My name is Muffy. Community has been a major thread in my life. I met my husband, Glenn, in 1977 at a Quaker-based rural community in Oregon that he co-founded in 1972.  After the birth of our first child in 1982 we moved to Portland where Glenn practiced law and I started a metaphysical bookstore, New Renaissance Bookshop, with two friends.

Community called again in 1993 and we moved to Ananda Village in California with our three children. After a couple of years we had the opportunity to purchase Dawn Publications and for more than two decades published and promoted children’s nature awareness titles to inspire in the next generation a deep love for our Mother Earth.

In 2001, after having left Ananda, we were told about an incredible piece of raw land above the South Yuba River. We bought it, essentially, on a handshake.  Alongside our builders we put in a solar system (we are off grid), and then built a timber frame house with walls that are in-filled with light straw clay, planted a large garden, and built a guest house.

Dawn Publications sold just before the pandemic. I was praying/asking how I could next serve when I felt the inspiration to co-create community on this sacred land. The first step was to build more housing and a temple dedicated to the Mother of us All. I was learning much about relating authentically, in the present moment, connected to my body, and was looking forward to bringing together others to explore and share in the intimacy of connection that is possible while living in an intentional, residential, rural community.

During my two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training, as well as six years of working with Thomas Huebl in the field of healing collective trauma, I learned much about allowing and presencing and the miracle of connection that is birthed from that sacred space. I am curious and excited to see how we can bring this into our daily lives. I feel humbled and in awe of the Divine orchestration that is bringing together the wonderful people that also feel called to share in this new expression of weaving our lives together in Wild Grace Community.

I’m Glenn Hovemann, and I was born in the City of New York, but I’m really a country boy, for my heart loves nature. As Muffy says, I co-founded a rural intentional community in 1972. Why? Well, in part because our society back then seemed to be at war with itself on many fronts. (Sound familiar?) Maybe cooperation was an answer, even if a small, remote community seemed hardly an effective way to change the world. More importantly, my inner voice said it was right to do so.

After our first child was born, Muffy and I left and I went to law school and practiced law; but after a few years, I felt, for the first time ever, that the firm was not where I needed to be. So I quit.

We moved to Ananda, a large and more explicitly spiritual community—and a great place to raise kids among like-minded folks. We lived there for seven good years until certain discomforts and limitations led us to move to nearby Nevada City, CA. We could have stayed there happily, but once again life presented something so compelling that we knew it was right: some truly remarkable land overlooking the South Yuba River, where we now live, which we called Wild Grace.

Meanwhile Muffy and I published beautiful books about nature for children. Then something unexpected happened: the universe presented me with the remarkable opportunity to publish two spiritual masterpieces, A Course of Love and the seven-volume Choose Only Love, through our company Take Heart Publications. It’s been a huge gift—and has kept me very busy!

We could happily stay at Wild Grace by ourselves, but with Muffy’s recent vision the inspiration for community came flooding in once again. I’ve learned to say Yes when divine Mother is clearly knocking on the door of my heart.

Again, why community? Community is kinship, relationship, giving and receiving. Is this a social impulse? Although the social element of community is important, I could join a club for that! At its core, community is communion with a few other heart-minds and the opportunity to walk and grow together in Truth and Love.

Hi! My name is Chandra (aka Liz Faller). As of February 2023, I am deLighted to be a prospective member of Wild Grace Community. I celebrate Wild Grace as an eco-spiritual community that offers a priceless opportunity to contribute to an embodied, meditation “sangha.” The land provides an energetic haven for a group of dedicated practitioners to foster and transmit love, tenderness, and compassion. Stewarding the land and caring for ourselves and one another are natural actions of love and gratitude.

I believe the WGC Vision and Building Stones provide clear guidelines for awakening consciousness through learning the skills needed for co-creating intentional community. I trust the landowners, Muffy and Glenn, and their decision making. They actively invite input and leave decisions to those involved, as appropriate.

