Ram Dass’ Inner Academy

Cultivate the flame of loving awareness

Explore courses, retreats, practices, and insights from Ram Dass and the Love Serve Remember family of teachers.

What is Ram Dass’ Inner Academy?

The Inner Academy is a new virtual wisdom school from the Love Serve Remember Foundation. Founded by Ram Dass in 2009, LSRF was established to share the transformative yet simple teachings of Neem Karoli Baba, lovingly called “Maharaji” by devotees. Inner Academy is a bountiful container of courses, lectures, and practices to awaken the heart to compassion, service, and radical love in these ever-changing times.

Through the Inner Academy, members will be able to access our library of virtual courses, as well as in-person retreat videos from the LSRF archives.

Meet the Teachers

Connect to the current Ram Dass family of teachers, including Krishna Das, Sharon Salzberg, Robert Thurman, Jack Kornfield, Trudy Goodman, Dr. Robert Svoboda, Joseph Goldstein, Spring Washam, Mirabai Starr, Duncan Trussell and many more. This network of spiritual leaders and truth seekers share from decades of personal practice and heart-led experience in Bhakti Yoga, Zen Buddhism, Tantra, and other interconnected traditions. Subjects include loving kindness, mindfulness & meditation, conscious dying, service, and more.

Ram Dass

Ram Dass first went to India in 1967 as Dr. Richard Alpert, a prominent Harvard psychologist and psychedelic pioneer with Dr. Timothy Leary. He continued his psychedelic research until he traveled to India in 1967 and met his guru, Neem Karoli Baba. Everything changed then – his intense dharmic life started, and he became a pivotal influence on our culture. Ram Dass’ spirit has been a guiding light for generations.

Krishna Das

Layering traditional kirtan with instantly accessible melodies and modern instrumentation, Krishna Das has been called yoga’s “rock star.” KD spent the late ’60’s traveling across the country as a student of Ram Dass, and in 1970, he finally made the journey to India, leading him to his beloved guru, Neem Karoli Baba. KD now travels the world sharing his kirtan practice and stories of the Path through retreats and workshops.

Jack Kornfield

Jack Kornfield has trained as a Buddhist monk in the monasteries of Thailand, India and Burma. He has taught meditation internationally since 1974 and is one of the key teachers to introduce Buddhist mindfulness practice to the West. Over the years, Jack has taught in centers and universities worldwide, led International Buddhist Teacher meetings with the Dalai Lama and worked with the great teachers of our time.

Sharon Salzberg

Sharon Salzberg is a central figure in the field of meditation, a world-renowned teacher and NY Times bestselling author. She has played a crucial role in bringing meditation and mindfulness practices to the West and into mainstream culture since 1974, when she first began teaching. Renowned for her down-to-earth teaching style, Sharon offers a secular, modern approach to Buddhist teachings, making them instantly accessible.

Anne Lamott

Anne Lamott writes and speaks about subjects that begin with capital letters: Alcoholism, Motherhood, Jesus. But armed with self-effacing humor, Lamott converts her subjects into enchantment. In all her novels, she writes about loss – loss of loved ones and loss of personal control. She communicates her faith, in her books and in person, and lifts, comforts, and inspires, all the while keeping us laughing. Lamott has been honored with a Guggenheim Fellowship and has taught at UC Davis, as well as at writing conferences across the country.

David Nichtern

David Nichtern is a Senior Buddhist teacher, author, meditation guide and Emmy award winning composer and musician.

Dr. Robert Svoboda

Dr. Robert Svoboda is a Author and Ayurvedic practitioner & Aghora tradition wisdom holder.

Dr. Robert Thurman

Robert Thurman is an Author and worldwide authority on religion and spirituality, world philosophy, and Indo-Tibetan Buddhism,

Duncan Trussell

Duncan Trussell is a conscious comedian and actor who hosts a wildly popular podcast, "The Duncan Trussell Family Hour" - he has appeared on Raghu's "Mindrolling" podcast and serves as a conduit for a younger generation of spiritual seekers looking to explore life's big questions.

East Forest

Since 2008 EAST FOREST has been the leader of underground ‘sound meditation’ ceremonies around the world, creating sonic architecture for people to explore their inner space. In the summer of 2018, he traveled to Maui to record new teachings from Ram Dass. After capturing his words of wisdom, East Forest returned to the studio to compose the album EAST FOREST X RAM DASS. Covering topics such as dark thoughts, nature, technology and much more, these songs are full of timely inspiration.

