NEWS | RUDRANANDA ASHRAM 40th ANNIVERSARY, SEPTEMBER 2011


Celebrating Our Beginning in September, 1971

The year 2011 marks the 40th anniversary of the Rudrananda Ashram, the residential program of The Movement Center. The photo at right is a section from an exhibit of photos and other memorabilia selected from the ashram's rich history and displayed in the main hallway in the Portland center.

Spiritual communities abounded in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, when the Rudrananda Ashram was founded in Bloomington Indiana by Michael Shoemaker, who later became Swami Chetanananda. This is an account of its history based on the recollections of Cheryl Rosen, one of the original members.

In early 1971, Michael Shoemaker opened the “Sufi House,” a communal living space in Bloomington, Indiana, for spiritual seekers of various kinds. David Komito, who went on to receive his PhD in Inner Asian studies at Indiana University in Bloomington, met Michael and took him to Manhattan to meet Swami Rudrananda, affectionately known as Rudi. Michael became Rudi's student and moved to New York to study with him.

That August, at Rudi ’s request, Michael returned to Bloomington, bought a small white house to use as a group residence and practice location, and, with 12 others, moved in. By spring there were 45 residents; by summer, tents were popping up around the yard and the meditation room overflowed. So Michael sent students out to open other ashrams.

During the 1970’s, with most ashram members still in their 20’s, we started a variety of self-sustaining businesses and also undertook nonprofit work to serve our ashrams and the communities in which we lived. Early on, the Tao Restaurant and Rudi’s Bakery in Bloomington hosted several exchanges with Ed Brown and Deborah Madison from the San Francisco Zen Center’s Tassajara Bakery and Greens Restaurant. Our cooks were also tutored in classic French cooking by esteemed New York chef Eugene Bernard, Rudi’s friend and a neighbor of Rudi’s branch ashram in Big Indian in the Catskills. Ten Speed Press published Tao of Cooking (1982), a compendium of vegetarian recipes from the Tao Restaurant; graphic artist Milton Glaser (also an ashram friend) designed the beautiful book cover and interior graphics. And Rudi’s Country Kitchen restaurant near Woodstock, New York, was---well, frankly, sublime, and a Mecca for many.

Meanwhile, additional successful businesses were started by ashram members: a food co-op, numerous painting/construction/remodeling companies, a woodworking company that made some of the furniture you still see in the Portland center (such as the benches in the meditation hall), an art glass company, and a picture-framing business. Outside Bloomington, we ran a working farm that cultivated soybeans. In Cincinnati, we bought Mecklenburg Gardens, an historic, run-down restaurant, and reopened it in 1974, quickly attaining Mobil 4-Star status.

Rudi’s Bakery (later called Rudi Foods) began in Bloomington and later expanded to Boston and Washington, DC, as it evolved to produce fabulous French breads, pastries, and quick meals. In Boston we also began an Oriental rug business called Rasa, which continues today.

Rudi was a well-known oriental art and antiques dealer. In 1973, after Rudi died, Michael opened Rudra Oriental Antiques in Bloomington and became an accomplished art dealer and connoisseur. He closed the store after some years to devote full attention to the developing ashrams and the cultural and academic projects he envisioned.

The nonprofit Rudi Foundation (which was later known under various other names) was created to provide cultural, educational, and social service programs. With grants and private donations, the Foundation sponsored cultural festivals, film series, concerts, and speakers. In 1980, under a CETA (Comprehensive Employment and Training Act) grant from the federal government, we supervised training of unemployed people to repair homes of low-income and disabled senior citizens. We also taught yoga and meditation at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. After the main center moved to Cambridge, MA in 1982, we also taught at the house of corrections in Billerica, Massachusetts.

We have a long history in publishing. In 1973, Rudi published a book called Spiritual Cannibalism. Ten years later, Rudra Press began with Swamiji’s Songs from the Center of the Well (1983). (Michael Shoemaker had taken sanyas in 1978 and become Swami Chetanananda; he is called Swamiji by his students.) These were followed by The Nitya Sutras and The Sky of the Heart, based on research Swamiji did in India on the life and teachings of Swami Nityananda, Rudi’s guru. We created the country’s first hatha yoga videos featuring Lilias Folan (1986). ReVision: a journal of consciousness and change appeared in the mid-1980s along with various ashram and Rudi Foundation newsletters. Swamiji continues to write books on spirituality and publish titles related to our practice. In 2005 we produced a DVD series on yoga for pregnancy that received rave reviews nationally.

Teaching and practicing hatha yoga has always been part of our practice. In 1979, we conducted our first hatha yoga teacher training. Our hatha teachers, all volunteers, have provided many students with an avenue to meditation practice and a healthier life. We have studied with an international roster of accomplished teachers who have added to our depth and understanding of practice, including Lilias Folan, Mukunda Stiles, A.G. and Indra Mohan, Gary Kraftsow, Mark Whitwell, Erich Schiffman, and others. As our meditation program grew, hatha yoga classes given in the Cambridge ashram became so crowded that we opened our first yoga studio in the Porter Exchange Building, calling it The Movement Center (our first use of the name). In Portland, the yoga studio continues to offer a wonderful variety of classes, including specialty classes, workshops, private instruction, and yoga teacher training, and has been voted the number one yoga studio in several CitySearch online polls.

There have been many centers associated with the Movement Center in various parts of the United States and Europe over the years. In 1994, the main branch of the Movement Center relocated to Portland, OR. Continuing a pattern of consolidation, there are now satellite centers in Santa Monica, CA, Seattle, WA, and Cambridge, MA. Most practitioners have either relocated to Portland or attend the semi-annual retreats held in July and December each year.

What does the future hold for our spiritual community and our work in the world? Whatever it is, it’s bound to be amazing!

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