Diksha McCord

I teach full-time at The Expanding Light, Ananda's year-round retreat center in Northern California. I also co-lead (with my husband) spiritual travel to India, Israel, and Costa Rica. The India trip focuses on a combination of Yoga and Ayurveda. The Israel trip is a pilgrimage to Christian and Jewish holy sites; it is particularly dear to me as a native Israeli. In addition to teaching and training teachers of Ananda Yoga and Meditation, I created and host Online Vegetarian Cooking for Health and Vitality, a 4-season video series. I am also the author of three vegetarian cookbooks: Global Kitchen, The Sacred Kitchen and Vegetarian Cooking for Starters. It's my true joy to share Yoga's universal teachings with others. These profound teachings have shown me eternal truths as well as practical guidance on how to live in this world, and I want to help others fid the same so they can experience joy and peace in this chaotic world. As I teach, I share with my students in a spirit of love and respect. I feel that I learn as much from them as they learn from me. It's a beautiful experience of mutual giving and receiving. I bring a richly varied background to my teaching. I have a B.S. in Biology from Hebrew University and worked in the Neurobiology Department at the Medical School of Jerusalem for four years conducting research on the effects of alcohol on the brain. I am also a ceramic artist, and I have received numerous awards for my work, one of which was a 3-year scholarship in a Master's program in Fine Arts at Kyoto Art University in Japan.