired by Parmatman Shanti Prakash’s life of service, offers a platform where we can stand together in the truth that we are all connected. The Circles are the medium for creating space to deepening our innate yet often forgotten humane-interconnectedness.
A Letter from Awakening Community Circle Co-Directors Janya and Sreedev
Dear Ones,
We cordially invite you to join us for an upcoming Awakening Community Circle (formerly Mandala Circle). These programs are offered on a by-donation basis to the community and are a wonderful way to meet kindred spirits and gain valuable perspective on life.
What has moved us the most is the honor of bearing witness to the “a-ha” moments when participants experience and/or articulate something that connects deeply within them. We also love how our Circle participants are willing to take risks by sharing authentically from the heart.
We look forward to having you join us for an upcoming Circle.
Warm wishes,
Janya and Sreedev
Upcoming Events
Welcoming Rest, Renewal and RejuvenationSat, Oct 06Vedika Global- December 2018 CircleSat, Dec 08Vedika Global
Meet Your Awakening Community Circles Facilitator Team
(Circles are typically co-facilitated by 2 members of the team on a rotating basis)
Janya Tuere Anderson, LCSW
is a Vedika Certified Ayurveda Health Counselor, Co-Director of Vedika’s Awakening Community Circles program and Director of Strategy and Development for Acharya Shunya's Awakening Health Center. She serves as Clinical Director for Alameda County Health Care Services Agency's Center for Healthy Schools and Communities. Janya is grateful to Vedika for revealing a beautiful path of holistic health with Ayurveda, Yoga and Vedanta. She feels inspired to serve the Awakening Community Circle, as she believes that awakening community through deep relationship connections to self and others is the key to health.
Sreedev Michael Newman, MA
is a Vedika Certified Ayurveda Health Practitioner and serves as Co-Director of Vedika's Awakening Community Circles program and as the primary organizer of the Ayurveda Community of the SF Bay Area meetup group. He presently works in the fields of higher education and executive coaching, and volunteers with Embracing the World, the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA) and Vedika Global. His educational background includes a BA degree in Communication and an MA degree in Consciousness and Transformative Studies. He is inspired by the sacred sharing in Awakening Community Circles, and feels blessed to have the opportunity to witness the awakening of health and consciousness within our commUNITY.
Soumya Kristin Mattias, MSW
is a Vedika Certified Ayurveda Health Educator and Awakening Community Circles Facilitator. She serves as a Waldorf school Food Manager, where she cooks Ayurvedic food for the student body. Soumya has a Bachelor's degree in Communications from St. Mary's College and a Master's degree in Social Work from San Francisco State University. She is inspired to facilitate Awakening Community Circles to support Vedika and Acharya Shunya's mission to awaken health and consciousness and to embrace beauty, joy, and unity in humanity.
Karen Schneider, MS, OTR/L
is a Vedika Certified Ayurveda Health Practitioner and Awakening Community Circles Facilitator. She works as an Occupational Therapist, a field she’s practiced in for 22 years. She has taught yoga to diverse populations since 2000, has a bachelors degree in psychology, and a graduate degree in occupational therapy. Karen feels inspired by the potent transmission of Ayurvedic, Vedantic and Yogic knowledge from ancient sages to Vedika students via the expert guidance of Acharya Shunya and her wise family lineage. She enjoys facilitating Awakening Community Circles as a way to be part of Vedika’s mission to awaken health and healing for all those who come seeking this pathway to wellness.
What People Are Saying
Vaidehi
“It was a beautiful experience to share and contemplate in an atmosphere with kindred spirits. I shall carry the learnings and continue to be enriched by them. The questions to contemplate, the sequence of activities and the opportunity to hear the ways people are addressing their challenges, similar streams going through everyone's lives, brought peace and light.”
Rajni
“I appreciated the energy and sacred space and the openness of the participants.”
Sukhdeep
"The Awakening Community Circle is a unique platform offered by Vedika to share around a common theme. It is a wonderful opportunity to discover unity in the infinite experiences and ideas expressed within the circle. We made “Soul Cards” out of magazine cuttings and scrap book material, using our scissors and glue to create a vision to reflect our love for ourselves and others. It was a beautiful experience.”
Lara
“Just the kind of introspective conversations I love to have. And, such brilliant people to share them with!”
Feel free to read a blog written by a past Circle participant
PS: Be sure to RSVP for our next by-donation Awakening Community Circle. And feel free to invite friends, family members and/or co-workers. Click here to view upcoming offerings on the Ayurveda Community of the SF Bay Area Meetup group. We cordially invite you to join the group to be notified of future offerings (you can join meetup with your Facebook or Google login). We look forward to connecting with you! Namaste.