I look forward to living in rhythm with the earth, the Wild Grace peeps, and our shared agreements. I love walking to the Temple for daily sunrise meditation with the song of Yuba Ma. After our 45-minute meditation I often spend another hour in Yoga and somatic movement practice, and invite others to join me. Mid-day, I practice Yoga Nidra/sacred napping. I welcome other times for group practice.

I enjoy getting together for meditation, potlucks, Kirtan, heart circles, earth ceremonies, celebrating the sun and moon cycles, Authentic Relating, dance, and expressive arts. I love tending to the land, gardens, and orchard and share Muffy’s vision of growing a lot of our food. I thrive in collaborating with others and love laughter, good humor, and playfulness.

My current focus includes care for self and others, kindness, and equanimity. I see myself as a “gregarious introvert.” Although I am often exuberant in the company of others, I regularly need to be alone to absorb and process my experience.

I first developed skills in community living, conflict resolution, and consensus decision making as a worker/owner of Marmot Forest Collective. This led me to living in intentional community on Lopez Island, Washington, from 1978-1992. In 1993 my passion for contributing to our human potential brought me to Prescott College, Arizona, where I taught dance, yoga, meditation, women’s studies, community development, and creativity for 23 years. All classes were nature and community-based. During months off from teaching, I visited and lived in many spiritual communities. I have always been fascinated by ways skillful community organization, spiritual practice, and conscious communication can enhance our lives.

After retiring from the college, I continued to facilitate somatic improv dance and to lead silent yoga and meditation retreats. My small sanctuary home became “Lil Ashram of Embodied Arts.” I facilitated a weekly session of Nature Dance in our local forests that continues today. My private practice in Wisdom Within is a synthesis of forty years in the healing arts, including Reiki, hypnotherapy, energy healing, shamanic practices, intuitive touch, and Light language.

Living in the Hridaya Yoga community in Mazunte, Mexico, for three winters, I know what it is to live in an energetic field of pure love through shared intention, spiritual practice, and service. My practices align with Glenn’s work with A Course of Love and Choose Only Love and with several of Muffy’s practices, including Thomas Huebl’s healing collective trauma, and “parts work” of Internal Family Systems.

Spiritually, I am eclectic and a synthesizer. Buddhism has been a strong support, as has Hridaya, Bhakti and Tantric Yoga. Native American, Shamanic, West African, and Wiccan spiritual traditions are great, life-long inspirations. Recently I have focused on living in the Quantum field of Infinite Possibility and Absolute Love and enjoying Eckhart Tolle’s guided meditations of Presence. And the BEAT goes on!

For more info, see www.chandraliz.weebly.com.

I’m Peter! I moved to Wild Grace in May of 2024 with my partner, Erin, in order to cultivate, practice, and co-exist mindfully with others on the peaceful path in community together. I fell in love with Wild Grace when I first set foot here and ever since have really enjoyed getting to know the land, people, and routines that make this place special. 

I began my spiritual journey as a teenager seeking a meaningful existence that resonated with my heart’s yearning for peace and care for the earth. After a few years as a lead singer/songwriter in the bay area and a year studying music at the local junior college, my path led me to Lake Tahoe in 1992, then to the mountains of Santa Barbara where a group of college students were loosely gathered into community around seeking greener living and healing arts together. It was there that I got word of a massage school in the hills of southern Humboldt called Heartwood Institute. A group of us managed to find legitimate purpose that allowed us to move to Heartwood where I joined a crew building a straw bale meditation temple, meditated daily, learned more yoga, tai chi, ate vegetarian meals, served as guinea pig for massage students and studied shiatsu acupressure. 

Towards the end of my stay at Heartwood, I caught word of a permaculture design course happening in Sebastopol, CA being taught by Bill Mollison and Scott Pittman. I managed to save the tuition, attend the course then moved to my third community experience on 320 off-grid acres near Mendocino, CA to practice permaculture and further deepen my experiences. I helped reclaim several acres of neglected garden, lived with the rhythms of the land, meditated under redwoods, milked goats, fed chickens, learned about wild mushrooms and much more.