Frank Ostaseski

Frank Ostaseski is an internationally respected Buddhist teacher and visionary cofounder of the Zen Hospice Project, and founder of the Metta Institute. He teaches periodically with Ram Dass and has lectured at Harvard Medical School, the Mayo Clinic, Wisdom.2.0 and teaches at major spiritual centers around the globe. His groundbreaking work has been featured on the Bill Moyers PBS series On Our Own Terms, highlighted on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and honored by H.H. the Dalai Lama.

Jai Uttal

Jai Uttal is a Grammy nominated singer and a pioneer in the world music community with his eclectic East-meets-West sound. He is a sacred music composer, recording artist, multi-instrumentalist, and ecstatic vocalist, who combines influences from India with American rock and jazz to create a stimulating and exotic multicultural fusion that is truly world spirit music.

Joseph Goldstein

Joseph Goldstein has been leading insight and loving kindness meditation retreats worldwide since 1974. He is a cofounder of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts, where he is one of the organization’s guiding teachers. In 1989, together with several other teachers and students of insight meditation, he helped establish the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.

Lama Tsultrim Allione

Lama Tsultrim Allione, M.A. is a teacher in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition known for her lucid explanations of Buddhist teachings because of the combination of her intense life-long practice and study, as well as her real-life experiences as a mother and lay practitioner in the West. The teachings of the Buddha become alive and vibrant through her rich explanations and teachings.

Mirabai Bush

Mirabai Bush is a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba and spent time with him in India from 1971 to 1972. Along with Ram Dass, she is the co-author of Compassion in Action: Setting Out on the Path of Service and Walking Each Other Home. Mirabai is Senior Fellow and founder of the Center on Contemplative Mind in Society, which encourages contemplative practice and perspective in American life in order to create a more just, compassionate and reflective society.

Mirabai Starr

Mirabai Starr is an award-winning author of creative non-fiction and contemporary translations of sacred literature. She taught Philosophy and World Religions at the University of New Mexico-Taos for 20 years and now teaches and speaks internationally on contemplative practice and inter-spiritual dialog. A certified bereavement counselor, Mirabai helps mourners harness the transformational power of loss. Mirabai met Ram Dass in 1975 at the Lama Foundation when she was 14 and has been a devotee of Neem Karoli Baba ever since.

Nina Rao

Nina Rao learned traditional chants (bhajans) from her grandfather in a village in south India when she nine years old. The chants quietly stayed with her until she rediscovered chanting with Krishna Das in New York in 1996. For many years Nina has been Krishna Das' business manager and assistant, often touring with him playing cymbals and singing. Nina regularly leads kirtan, chanting of the Hanuman Chalisa, and sings for yoga classes in her hometown of Brooklyn, NY and beyond.

Raghu Markus

Raghu Markus has been involved in music and transformational media since the early 1970s when he was program director of CKGM-FM in Montreal. He is currently the Executive Director of the Love Serve Remember Foundation and has been an associate producer for on-line events for Ram Dass and Eckhart Tolle, as well as the recent feature length Ram Dass film, "Becoming Nobody". He now hosts the Mindrolling podcast on Be Here Now network.

Ram Dev

Dale Borglum is the founder and Executive Director of Living/Dying Project. He is a pioneer in the conscious dying movement and has worked directly with thousands of people with life-threatening illness and their families for over 30 years. He has taught and lectured extensively on the topics of spiritual support for those with life-threatening illness, on caregiving as a spiritual practice, and on healing at the edge, the edge of illness, of death, of loss, of crisis.

Rameshwar Das

Ramesh collaborated on several projects with Ram Dass including the original collection of manuscripts that became Be Here Now and the Love Serve Remember box set of recordings. He is the co-author of Ram Dass’s newer books, Be Love Now and Polishing the Mirror, and most recently Ram Dass's memoir, Being Ram Dass. He lives with his wife on the far east end of Long Island. Photo credit: John Phaneuf

Roshi Joan Halifax

Roshi Joan Halifax is a Buddhist teacher, Zen priest, anthropologist, and pioneer in the field of end-of-life care. From 1972-1975, she worked with psychiatrist Stanislav Grof at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center with dying cancer patients. She has continued to work with dying people and their families, and to teach health care professionals and family caregivers the psycho-social, ethical and spiritual aspects of care of the dying.

Shantala

Benjy and Heather Wertheimer have been leading kirtan (sacred chanting) worldwide since 2001 as the duo Shantala. They are known for their special gift of bringing the audience into a vast and loving experience through their unique blend of exquisite voices with instruments of India and the West.

