Ananda Dhara Yoga Village: Helping People Attain Bliss, Part 1 of 3

Today, we are privileged to introduce you to Rutger Tamminga, the co-founder of a special institution that endeavors to spread the yoga spirit, the Ananda Dhara Yoga Village – Center for Applied Neohumanism. Based in Taichung City, Taiwan, also known as Formosa, the center was established in 1995 by Mr. Tamminga, who is originally from the Netherlands, and Mohamukta of Formosa. Ananda Dhara, which means “abode of bliss” in Sanskrit, is a place aspiring to promote and apply the Neohumanism philosophy of the venerated Indian spiritual guru Sri Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, also known as Baba, through many initiatives, including yoga and wellness classes for different age groups and people with special needs, group meditation, yoga teacher training, and storytelling workshops. Starting from scratch 25 years ago, the couple eventually established this mountain spiritual retreat center in a beautiful setting. They have also founded a kindergarten, published an assortment of yoga-themed educational materials for children such as storybooks, music CDs, and kindergarten curriculums. In this episode, Rutger shares his perspectives on yoga and now provides an overview of the practice. Mr. Tamminga feels yoga practitioners should pay close attention to diet and discusses his vegetarian lifestyle. “Part of the reason why the world is heating up is because of meat production. But to come back to the yoga side of our diet, there are other foods we also avoid taking. Apart from meat, we don’t eat eggs. They are not good for our mental peace. This kind of sensitivity develops when you practice more. The idea of yoga is to develop a purer mind, a more stable and peaceful mind. And our food affects how we think.” Yoga has also been shown to help children with attention problems, as well as to support executive function development. “We also do yoga with children who have special needs. And together with my wife we have a kindergarten, and in our school, we get children who have maybe developmental problems. And we have found yoga to be beneficial to these children also. So actually, yoga is for everyone, but it needs to be adjusted according to every person.”