After a few years of frolicking and blissful existence it was time for me to finish college. I moved to the Arcata, CA area with my former wife where we both finished our degrees, found employment, and raised two children. I received a BS in Computer Information Systems with minor studies in Appropriate Technology and Industrial Technology. During this time, I also worked as a core member of the Humboldt Permaculture Guild, studied Kung Fu, backpacked, wrote poetry, continued playing music, practiced Qigong, Taoist Yoga and sat with local Zen and Tibetan Buddhist Sangha’s. 

I have worked in the computer and data analysis field for 25 years and as of 2023/2024 work as a Sr. IS Analyst for Nevada County. 

Mixed into everything in my life so far is an enduring love of the mountains, the wisdom of nature, snow skiing, mountain biking, hot springs and just being out in the wild scenery. Here at Wild Grace I am expanding my ability to be authentically present with myself and others, deepen healing arts immersion, cultivate increased creativity, work with plants and soil, and most importantly focus on the anchoring of loving kindness as a way of living every day. Together, we strive to be of benefit to all beings.

Hi, I’m Erin. I am a simple, nature-based Earthling living in a crazy complicated human system. I yearn to live in harmony with nature, grow and forage my food and medicine, and live a creative, spiritual, and connected life. I enjoy gardening, crafting functional, beautiful, hand-made objects such as pottery and up-cycled sewing. I have enjoyed a lovely career as a massage therapist since 1998. It was important to me that my career be of service to people, have a minimal footprint on the Earth, and foster one-on-one connections in our disconnected world. 

I grew up in the Central Valley of California with a close, large Catholic extended family. I lived in South Lake Tahoe for 20 years where church was the mountains and community was who you were skiing, biking, or hiking trails with. I’ve always been interested in eco-friendly ways of living and alternative ways of organizing society, and I am excited to experience a more immersive kind of community. 

Although I follow no specific spiritual lineage, I am grateful to my mentors and have dabbled in Christianity, Wicca, and Native American traditions, and studied Ayurveda, yoga, reiki, energy work, and herbalism. I practice qigong and exercise in nature as often as I can. Spiritually, I find nature is the most restorative and contemplative meditation; She restores my soul.

I am Jonathan Walker, and I am delighted to be a new resident of the Wild Grace Community. Arriving here marked where I hoped to find myself: In an intentional community of loving and mindful people on similar journeys of meditation, tending to gardens and orchards, and authentically relating.

My spiritual connection with the earth began in childhood. I grew up in the rural Cotswold Hills of the English countryside where I meandered the hills and dales, chasing butterflies and discovering fossils in abandoned quarries. My family emigrated to Vermont to advance my father’s career.  In high school I discovered my love of tennis, modern dance, and theater.

I arrived on the West Coast after an Antioch College professor recommended me for a job as a researcher in Eugene, Oregon.  There I heard about folks working as partners in the woods, planting trees in the winter and fighting fires in the summer.  To join in, I organized a crew of twenty men and women to participate in a growing worker cooperative called the Hoedads.

After moving to San Francisco, I obtained a real estate license and enrolled in a degree completion program.  My senior thesis was on land conservation strategies.  Within a year, the Trust for Public Land hired me to negotiate with Southern California land developers to acquire habitat lands for endangered species.  I later formed Resource Land Partners with two attorneys to work on behalf of land trusts.

While my interest in Eastern philosophy began in high school, I studied Iyengar yoga and took teacher training decades later.  Senior teachers at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco asked me to solve their business management difficulties.  Then they asked me to become a board member and President of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Northern California.

I sat with Jack Kornfield and others at Spirit Rock to practice Insight Meditation and learn more about Buddhist philosophy.  I recently completed a Walking the Eightfold Path program with Jack.

I trained in autobiographic improv theater by studying Motion theater with Nina Wise for many years before organizing Tumble Heart with other students to practice and perform improv theater. 

After my daughter graduated from high school, we sold our home in Mill Valley and moved to Grass Valley, where I assisted Gold Country Senior Services in purchasing a building.  They asked me to join the board of directors and then to manage renovating the building for a new senior center.