Spring Washam

Spring Washam is a well-known meditation teacher, author and visionary leader based in California and Peru. She is the author of A Fierce Heart: Finding Strength, Courage and Wisdom in Any Moment. Spring is considered a pioneer in bringing mindfulness-based healing practices to diverse communities.

Trevor Hall

Trevor Hall (Rampriya Das)

Raised on an island in South Carolina, singer/songwriter Trevor Hall realized at a young age that music was more than just a passion - it was, rather, his life’s art. Trevor’s music, a blend of roots and folk music, is imbued with a deep love of Eastern Mysticism. y. Along with numerous pilgrimages to India, he has also completed a series of sold-out tours and collaborations with artists such as Steel Pulse, Ziggy Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Michael Franti, Xavier Rudd, John Butler Trio, and Matisyahu.

Trudy Goodman

Trudy Goodman, Ph.D., is a vipassana teacher in the Theravada lineage and the Founding Teacher of InsightLA. She also teaches residential retreats at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, CA, Vallecitos Mountain Retreat Center, & Insight Meditation Society.

Valarie Kaur

Valarie Kaur is a seasoned civil rights activist and celebrated prophetic voice "at the forefront of progressive change" (Center for American Progress). Valarie now leads the Revolutionary Love Project to reclaim love as a force for justice in America. As a lawyer, filmmaker, and innovator, she has won policy change on multiple fronts – hate crimes, racial profiling, immigration detention, solitary confinement, Internet freedom, and more.

“The quieter you become, the more you can hear. We're fascinated by the words, but where we meet is in the silence behind them.”
- Ram Dass

Flourish with Inner Academy

Increase your capacity for love, develop spiritual discernment, listen for your dharma, and join in a community of the heart.

Your Inner Academy Subscription Includes

Upon registering for an annual or monthly subscription, receive immediate access to the following offerings*:

*Access to the above for the duration of membership.

Pricing

Subscription includes:

ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP

$149

$12.50/month

$67 Savings

MONTHLY MEMBERSHIP

$18

$216 Annually

Most Popular Courses & Retreats

You'll discover how to find some spaciousness from your attachment to pain and suffering so you can better treat your difficult emotions as portals to greater peace, wisdom, and healing.

A course exploring essential tools for awakening. Each day will bring alive and expand upon topics from the ‘white pages’ (the practical section at the end of ‘Be Here Now’).

Ram Dass will lead you in meditation and mantra practices focusing on opening your heart and defining your own individual path on the journey into real love for self and others.

Getting real with the truth of karma is easier said than done, especially when we are forced to face our shadows, our deepest fears and our perceived inadequacies. But it's absolutely necessary if we are true seekers on the path towards fruitful authenticity.

Featuring the Most Preeminent Mindfulness Teachers of Today: Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Joseph Goldstein, Roshi Joan Halifax, Sharon Salzberg & Raghu Markus.

Led by 12 teachers coming together for the first time, Life in Balance distills over 200 years of wisdom through lineage based practices into one easy-to-navigate course.

What if engaging with our fear surrounding death could help awaken us to the gift of life? Join the preeminent teachers on mindfulness, compassion, courage and end-of-life care for a course to help you embrace birth & death in every moment.

This virtual course re-imagined from his 1974 Naropa University Course, Ram Dass uses the timeless wisdom of 'The Bhagavad Gita' to help us walk confidently through a rapidly evolving world.

Join us for a virtual course on the many faces of trust, taught by Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Trudy Goodman, Krishna Das, Duncan Trussell and Raghu Markus.

Commit to self-care with a virtual course featuring meditations, mantras and teachings with Ram Dass on spiritual practices that truly resonate with your mind, body and soul.

Ram Dass' Yoga of Heartfulness, you will learn how to integrate wisdom from Bhakti, secular, and inter-spiritual traditions into your daily life as an antidote to division, polarity, and tension.

Whether you are in a relationship or simply looking to expand your perspective on conscious connections, this course with Ram Dass will provide you with wisdom and tools that will lead to deeper emotional balance and peace for yourself and your loved ones.

Join Ram Dass for a course to learn how compassionate action and service can yield to some of the most joyous, challenging, and ultimately meaningful moments of our lives.

