My name is Dhanyo Scholten, my spiritual name Dharmananda.

As a child, we had a temple for Haidakhan Baba at home, where people came for weekly services. In 1991, the year I got my spiritual name; Dharmananda, ashram Sada Shiva Dham was openened and we closed the temple at home. Since then, I frequently visited the ashram, and my experiences there and on my travels in India have deeply shaped my life.

Also my uncles new-age shop ‘Himalaya’, where I worked and which was practically a living room to me between 1993 and 2012 has had a strong influence on the choices I made in my life.

Between 2002 and 2024 I have been working in my father’s natural pharmacy shop ‘Lavendula’ in the Westerstraat.

When I met Patrick and Gösta (the founders of the Svaha Yoga studio in Amsterdam) during the celebration of Guru Purnima in 2007, they asked me and my cousin to come and sing kirtan in their studio. We started a weekly kirtan there that is still going on to this day.

In March 2013, life made me a father. After a 4-year study I graduated as an Iokai-shiatsu practitioner in 2016 and despite physical injury I followed a year-training Vinyasa at Svaha Yoga in 2019.

In addition to the weekly kirtan, I also started monthly kirtans on Saturday and Monday mornings and together with friends weekend retreats in the ashram where we usually offer a blend of hatha yoga, karma yoga and kirtans as well take part of the ashram ceremonies.

This practice nourishes me deeply and to share it and inspire so many people with it, fills my heart with joy.

Om namah Shivay!