I receive my dance medicine and cultivate my love of movement and playfulness by dancing joyfully to Five Rhythms music events and at Wild Grace weekly.

I am fascinated by the wonders of nature and love to identify plants, birds, and geomorphology.  I continue to enjoy hiking and camping with my daughter and our friends. 

I am reminded by how loving kindness, being in nature, yoga, dance, meditation, authentic relating, and life-long learning makes me a more attentive human being and contributor to the Wild Grace community.

My name is Larry and in some circles I go by Vasudeva, my spiritual name. I was introduced to spiritual community in 1985 when I tuned into the Emissaries of Divine Light, which at the time had 12 communities in Europe and the North Americas. While I did not reside there I often participated in week or month long programs in one or more of their communities.

In 1989 I learned of Ananda and its communities. Until 1993 I participated weekly in the Seattle community, then moved to the Mountain View community for two years, and then moved to Ananda Village, the mother community in California, where I lived for five years. In 2000 I left that community (though not its teachings) and ultimately moved to my 20 acres next to Wild Grace farm that I call Seeden Hollow. In 2017-2018 I lived five days a week for a year at the New Dharma ashram near Reno.

My journey has always been an expression of my relationship to the Divine consciousness through the teachings of people such as Paramahansa Yogananda, who was and remains my greatest teacher. I’ve also studied with various teachers or proclaimed gurus, ultimately realizing that I am, as we all are, our own guru. My path is one of relationship in loving kindness, in sharing spiritual wisdom, music, satsang, and service. The inner journey is the most important in my life.

I have two children both in their late 30s. I live a quiet life, gardening, cooking, occasionally teaching or doing healing work, and connecting with the Wild Grace Community which is a natural extension of where I live. I have been good friends with the people involved for decades, with whom I have shared values, teachings, and teachers. Foundational compatibility with our community vision and our mutual respect and caring for each other, this planet, the evolution of spiritual growth in ourselves and others, is what I believe makes this place unique.

Sandy grew up in Southern California where her parents regularly attended services at the Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF) churches established by Paramhansa Yogananda. She was initiated early on into meditation practices and study of the SRF lessons. By age 10 she moved to the Ananda Community located in the beautiful foothills of the Sierra Nevada, where she immersed in community life and enrolled in Ananda’s schools​. There began her journey, which really shaped who she has become as an adult. She was taught not only how live spiritually, but also how to live in community. Over the years there she gained experience in everything from gardening and working on a dairy farm, to working in a publications business, making stained glass and exploring nature.

Jeffrey was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Having a mother interested in yoga, community living and eastern teachings, Jeffrey had a lot of exposure to these topics at an early age. Early recollections include (attempting) to do yoga along with his mother, attending lectures in Golden Gate Park by Steven Gaskin, and later Swami Satchitananda and living in a communal household during elementary school. He became acquainted with the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda through his mother, who lived at Ananda Community. In the late 80’s, Jeffrey moved to Italy to serve in the Ananda Retreat in Assisi. Upon his return, he lived for many years in the Ananda community before moving to Nevada City.

Over the years Sandy would visit Nevada City to catch up with childhood friends who still lived in town and on one of those visits she met Jeffrey through a mutual friend. The spark and recognition were immediate, and they were soon building a life together. Little did they know that the Divine was already orchestrating their living situation and instead of buying a house, they would be building their dream retreat. They learned through mutual friends that Glenn and Muffy had a parcel available adjacent to Wild Grace Farm. They felt an immediate connection to the land. Over time they added a garden, fruit trees, a greenhouse, chickens and ducks and two dogs to the mix. It’s a simple, peaceful, and harmonious space.

Because most of their neighbors had at one time lived at the Ananda community, it became a natural progression to continue in that communal lifestyle when the idea of Wild Grace community was presented to them. To this day the greater community gathers to share in satsang, kirtans, potlucks, pool parties, community gardens, workdays, and other occasions, as well as supporting one another in times of grief and celebration. To Sandy and Jeffrey, this is the spirit of community living that they love and enjoy.