A transformative journey of embracing "wise hope," navigating the complexities of impermanence, suffering, and possibility with courage and awareness. Sharon Salzberg, Krishna Das, Annie Lamott, Robert Thurman, Valarie Kaur, Raghu Markus, Trevor Hall

Exploring the Intersection between Bhakti and Buddhism through exploring how to transcend anxiety and suffering through emptiness, cultivating limitless love and exploring the fruits of our practice. Joseph Goldstein, Jack Kornfield, David Nichtern, Duncan Trussell, Ram Dass (archival), Raghu Markus, Nina Rao, Robert Thurman, Krishna Das, East Forest, Spring Washam

Finding a balance between self-care and service, diving into practice to find the divine within, and navigating death and humor on the soul’s journey. Ram Dass, Mirabai Bush, Rameshwar Das, Krishna Das

An exploration of generosity as a powerful force for change, with a potential to reshape relationships with ourselves, others, and the world by letting go of expectations and embracing freedom. Ram Dass, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg, Joseph Goldstein, Mirabai Bush, Trudy Goodman, Raghu Markus

A journey of shedding societal conditioning, embracing suffering as a transformative gift, and embracing interconnectedness and compassion towards a deeper wisdom and love. Ram Dass, Raghu Markus, Jack Cornfield, Trudy Goodman, Robert Svoboda, Mirabai Bush, Parvati Markus, Sunanda Markus, Duncan Trussell

The one permanent truth is the power of love - it is the foundation for overcoming the fear of change and the fear of facing death. How do we embody the truth of impermanence so that we can become more comfortable and less resistant to the changes that inevitably occur in our lives? Ram Dass, Lama Surya Das, Mirabai Bush, Raghu Markus, Duncan Trussell, Trevor Hall, Benjy Wertheimer, Rameshwar Das, Nina Rao

Discover transformative practices to cultivate Loving Awareness around negative thoughts, transform personal demons into sources of acceptance and love, shift from an "Us vs. Them" mindset, and develop compassion, patience, and love through accepting the uncontrollable.Ram Dass, Sharon Salzberg, Krishna Das, Raghu Markus, Rameshwar Das, Lama Tsultrim Allione, Duncan Trussell

Be a part of the community

Testimonials

“My heart needed this beautiful respite from the world. Not that it was easy! Opening the heart and getting to the root of unease can be difficult, but these wise teachers so gently led the way. I am so grateful for their skill and leadership, loving guidance and living embodiment of heartfulness! My practice is deepened, and my heart is wide open!”

- Victoria M.

“I just have to tell you that this course is magnificent and I am so glad I signed up! I have loved Ram Dass since the 70’s and followed his teachings. Going through a lot of changes now as my husband is ill and I quit working. This course is well put together and has helped my husband and me! Thank you with all our hearts for bringing this gift to us!”

- Chris and Linzy

“I just wanted you to know how much I appreciate what you and all those who are involved are doing. Including Ram Dass, of course! This is enough information to last a lifetime for me, and may take that long and more! …. Even just one of the bonus links, not to mention the main parts of the course. Many thanks!”

- Marie M.

“The course was timely. It taught me another way to be still and find answers, not instant answers, but steady progress that will not diminish over time.”

- Tammy R.

Frequently Asked Questions

What if I can't afford the yearly subscription?

LSRF turns no one away for lack of funds. If you cannot afford the yearly subscription fee of $149 or the monthly fee of $18, we encourage you to apply for a scholarship for a reduced rate.

What's included in the course library?

The course library currently has 12 full courses (with two new courses added every year) and eight Maui retreat replay collections (with two present-year retreats and two archival retreats added every year). Both the courses and retreat replays are hosted in our virtual classroom called Teachable.

If you don’t already have a Teachable account, you will create one during checkout so you can easily log in to access the dashboard whenever you’d like. Many of the courses have downloadable audio, video, and readable transcripts that you will also be able to access, and the retreat replays contain paragraph and bulleted summaries to guide your exploration.

Content from the live course will be archived into the yearly course subscription bundle after they finish.

LIVE course access is not included in the subscription bundle.

Are the courses self-paced or scheduled?

All courses and retreats in Teachable are designed to be taken on your own schedule, at your own pace. Teachings in each course are divided into weekly chapters for easy navigation. While you can certainly jump around within the course content, each course contains teachings that build on the prior week’s content and are designed to be taken in order.

You are also welcome to freely navigate the retreat replay content.

Can I still access the live courses?

Yes! You can access the live 4-week, 6-week and 8-week courses that we host twice per year by purchasing them separately. After the live courses end, we will add the archival content to the ever-growing paid course library for you to access with your yearly subscription.

Why are you charging for this offering?

Each course produced by LSRF is meticulously sourced, written, assembled and moderated by several course creators over hundreds of hours. To offset the costs of creating the courses, we are offering our entire library of past courses to anyone who would like to support the continuation of sliding scale courses for all.

What if I have questions?

Please email [email protected] with any questions.

Ram Dass’ Inner Academy

What is Ram Dass’ Inner Academy?