“I love Mother Maya not only because she bears the Buddha’s Mother’s name, but because she is a driving force for women’s empowerment and peace. H.H, The Dalai Lama
Maya Tiwari
A spiritual pioneer, Maya Tiwari serves humanity by awakening the spirit of ahimsa, or harmony, in every person whose life she touches. For thirty years, she has put this ability to inspire and create change in human behavior and understanding to work -through education, outreach, and service to humankind. Through this steadfast commitment, Maya has helped to nourish, nurture, and heal thousands of individuals, families and communities, while transcending cultural and social barriers as she spreads her message of Ahimsa.
Maya established the Wise Earth School of Ayurveda in 1981, with the vision of restoring the long lost Inner Medicine® principles and practices of Ayurveda, known as sadhana. Wise Earth is the first school for Ayurveda education in North America, through which Maya has personally trained hundreds of practitioners from a vast geographical area. A very select number of Wise Earth Master Teachers, personally trained by Maya, now serve on the School’s faculty.
In addition to the Wise Earth School, Maya is also the founder of both the Mother Om Mission and the Living Ahimsa Foundation. Through the Mother Om Mission, her revolutionary work in spiritual healing education has served scores of at-risk communities in Guyana, India, and the United States, and hundreds of volunteer instructors have been trained to help serve these communities. Through the Living Ahimsa Foundation community organizers are taught to spread the profound practices that foster peace by shifting individual awareness, creating and protecting inner harmony as a first priority.
Maya’s Inner Medicine® health and spirituality programs, deeply rooted in Ayurveda, are taught at the Wise Earth School and the Mission. Also taught through these institutions is Maya’s Living Ahimsa® work, which is based on the principle of inner harmony, and honors the sanctity of all beings, nature and her sacred resources. Affectionately called the “Mother of Ahimsa,” Maya initiated the Living Ahimsa World Tour in 2009 to spread her message of peace around the globe. As of 2013 the Tour has impacted thousands, logging over 500 events in just five years.
Maya has been recognized on the worldwide platform for her tireless commitment to inspiring health, wholeness and peace. For her pioneering work in Ayurveda education, Maya received the prestigious Dhanvantari International Award in 2011. She is the recipient of AAPNA’s Rishi Award for her outstanding work in Ayurveda. For her dedication to creating inner harmony, health and wellness in the world, Maya was honored with the distinction of World Peace Leader by the Parliament of the World’s Religions.
Maya is the author of many books on health, wellness, and spirituality, through which her potent spirit of ahimsa touches the hearts of people across the world. Her books include: Living Ahimsa Diet: Nurturing Love & Life, Women’s Power to Heal: Through Inner Medicine; The Path of Practice: A Woman’s Book of Ayurvedic Healing; Ayurveda: A Life of Balance; Ayurveda Secrets of Healing, and her most recent work, a meditative journal called, Love! A Daily Oracle for Healing.
For more than two decades, Maya has been addressing large audiences of wellness, health and inter-faith conferences on topics ranging from Ayurveda and Ahimsa (inner harmony and our innate power to heal), to Self-realization. Maya is a seasoned keynote speaker, and was honored by her selection as the Keynote Presenter at the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions, in Melbourne, Australia. Alongside the Dalai Lama and great men and women of faith, Maya’s address had a dramatic impact on the consciousness of each of its participants. Her focus on the theme of global reconciliation as seen through the lens of her Living Ahimsa work is a reflection of Maya’s philosophy: “By cultivating personal awareness of ahimsa we can find a common language that needs no words-a communion centered in the heart of oneness. If each one of us makes a commitment to inner harmony, we will surely succeed in achieving the ultimate goal of our human destiny-that of a spiritual freedom that unites us. Ultimately, it is the work of awareness within the individual person that will change the world for the better.”
Maya served for two decades as a Vedic monk, belonging to India’s prestigious Veda Vyasa lineage. In 2010, Maya made the radical decision to renounce her monastic title and spiritual moniker-Her Holiness, Sri Swami Mayatitananda. This decision was made, as she puts it, “walk a simpler and more accessible life in service of the populations in need,” which she continues to do to this day.
Maya Tiwari, founder of the Wise Earth School, has been meticulously trained in the Vedas, Vedanta, Sanskrit and the Vedic Sruti (Chants) by Sri Swami Dayananda Sarasvati, and in Asthanga Yoga & Patanjali education by Dr. Narasimha Rao, both belonging to the Veda Vyasa lineage.
For information on Maya’s Itinerary and Living Ahimsa World Tour Please visit these links:
Mayatiwari.com | Facebook.com/MayaTiwari