Nena is the Executive Chairwoman of Tibet House US in NYC and its Menla Retreat and Dewa Spa in the Catskills. She was a successful fashion model in the 1950s and ’60s before becoming a psychotherapist. She has been married to Robert Thurman for over 50 years, and together they have raised four children, including Tibet House US Executive Director Ganden Thurman and renowned actress Uma Thurman. In 1991 Nena join the board of the newly established Tibet House US, and in 2001 she began working on establishing and developing Menla. Nena oversees the general management of Menla as well as all interior design. She spent six years overseeing all aspects of the design and construction of the Dewa Spa.

Krishna Das is a Grammy-nominated chant artist and has sung with people all around the world for over 35 years. His music offers the practice of chanting mantras– mostly in the Indian tradition, with some Buddhist and Gospel infusions. By sharing his life experiences on the path in his book Chants of a Lifetime, and workshops with people around the world, participants have found a way to integrate spiritual practices in their lives in a better way with some peace of mind. In 2018, Krishna Das released his 16th album “Peace of my Heart.” Learn more at www.krishnadas.com

Suggested Book & Recordings by Krishna Das

Chants of a Lifetime (Book), Kirtan Wallah (Music), Breath of The Heart (Music), Live Ananda (Music), Pilgrim Heart (Music), One Track Heart (Music), Heart As Wide As The World (Music) & Live Workshop from Menla (Audio).

To Learn More About Krishna Das please visit: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Nina Rao learned traditional chants from her grandfather in a village in south India when she was nine years old. The chants quietly stayed with her until she rediscovered chanting with Krishna Das in New York in 1996. For many years Nina has been Krishna Das business manager and assistant, and accompanies him musically. In 2007, she recorded the track ‘Nina Chalisa’ on Krishna Das’ CD “Flow of Grace” and in January 2013, she released her debut double-CD album, “Antarayaami – Knower of All Hearts“. She released her second album “Anubhav” in 2018. You can find her interviews on a number of podcasts, online courses, and documentary films on Bhakti Yoga, kirtan, and chanting the Hanuman Chalisa. She is also a podcast host on the Be Here Now Network. Nina regularly leads retreats, kirtan, and chanting of the Hanuman Chalisa, in her hometown of Brooklyn, New York and beyond. She is also founder and active chairwoman of SavingWildTigers.org. For more information visit NinaRaoChant.com

Michele Loew is an international yoga teacher & practitioner of Hatha & Tibetan Yogas & the co-founding director of the Vajra Yoga School of Comparative Buddhist & Indic Yogic Studies where sheco-teaches with Professor Robert A.F. Thurman at Menla & abroad.

She has taught, practiced, & studied avidly since 1998, and continues to run her longtime yoga school and beloved studio, The Yoga Space in Portland, Oregon. She is also on the Board of Tibet House US and is devoted to supporting His Holiness The Dalai Lama’s mission, as well as preserving Tibetan Culture and Dharma. You can find her often in New York sharing yoga at Tibet House or upstate at Menla Mountain Retreat.

Her love and commitment to the unexcelled yoga tantras of Vajrayana as a path we can take towards perfect enlightenment and the integration of those teachings with the Hatha yogas more broadly practiced today, seeing both as powerful and not separate extensions of one another, infuses her work with great joy & commitment to a more compassionate and awakened world.

She honors the lineage of teachers she comes from and bows to her longtime Hatha & Classical Yoga teacher, Richard Freeman for elucidating the middle path of love with the utmost clarity and kindness. To Robert Thurman, her beloved principle teacher in Buddhist science and her root guru His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the deepest bow for empowering her in the anuttara yogas.

