Swami Ravi Rudra Bharati (Rudolph Ballentine, MD), Founder

Swami Ravi (or Rudiji) had already been appointed clinical professor of psychiatry at LSU in New Orleans before he went to India in 1973 where he met his teacher. He trained in homeopathy and ayurveda there and returned to help with the fledgling Himalayan Institute, where under the supervision of his teacher, he set up a combined therapy program and developed a chain of holistic medical centers in the Northeast and Midwest. After writing Radical Healing as a completion of his medical and psychiatric career in 1998, he turned to teaching the principles of tantra that had run through his 20 years of study under Swami Rama. He took his sannyasa in the fall of 2016, and now teaches and writes at Dancing Shiva.

Garrell Bevirt

Garrell Bevirt, Administrative Director

Garrell Bevirt is an artist, designer, dreamer and currently a student, practitioner, and teacher of yoga, meditation and tantra. For the last five years he has been immersed in a full time, live in tantra/yoga/meditation/permaculture mentorship/teacher training with Swami Ravi Rudra Bharati (Rudolph Ballentine MD), who himself underwent twenty years of intensive training with his teacher, Swami Rama of the Himilayas. Garrell’s yoga training has also been influenced by Diane Long a practitioner and teacher of Vanda Scaravelli Yoga.  Garrell is the operational and development director for Dancing Shiva where he lives and stewards the land.  Dancing Shiva is a Tantra Monastery and Retreat Center within an ecovillage near Asheville, NC. Garrell is dedicated to offering folks tools and attitudes to balance inner and outer life.  He has co-facilitated workshops in Costa Rica, Mexico, Hawaii, North & South Carolina, NY and soon in Alaska. Garrell is passionate about helping folks weave their spirituality and sexuality through movement, meditation, connection and play.

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