Anyone is welcome to join us in meditation. No prior sitting experience is required.

Introduction to the Kundalini Mahayoga practice before class can be arranged by

contacting us here at info@bodhivastu.org

Gurunam Pina (Stephanie JT Russell) is a second-generation teacher in the

lineage of Rudi (Swami Rudrananda). Founder-Director and principal teacher at

Samadhi Bhavana / Center for the Cultivation of Consciouness, she has practiced

Kundalini Mahayoga since 1986, and has taught the form since 1990. In the late

1990s, Pina’s work evolved into a non-dual sitting practice, Doing Nothing

Together. She teaches this work to advanced students who have steadily

practiced Kundalini Mahayoga meditation for more than two years.

For many years, the land where Bodhivastu is situated was the rural center of

Rudi’s work, carried on after his mahasamdhi by students and many authorized

teachers. Pina offers this work in support of Bodhivastu’s vision to share Rudi’s

history of Kundalini Mahayoga alongside Tibetan Buddhism and other intercultural

teachings on the land. Her ethos is also informed by awareness of the First People

who thrived in the region and whose imprint can still be felt.

Pina is a secular mystic. Her five decades as a student and teacher of inner work

embody wisdom integrations across Classical Yang Tai Chi and Taoist mysticism

(with T.K. Shih and Don Ann), Zazen and Cha-No-Yu (in Japan at the Oomoto

Center) and in New York with Yamada Sensei), Sufi practice (with “rapid method”

master, Adnan Sarhan). In 1985, she lived as a staff member at the Sivananda

Yoga Ashram in Woodbourne, NY. Pina studied with many teachers in the

Nyingma and Kagyu Tibetan lineages. A longtime practitioner of Naikan and

Morita, the root branches of Japanese psychology, she is degreed in acupressure,

shiatsu, and Reiki. As a peacebuilder, educator, and intercultural worker, she has

taught and facilitated in West Africa, Europe, the US and Canada