Swamini Shraddhananda Saraswati is the co-founder and director of the nonprofit Kula Kamala Foundation & Yoga Ashram spiritual school of yoga, located for the last seven years in a 21,000-square-foot former elementary school in Alsace Township. A staff comprising three full-time and two part-time employees provides classes, courses and retreats in spiritual education, yoga and meditation, as well as professional training in yoga, yoga therapy, spiritual leadership and Ayurveda. There are also several independent teachers and volunteers that assist with day-to-day operations.

Saraswati holds degrees and certificates from academic and non-academic realms. About how walking the path of peace has inspired her life, she says, “I have taken the time to become deeply educated in the humanities, environmentalism, ecology, spiritualism, religion, psychology and mindfulness. I have educated myself in such a way that I find it easy to meet people where they are. I strive to listen consciously, to hold a compassionate space for students, clients and community members. I hold myself accountable. I strive to abide in the ethics I teach, from non-violence to non-grasping, and from contentment to devotion. I do not ask anything of anyone that I myself am not willing to do. I have faith in our individual and combined capacity to embrace a healing path and to heal. I am unapologetic in my faith in unity. I feel it is important to inspire people through example. I try to be very honest as to my own flaws and work to improve them. I do not dictate anything to anyone, I am not trying to ‘sell you’ on it. Yoga is powerful in its own right. I am simply inviting everyone to see for themselves.”

As a child, Saraswati wanted to understand the existence of everything from bugs and snakes to stars and galaxies. “I longed to know the source and the purpose of everything,” she says. “The idea of life itself intrigued me. I would spend hours reading encyclopedias and conducting ‘research’ that tracked the migration of birds, as well as the cooperative work of ants. I was taken by people’s stories. I wanted to know and understand where they came from, what they experienced in life, and what their dreams were. Why were we connected? How? For what purpose? I also loved to see people smile. I felt there was an unexplained bigger picture, which now I understand to be the sacred nature of existence itself.”

She shares, “My spiritual calling to know the Goddess, the Divine Mother, came at a very early age. Raised Catholic, I would sit in church in front of Mother Mary for what seemed like hours at a time. I would talk to her and felt in my heart she was listening and nourishing me. She has had a lot to share with me... As I grew up, my interests focused in the humanities and I eventually became an anthropologist/archaeologist. My studies were diverse. They explored power-based relationships and food acquisition, gender roles and rituals, and human relationships to animals. My love for the Divine Mother, for people, animals, and all beings ... for the Earth herself, has led me to be where I am and to do the work I do today.”

As for the future, Saraswati shares, “I hope to be empowered to continue the work I am doing, to grow it into new areas and communities. I hope to teach more and more people about the path of peace, wellness and happiness. The reason I am called to follow this path is that the world has a yet untapped potential to nourish and support each and every one of us. Ninety percent of our suffering is unnecessary and can be avoided. That means there is within each of us a great potential to experience a lot more peace and happiness.”