Hi, I’m Kathy and I live up the road about 20 minutes from Wild Grace Community. I’ve known Glenn and Muffy for over 20 years, and we have shared many community adventures together. I’m involved in the monthly Kirtans and attend the Friday night dinners, along with other activities that come up. There is always something going on there to be a part of!

I’ve been involved in spiritual community living for most of my adult life. In my mid 20’s my husband and I joined and lived in the Ananda community in Seattle. When our son turned three we moved to Ananda Village outside of Nevada City, California and lived there for 20+ years.  Being with people who prioritize spiritual growth, self-awareness, and community is a great blessing!

I’ve taught elementary and high school students much of my life. It has been an incredible life experience for me with lots of adventures, school trips, and service projects along the way. It is so fun and rewarding to see students curious and excited to learn.

I love to hike (especially tall peaks and mountain views) but anywhere in nature is very nurturing to me. Waterfalls, lakes, and rivers all hold a special place in my heart. I also enjoy music. I love to play in kirtans, mess around with the flute, ukulele, or harmonium, and sing in a small acapella group. I also enjoy adventures and diving into the mysteriousness and synchronicities that life bring us!

We are Rodric and Jinnae Anderson, long-time friends of Muffy and Glenn, and fellow adventurers on the path of awakening. Rodric hails from New Zealand and I grew up in Los Angeles, and we each journeyed a long way to meet in India in 1988. After criss-crossing the world a bit, we lived in community at Ananda Village with many of the others you see on this page, and we served as ministers in helping to start Ananda centers in Dallas, Texas and Sydney, Australia.

We now live in Grass Valley, CA, close to Wild Grace. Our son is 19 and we will soon be empty nesters. While we don’t follow any particular spiritual path, we follow what we consider the one path: Truth. Love. We see Spirit everywhere when we have the eyes to see, and hear Spirit speak whenever we listen. We allow our hearts to guide us, and we commune with the inner Christ.

We very much support the tenets of Wild Grace Community. We find it a beautiful, sacred place where friends come together to share inspiration, spiritual realization, and all the ups and downs of life in a community setting. We love playing chants in the temple and sharing the joy of music with friends in the monthly kirtans.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Rodric has spent the last three years serving as the general contractor for this beautiful, growing community. The land and the structures on it, most especially the temple, demonstrate what can happen when vision, craftsmanship and creativity come together. Wild Grace is truly a labor, and a manifestation, of Love.

We are Rodrigo P. Cayres and Budkhand “Budhi” Namjilsuren. Rodrigo is originally from Brazil, and Budhi, from Mongolia. We feel we are global citizens and travel extensively, having been to over 35 countries and lived in Nepal, India, Mongolia, Thailand, Brazil, and Spain, where we formed sanghas or groups of long-term, committed spiritual practitioners.

Our life is about sharing love and wisdom wherever we go, having made over 2,500 presentations on topics related to Self-knowledge, meditation, awakening Consciousness, accessing our inner wisdom, practicing compassion, non-dual awareness (oneness), and so on. We are not affiliated with any religion or philosophy, but we draw inspiration from diverse wisdom traditions, such as Buddhism, Taoism, Gnosticism, Advaita Vedanta, A Course in Miracles, A Course of Love, and Way of Mastery.

In the past years we have been particularly involved with A Course of Love (ACOL), working to make it available in different languages and in every part of the world. Currently (2023) we are actively participating in organizing activities with the ACOL community in Brazil. We work closely with the founder of Take Heart Publications, Glenn Hovemann, who put us in contact with the Wild Grace Community (WGC).

From the beginning, we have participated regularly in WGC’s online meetings, and we intend to spend some time visiting WGC regularly as guest members. We feel deep appreciation for the high quality of presence and awareness that each member of WGC demonstrates, so it’s a blessing for us to be in touch with pioneers of this conscious movement to co-create a new earth based on our shared identity and the recognition of our oneness.

Visit www.rodrigocayres.com for more information on our life experiences.