Michele teaches regular classes and 200 & 500 YA trainings in Yoga & Yoga Nidra in Portland &; New York, as well as retreats and workshops internationally. Follow her on instagram @micheleloew

John Campbell has been practicing yoga and meditation for over thirty years. In 2002 he became one of the few instructors worldwide to be recognized as a Certified Teacher by the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore in southern India. He currently runs the Vajra Yoga program for Tibet House in New York City. A scholar of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, he received a PhD in Religion from Columbia University. He has been a Fulbright Fellow and taught at Columbia University and the University of Virginia, where he co-founded the Contemplative Sciences Center. He is a translator of Sanskrit and Tibetan texts from the yogic and tantric traditions of India and Tibet. His recent publications include The Esoteric Community Tantra by Vajradhara with the Illuminating Lamp by Chandrakirti (2020), the first in a series of commentaries on the Guhyasamāja Tantra co-translated with Prof. Robert Thurman. He is A native New Yorker, he lives with his wife, three children, and various cats and dogs in Newburgh, New York.

A celebrated astrologer and intuitive, Alexander Mallon has practiced for over 45 years, sharing his gifts with clientele spanning the globe, from NY to New Zealand. Alexander has been an avid telescope builder and amateur astronomer for nearly 50 years as well and incorporates his intimate knowledge of the sky and natural cycles into his professional consulting and coaching career. Discovering his calling very early in life, Alexander began his work professionally with private clients including corporate leaders, political figures, entrepreneurs, physicians, lawyers, artists and actors. Over the years he has been featured on numerous radio and television programs, and for 5 years was a guest co-producer of the call-in live TV program “New Planet” which aired in Manhattan and the San Francisco Bay area.

Alexander holds a Certificate of Astrological Study from the Astrological Research Center of New York and a degree in Art Therapy from Long Island University School of Visual and Performing Arts. He has also received training in Body Centered Gestalt Therapy at the Hartford Family Institute in Hartford, CT. Known for his compassionate style and also his direct laser-like insight, Alexander provides Consulting, Coaching and Counseling services for individuals, couples, and corporations. As an avid amateur astronomer and sky observer, Alexander also conducts classes and “experientials” in astronomy and sky lore at his private observatory in Charleston, SC.

Paul studied Chinese philosophy and history at Harvard and Columbia Universities. He has studied and practiced Classical Qigong with Kwan Sai-hung for over 30 years; Zen Buddhism with Roshi Joan Halifax, Roshi Enkyo O’Hara and Sensei Kazuaki Tanahashi; and Tibetan Buddhism with Professor Robert Thurman and Gelek Rinpoche. Paul has led Qigong workshops at the Omega Institute, Rhinebeck, NY; Tibet House, NYC; Menla Retreat, Phoenicia, NY; Casa Bellavista, Montezuma, Costa Rica; and at Buddhist retreats nationwide. He presently teaches throughout the Hudson Valley, including Menla Retreat Center and Zen Mountain Monastery in Mt. Tremper, and at Tibet House in NYC. He lives in Woodstock, NY. www.paulbloomqigong.com.

Lea Garnier has worked in the healing arts for over 25 years and is an established practitioner in the field. She is the Director of Sage Academy of Sound in Woodstock, NY which she founded in 2007. She is an Upledger trained Craniosacral Therapist, practicing since 1990.  She is a certified yoga instructor trained in the Desikachar lineage.  Lea is a student of the shamanic arts which inspired her ongoing interest in therapeutic sound for healing, which led to the organization in 2010 of the first annual comprehensive Sound Healing retreat in the northeast, The Sound Healing Retreat Intensive.  Now in its 15th year, it is an ongoing platform created specifically for the pioneers of sound healing to come together and share their knowledge and wisdom,  often resulting in deeply transformational experiences for participants.

Due to its massive appeal, and to meet the demands  of this emerging healing modality, Sage created The Sound Healing Certification Program in 2013. The program focuses on the fundamental areas of sound healing and caters to an international audience of practitioners working in the healing arts. In 2013 Gong Camp, with 91-year-old master Don Conreaux was created.  In 2014 Lea created an innovative program integrating sound healing and various styles of yoga, specifically Yin and Vinyasa.  This grew into a teacher training called The Yoga of Sound, a Nada Yoga Retreat.

More here: https://sageacademyofsound.com/our-programs