RIVER OF LIFE RETREAT STAFF

Tyler Freedman

Tyler Freedman lives in Boulder, Colorado where he is receiving his Masters degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Wilderness Therapy. Tyler is the lead of AWAKE, a member of the AWAKE Council and a Master Teacher for H.H. Sai Maa. Tyler has been a mentor and leader in AWAKE for over the past three years. He finds his passion and joy in playing and growing with other
humans and being outdoors. He enjoys hiking, playing soccer and sitting in areas with beautiful vistas.
Occasionally, you can also find Tyler indoors behind a soundboard running audio/visual equipment for H.H. Sai Maa. Tyler is also a certified Wilderness First Responder.

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Lela Henderson

Lela Henderson works and lives in a spiritual community – The Temple of Consciousness Ashram in Crestone, Colorado. Lela is a visual artist, musician and lover of dance. She applies her passion in these areas with her devotion and love of spirituality in creating and facilitating a variety of programs for children and young adults. Lela's passion for diverse cultures and spiritual traditions has brought her to over fifteen countries around the world and has shaped her life and all of her creative endeavors. Lela holds a B.A. in Expressive Arts and is a certified Master Teacher by H.H. Sai Maa Lakshmi Devi.

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Jonathan Mitchell

Jonathan Mitchell, MA, LPC, CGT holds a Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology (emphasis in Wilderness Therapy) and has been working with youth and families for over 9 years. He currently lives in Durango, Colorado, working as a wilderness therapist for youth and families. He has a passion for working and playing in the wilderness (e.g., therapy, rock climbing, paddling, meditating) and is absolutely impassioned with aiding youth in unveiling the explosion of life that they are! Jonathan especially loves leading rites of passage ceremonies and faciltiating youth experiencing the wilderness. Finally, Jonathan is trained as a Wilderness First Responder, a Master Teacher of H.H. Sai Maa Lakshmi Devi, a Certified Gestalt Psychotherapist, Licensed Professional Counselor and a NOLS Rock Climbing and Backpacking Instructor.

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Oakley Ogden

Oakley has been a resident of Boulder, Colorado for five years where she earned her Masters Degree in Counseling from Naropa University. She has been working with teenagers and young adults from ages 13 to 28 for over six years and has recently worked with young children, families, and elders through her internship at Naropa University. Oakley is a life-long facilitator of soulful awakening, dedicated to serving the young adults of this world in realizing their infinite potential as enlivened expressions of Life! She is versed in dance, art, massage, body-centered therapeutic techniques, energetic healing, meditation skills, story-telling, laughter, as well as telemark skiiing and big ideas! She is a founding member of AWAKE and co-facilitator of the Awkening Souls Retreat.

AWAKENING SOULS RETREAT STAFF

Vivekanand Brahmachari

Vivekanand graduated from MIT with a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science. He is currently a software engineer for a start-up company in Mountain View, California. His experience working with young people comes through acting as a staff member of the Awakening Souls Retreat, as a Youth Master Teacher, and Co-Lead for Youth Master Teachers.

Jai Shree Devi Brahmacharini

Jai Shree Devi is a youth teacher, leader and founding member of AWAKE: A Global Movement of Awakening Youth. She currently lives at the Temple of Consciousness Ashram in Crestone, Colorado where her daily life is dedicated to service, teaching, community life and realization of Self. As a student and trained “Master Teacher” of Her Holiness Sai Maa Lakshmi Devi, her greatest commitment is to empower and inspire young people and adults to embody the full expression of life. Jai Shree Devi holds a B.A. in Women’s Studies from Colorado College and has worked in the areas of advocacy and education with women in various stages of life. She has served as the lead of AWAKE for three years as well as co-facilitating AWAKE’s annual summer youth retreat for four years.

Tyler Freedman

Tyler lives in Boulder, Colorado where he is receiving his Masters degree in Transpersonal Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Wilderness Therapy. Tyler is one of AWAKE’s co-leads, a member of the AWAKE Council, and a Master Teacher for H.H. Sai Maa. He has attended the past three Awakening Souls Retreats as a participant and twice as a staff member. Tyler looks forward for these two weeks throughout the year, as he feels this retreat is… Awesome! He finds his passion and joy in playing and growing with other humans and being outdoors. He enjoys hiking, playing soccer, and sitting in areas with beautiful vistas. Occasionally, you can also find Tyler indoors behind a soundboard running audio/visual equipment for Sai Maa. Tyler is also a certified Wilderness First Responder.

