GAYATHRI RAMAN, CEO
Gayathri Raman is the Chief Executive Officer of Awakened Self Foundation. She envisions, presides over, and leads the dissemination of spiritual and wellness teachings by Vedic lineage holder Acharya Shunya, to thousands of people around the globe. Her dedication to the integrity of the Vedic paradigm is central to her leadership of the organization, which exists foremost to make awakening wisdom, that positively impacts the body, mind, soul, and well being of human communities, available for the benefit of all.
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Gayathri’s decade long association with her teacher Acharya Shunya, and through her, with the paradigm-shifting Vedic systems of knowledge from India, edged her on to grow beyond the role of a seeker, to give back, first as a volunteer, then become trained as a Vedic educator herself, to go onto serve as a board member, and finally lead the organization’s mission as the president of the board of directors of Acharya Shunya’s not for profit, Vedika Global (2018-2019). And since 2020, Gayathri is giving back and making a difference in her most significant role as CEO, the guiding force behind the emergence and evolution of the newly incorporated Awakened Self Foundation, with its impactful mission of empowering health and elevating consciousness, to aid the evolution of a more enlightened world. To Gayathri, this journey, from seeker to leader, feels like coming full circle; from starting out as someone benefitting from ancient Indian Vedic wisdom to someone who is now helping spread the wisdom, worldwide. To this day, Gayathri remains inspired and amazed at how 5000 years old ancient Vedic sciences of Ayurveda, Yoga and Vedanta hold so much relevance for today’s era and offer unparalleled solace and solutions to not only survive but thrive in modern life
As CEO, Gayathri explores and facilitates opportunities to make the ancient yet deeply meaningful teachings more accessible to wider populations while overseeing the end-to-end operations including program development, marketing, administration, and support. Under her leadership, transformative and experiential knowledge began to be imparted from in-person speaking engagements to global-virtual live events and the development of online courses for a wide array of digital platforms. including cultivating an inspired network of partnerships.
Distilling the ancient wisdom of the Gita and learnings from the Vedas and other spiritual texts that Gayathri has studied and tried to live by, over the years, as CEO, she is inspired to be remembered as a spiritual CEO of a conscious business who manages and balances both sides of success - materialism and spiritualism. She strives to create a heart-centered organization, where success is a balance of achievements in both businesses and personal lives, and where Dharma is upheld for both individual and collective benefit.
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As a deep spiritual seeker herself, Gayathri had studied Vedanta, Yoga, and allied Vedic source texts under Acharya Shunya in a traditional gurukulam manner since 2012 and has earned the title of Ayurveda Health Counselor from Vedika Global School of Ayurveda in the year 2015. Gayathri has a special interest in Ayurveda as a lifestyle, Ayurveda Psychology, and ancient Vedic wisdom, which can be found exclusively in Vedic source texts such as Bhagavad Gita, Yoga Sutras, and Sadhana Panchakam by Adi Shankaracharya. Gayathri started her journey at Vedika by signing up for a short two-month Ayurveda Self Care course with Acharya Shunya. But she stayed on to become a Health Counselor with three more years of formal study and then served as Board President and now serves as Advisor to Vedika Global due to the profound changes in her health, mind, body, and soul within a short period of time. Besides, her journey with Vedic wisdom has allowed her to connect back to her roots of growing up in a traditional Hindu family in India. Her schooling in India too was traditional, steeped in Vedic values of dharma, and she grew up in a culture of belief and truth in a Supreme Power, along with selfless service (seva) and devotion (bhakti) to this Supreme Power present in the heart of all sentient beings.
Gayathri brings to her role at ASF, her experience gained from holding Executive Management roles in Information Technology at Fortune 100 companies over the last 25+ years, including successful tenures at Oracle Corporation, UnitedHealth Group, and Bank of the West, among others. She graduated as an Electrical and Electronics Engineer from India before moving to the States in the mid-nineties.
Gayathri Raman can be reached at gayathri@acharyashunya.com
