When we meet someone new, we first want to know their name. Since you are just meeting me, you may be wondering about all of my names! So, I’ll begin this autobiographical sketch with an explanation of my names.

When I was born, on January 29^th, 1970, my parents named me Rachel Ann, two very spiritual names. Rachel means Compassion (or Lamb) of God, and Ann means Grace. In Spanish classes, my name was “Raquel,” another beautiful name. Then, when I wrote my first book (The Rita Lila: A Western Yogini’s Journey to Bliss), I needed to change all the names in that memoir (to protect the innocent!), so I adopted the pseudonym and pen name Rita Ann Shankara, which I then also used for my second book, Love Soups: A Vegetarian Soup Cookbook Inspired by the Soup Devas.

I chose the name Rita because it has some history as a name in Ireland, and my Grandma frequently reminds me that I am part Irish. Later I learned that in Sanskrit the word Rita means “Truth.” I chose Shankara because it is one of the names of the Hindu god Shiva, and it means “Giver of Peace and Happiness.”

Then, I met my beloved Guru Ammachi, who is popularly known as the hugging saint and who is recognized as one of the world’s top ten religious/spiritual leaders, alongside the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Grand Rabbi of Israel, the Grand Ayatollah, and the Dalai Lama. Amma gave me the name Tejaswini, which means full of light, radiant, and bright. So! I have now legally changed my name to Tejaswini Rachel Ann Shankara, and I am going by Teja Shankara. (With this name change, I dropped the last names of my parents and of my former husband.)

In taking the last name of Shankara, it is my intention to remember that my first husband – my highest priority in life – is God… and the connections I have with earthly men are secondary to my true Beloved. (To read about my lilas – divine plays – with the masculine, check out my memoir, The Rita Lila: A Western Yogini’s Journey to Bliss.)

You may be wondering what “yogini” means. A yogini is a female practitioner of yoga. (Yogi is the masculine form, meaning a male practitioner of yoga.) “Yoga” literally means “Union” – Union with the Divine, Union with our deepest Being or Self – so a yogini is a woman who performs spiritual practices designed to take one to that state of Union.

There are many branches or paths in Yogic philosophy. I am on the path of Raja Yoga, which is the Yoga of meditation, and it also incorporates aspects from four other Yoga paths: Jñana Yoga, the path of knowledge; Kundalini Yoga, the path of working with the energies in the chakras and subtle body; Karma Yoga, the path of selfless service; and Bhakti Yoga, the path of devotion. I do spiritual practices from all of those paths. (I describe those practices in detail in my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living.)

I have always loved religion and ritual. Born into a Catholic family, I thoroughly enjoyed the richness of Catholicism’s stirring prayers, glowing candles, fragrant incense, and the colorful stained glass images of saints. At age 23 I switched to Judaism for ten years, during which time I also studied Buddhist, Daoist, Native American, and Muslim sacred teachings. Then, at age 33, I was suddenly quite powerfully drawn to India, Hinduism, and the Raja Yoga Path. I immediately felt HOME with the Yogic teachings and practices.

Now I consider myself to be a cheerleader for spiritual practices. I do not intend to push my path on anyone – I value all paths that lead people to more Love. I follow the way of Gandhi-ji and Ammachi, two great beings who say that Love of God is Love of God, regardless of the means used to express and experience that Love. People of all faiths go to see Amma and she does not ask anyone to change their religion. Rather, she encourages people to learn the beautiful essence of their own religion’s teachings. For me, the practices of studying Yogic philosophy, meditating, and chanting are leading me ever deeper into the Bliss of my heart.

Although spiritual practices are the most important part of my life journey, they are not the only thing in my life. I am not a sanyasini (renunciate nun) clothed in orange robes, nor have I taken the golden yellow robe of a brahmacharini (celibate disciple) – watch for an entry about that topic soon on the Teja Blog.

While I do wear prayer shawls of orange and gold shades, I am still a householder yogini with a regular western life. I live in a cozy, colorful cottage with my two bright pre-teen sons, who live half-time at their Papa’s house a few miles away. So I am a divorced mama who has lived in the same town for over sixteen years.

After college (Political Science and Spanish double major) in the Midwest, I moved to Seattle to be with a man who I’d fallen in love with at the tender age of 19. Unfortunately, we broke up soon after I arrived, leaving me heartbroken in a new city that was 3,000 miles from home. Less than a year later I left Seattle, met my boys’ father, got married, had kids, and got divorced when our boys were 3 and 6 years old.

As an at-home mama for over twelve years, I took a lot of trainings and worked part-time in the following capacities: lactation counselor, childbirth educator, labor doula, postpartum doula, caregiver, meditation instructor, and counselor. I also self-published two books: The Rita Lila: A Western Yogini’s Journey to Bliss and Love Soups: A Vegetarian Soup Cookbook Inspired by the Soup Devas.

This past year I worked for a few months as an administrative assistant in a medical office, which I totally enjoyed. After six years of primarily focusing on my own spiritual growth, it was so great to get out of my ‘story’ and work with other people. Watch for a Teja Blog entry about this job experience.

While working on my new book, Radiance Rising: Spiritual Practices for Daily Living, I began training to be a Reiki practitioner. Reiki (pronounced “Ray-key”) is a gentle, hands-on energy healing system. Through a series of magical synchronicities, I was led to this ancient Eastern healing art. Watch for more information about Reiki on the Teja Blog.

Recently I began offering Radiance Rising Circles, which are Gandhi-style interfaith gatherings to spark the inner Light through shared silent meditation, spiritual teachings, poems, and songs from sacred traditions. To read more about these gatherings, go to my Events Calendar page. To invite me to facilitate Radiance Rising Circles, send me an email through my Contact page. I am available to teach meditation and other spiritual practices to individuals and groups in a variety of settings, including schools, businesses, corporate retreats, churches, and prisons.

It is my intention to spread the seeds of spirituality far and wide, because the spiritual practices I’ve been doing for the past six years have radically changed me for the better. I have healed myself almost entirely of depression, migraine headaches, anxiety, insomnia, and destructive thought patterns.

On my journey as a raja yogini, I intend to keep opening my heart more and more each day, so that the Radiance rising within me will shine out and help heal this earth. May the Radiance rising within you do the same. Namaste. I bow to the Divine within you that is also within me.

May all beings everywhere know the Bliss of Peace and Happiness.

Om Shanti (Peace),