Ericardo Baldonado
Ericardo, also known as Ricky divides his time with Grass Valley, California and the Shri Kali Ashram in South Goa, India. He has trained personally with Ācārya Bhagavan Shanmukha Anantha Natha at the Shri Kali Ashram for 7 years and is well-versed in both the Tantric and Vedic philosophies. He is registered with Yoga Alliance® as an Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT 500™).
Most of his teaching experience has accumulated over the years assisting his teacher (arcarya) at Shri Kali Ashram by teaching Asana, Pranayama, Bandha, Vyayama classes and hold Satsang (lectures) for students attending their Yoga Alliance® 200hr and 500hr teachers training programs.
“I am forever grateful to Bhagavan Shanmuka and Ma Kristina for establishing the Shri Kali Ashram, a Traditional Tantra School that offers a way for people to break free from mental constructs of being something they are not. Living in California half of the year and the other half at the Ashram, not to solely teach but to further my own studies through the vast knowledge that is accessible and most importantly, to build myself within a supportive environment.
Only through the continuation of learning and actualizing Tantra in my own life, will refine my skills to efficiently share teachings for others to cultivate their life's potentials. Through past experience and observation, I find there is much information influencing people of what to do, how to be, how to look and even how to think, without any real basis and thus incomplete. It's important to question these sources of information and where they stem from or someone else's ideals could be the underlying ruler of life choices.
As Bhagavan shared keys to open the doorway to a Tantric path, it was up to me to allow all the aspects of the system to culture my whole being from the inside and out, providing insight, beneficial internal changes and independence from limiting perceptions which ultimately got me interested in living a life worth living. Valuing life and accepting myself was not always true for me. I was someone who experimented with my own life in different ways to fill an emptiness inside. Now looking back with a new awareness, I realize I was only compromising my own truth of happiness and well being.
Owing to the account of my own personal enrichment, I aspire to share this traditional system and offer experiential guidance for others to shape their own life to be without fears and stress. Encouraging individuals to see by the Tantric doctrines of Dharma, Artha, Kama, giving rise to their own inherent true nature. Embedded within this true nature is real Love that allows one to see the world full of meaning and purpose. This real Love or Kama becomes the foundation for skill sets in life to do anything and for good honest relations to be built on. I cherish the Tantric teachings and yogic practices that fortify strengths of freedom, revealing the heart’s path.”
Ericardo Baldonado, Bhagavan Shanmuka & Whitney Wheelock