Lela Henderson

Lela works and lives in a spiritual community – The Temple of Consciousness Ashram, in Crestone, Colorado. Lela is a visual artist, musician, and lover of dance. She applies her passion in these areas with her devotion and love of spirituality in creating and facilitating a variety of programs for children and young adults. Lela's passion for diverse cultures and spiritual traditions has brought her to over fifteen countries around the world and has shaped her life and all of her creative endeavors. Lela holds a B.A. in Expressive Arts and is a certified Master Teacher by H.H. Sai Maa Lakshmi Devi.

Sai Mayi Magram

Sai Mayi graduated from the National Holistic Institute in 2005, where she studied massage therapy, energy work, anatomy and health education. She currently has her own healing practice out of Oakland, California. Before developing her business, she spent most of 2005 performing with a company founded in Balinese arts. The show she was part of integrated acrobatics, dance, music and theatre into a 3-hour play, fusing east and west in the telling of the Ramayana. Sai Mayi spends much of her time studying and practicing music, dance, acrobatics and acroyoga. She has also spent time over the years assisting and co-facilitating healing journeys for men and women with the organization Celebration of Being.

Jonathan Mitchell

Jonathan holds a Masters Degree in Counseling (Wilderness Therapy) and has been working with youth and families for over 8 years. He is currently a long-term resident at the Temple of Consciousness Ashram in Crestone, Colorado and works as a psychotherapist for youth and families. He has a passion for working and playing in the wilderness (e.g., therapy, rock climbing, paddling, meditating) and is absolutely impassioned with aiding youth in unveiling the explosion of life that they are! Jonathan especially loves leading rites of passage ceremonies and faciltiating youth experiencing the wilderness. Finally, Jonathan is trained as a Wilderness First Responder, a Youth Master Teacher of H.H. Sai Maa Lakshmi Devi, a Gestalt Psychotherapist, and a NOLS Rock Climbing and Backpacking Instructor.

Becky Morrison

Raised in the concrete jungle, baby Becky used to be terrified of grass and shrubbery. Oh, how the times have changed! Now she can’t wait to kiss Brooklyn goodbye and fly to Colorado to kick it with her extended ASR family. By day, Becky works as a freelance Production Manager for movies & commercials and is currently working on the visuals for U2’s world tour. By night, she can be found meditating, globe-trotting, African dancing, eating popcorn or watching “The Wire”.

Oakley Ogden

William Starsiak

William currently lives in Suwannee, Georgia where he attends an osteopathic medical college. He graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelors Degree in Environmental Science before attending medical school. He is very interested in the interaction/relationship between the state of the body and the state of the mind and how the mind can relate to the Source, to God. Biofeedback, energy work, body work modalities, new healing approaches using technology, Jungian psychiatry, and optimal nutrition are a few examples of topics which interest him. He has experience and skill in osteopathic manipulative medicine, massage, Basic Life Support, yoga, swimming, and all the things involved in being one of Sai Maa’s Youth Master Teachers. He has been with AWAKE for four years now and the parent organization, HIU, for about seven. To him, AWAKE holds the container in which youth discover who they are in truth. AWAKE is a community, a movement, of youth creating, celebrating, and working together to bring more joy on this planet!

Trent Trujillo

Trent is 28 years old and has education and professional experience as a Mercedes Benz Diagnostic Technician. At the end of 2008 he left that career path to create more freedom to accomplish his other aspirations and passions to serve, travel, and continue other studies. He is now residing in Crestone, Colorado where he is able to serve by helping Generation Awake and preparing for the Awakening Souls Retreat. This August Trent will be returning to India for the second time this year to help organize and distribute Vitamin A and de-worming pills to thousands of Children in India through a project called 20/20. Trent has also studied the Science of Handwriting and his now offering handwriting analysis services and sells a course and books on-line specific to this topic. For recreation he enjoys riding his dirt bike in the high deserts of New Mexico.