About Us

Dada Daneshananda

Dada Daneshananda learnt meditation and yoga from the Ananda Marga Yoga Society in his native Norway at the age of 17.   At the age of 19 he dedicated his life to social service and the spreading of the universal teachings of yoga.  After completing training in Sweden, he was posted to Denver, Colorado, where he was based for nine years before moving to New York City.

 

From 1977 to 1992, Dada traveled widely in the United States teaching yoga and meditation. While based in the U.S., Dada also found time to set up villages, schools and health projects in rural Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

 

From 1992 to 1995, Dada was based in South East Asia, teaching yoga and meditation in the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia.  Returning the U.S. in 1996 he took charge of the Ananda Marga North American Office in Queens.  

 

In 2000 Dada moved to West Africa to work with AMURT (Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team). From 2000 to 2009, Dada established water projects, primary healthcare, and maternal health projects in Ghana's Volta Region and Oudalan Province in northern Burkina Faso, near the Mali border.  These projects have become a model for sustainability, as community and government partners took over, allowing AMURT to withdraw. 

 

In 2010, Dada relocated to establish AMURT in Nigeria. AMURT has built a sustainable and replicable model for meeting the primary healthcare needs of rural communities through a partnership involving the communities, private sector and government. 

 

Throughout the last 24 years in West Africa, Dada has continued to teach yoga and meditation.

Lee Hass (Ac. Liila)

Lilla first came to Martha's Vineyard as a two-year old and has been returning on and off ever since. She currently resides on the island state of Tasmania, Australia, but returns frequently to the U.S.

 

Liila has been practising and teaching yoga and meditation for over 30 years. Trained in India and the Americas, she has delivered classes and workshops in schools, universities, prisons, adult education settings, hospitals, and online, She holds a Master's degree in Counselling, for which she wrote a thesis on the efficacy of yoga therapy for anxiety. Her research work was featured on Southern Cross Television in Australia.

 

Additionally, Liila is a registered Naturopath and supports clients from around the world, using nutrional and herbal medicine to alleviate a number of health complaints. When not at her day job, Liila runs yoga and meditation retreats in Australia, Mexico and the USA. Liila also leads tours to India, where she teaches yoga and meditation and coordinates visits to some of the planet's most inspiring spiritual hotspots (see onenessworldtravel.com for more information).

Charles Silberstein

For 25 years Charles Silberstein was the only psychiatrist at Martha's Vineyard Hospital.   He is currently the medical director at Island Counseling Center at Martha's Vineyard Community Services.  Starting in his teen years, he studied and practiced yoga, visited ashrams and at 18 traveled to India where he spent several months.  Distracted by medical studies and training, he lost his focus on spirituality until 2008 when he experienced transcendence through holotropic breathing.  He subsequently wrote an academic chapter and an article for the Martha's Vineyard Times on Psychiatry and Spirituality. Since 2012 he has been training in Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS).  He will be leading a workshop using IFS techniques to explore spirituality.

Arthur Pacheco (Aloka Deva)

Arthur Pacheco (Aloka Deva) is a recent immigrant to the US from Brazil, and has been teaching yoga, and specifically Ananda Marga style, for over 15 years. He has organized many retreats and trainings in meditation, dance, spiritual philosophy, and a social change theory called PROUT. He has also helped lead several community sustainability projects in and around São Paulo. Arthur’s favorite way to practice his English is to watch Big Bang Theory.

Anna Gibson (Anandii)

Anna Gibson (Anandii) has been practicing yoga and dance for the past five years. She lived in Brazil and taught yoga online during the pandemic, and is now back in her hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, getting her Masters in Social Work. Anna is also a poet and musician, and loves to take long walks in the woods.