Living Ayurveda Internship and Programs at Banyan Farm

Ali comes from a varied background ranging from farming, gardening, and herbalism, to yoga and martial arts, to social justice, community organizing and facilitation that spans over 25 years and several continents. She has a passion for the interconnection of people and plants and the wellbeing of both.

Ali grew up in Ohio and earned her Bachelor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies from the Western College Program at Miami University, where she worked on her first organic farm. She went on to organize around social justice in Cincinnati while working with youth in urban gardens and helping to open a hip hop youth arts center. After suffering from activism burnout, Ali moved to California where she deepened her yoga, martial arts, and natural healing studies. Her herbalism background includes Ayurvedic as well as Traditional Chinese and Western herbalism, studying with the East West School of Planetary Herbology.

She is very grateful to now be at Banyan Farm which encompasses so many of her interests and passions. Ali is also grateful and excited to have the opportunity to witness to the inevitable growth of the LAI interns and BAI students alongside the continued growth of Banyan Farm.

Alicia Lynn Diaz lives a life dedicated to sharing the beauty of Ayurveda with open-hearted seekers of natural healing and authentic living. A certified Ayurvedic Health Practitioner and Clinical Physiologist, she currently focuses her professional practice on Ayurvedic Psychology, trauma healing, and resolving chronic illnesses rooted in emotional disturbance.

She takes a warm, inviting approach to teaching and counseling that many experience as uplifting, empowering, and transformational in many areas of life. She is grateful and deeply indebted to her mentors of Ayurveda, Vaidyas Pankaj Naram, Vasant Lad and Nuva Yeetah, Dr. Claudia Welch, her spiritual teachers, her family, and her family’s native lands of Puerto Rico and the Philippines. 

Beverly is an Ayurvedic Practitioner, 500 hour Ayurvedic Yoga Instructor, Herbalist, and Educator. She graduated from The Ayurvedic Institute in 2016 and is a professional member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association (NAMA). Beverly offers Ayurvedic consultations and treatments through her personal practice, Shine Ayurveda, in the Ashland, Oregon area. She teaches courses for the LAI and BAI programs through the Banyan Farm as well as teaches classes in the local community.

Beverly has over 10 years of experience with herbal medicine, including compounding traditional Ayurvedic herbal medicine and jams, managing an Apothecary for a local Naturopathic Cancer Clinic, running an organic herb farm in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, and working in the Herb Department at The Ayurvedic Institute compounding Dr. Vasant Lad’s herbal formulas. She holds a B.A. in Religious Studies from the College of Charleston, SC with a focus on Eastern Sacred Texts, including those held in the lineage of Ayurveda. Inspired by her mother’s personal healing experience with Ayurveda, she was led to Albuquerque, NM to study with Dr. Lad.

With a passion for exploring the outdoors, Beverly is inspired by her surrounding environment and incorporates her observations of nature into her work and relationship with Ayurveda. She spends her time studying Ayurveda, hiking around Southern Oregon, and caring for her property. Her experience with organic farming complements her take on nutrition and diet and supports her in sharing that knowledge with others.

Cassidy Acacia, E-RYT 200, RYT 500, YACEP, has been on the yogic path for 20 years and teaching since 2004. Her dynamic approach to yoga is a synthesis of her in-depth studies of: Iyengar and Prajna Yoga, Ayurveda, Insight Meditation, and Poetry.

Cassidy's classes focus on healthy alignment of the physical body and sensitive attunement to the subtle body. She brings a sense of humor, earthiness, and clarity to her teachings as well as deep reverence for the practice. She weaves mantra, philosophy, and elemental theory into her classes, teacher training, and private yoga sessions.

She served as core faculty at the Hawthorn Institute from 2014–2019. 

Jeff is the Lead Formulator and lab guru for new product development at Banyan Botanicals. He is a naturalist, botanist, and alchemical seeker. He has worked and been trained under the guidance of Sajah Popham and completed the herbal field studies program at The Hawthorn Institute in 2019.

He has been on the pursuit of botanical and fungal studies for almost the last 2 decades. He has been exploring the myriad of ways to work and interact with the natural world professionally and as a lifestyle. His breadth of wisdom and experience range from a Bachelor’s degree in Botany, entheogenic spiritual studies, western herbalism, yoga, Ayurveda, natural foods and produce, gardening, permaculture, landscaping, developing a food business and most recently pursuing the alchemical arts and medicine crafting.

Jeff is fascinated about the creation, transformation and preservation of plant and fungal medicine and continues to learn about modern extraction technology while remembering sacred traditions.

Kelsi is a community herbalist and medicinal herb farmer.

She integrates her knowledge of Ayurveda and Western herbalism by working with local plants through an Ayurvedic lens. She is passionate about empowering people to take their health into their own hands and hopes to inspire those around her to reconnect with wild spaces and their own inner ecology.

Kelsi has studied at Hawthorn Institute and The dhyana Center and is currently working toward her Ayurvedic Health Counselor certification.

Keshari Das is a Brooklyn-based Ayurvedic Practitioner, offering traditional bodywork and educational workshops. She comes from a family of satyagrahis – nonviolent freedom fighters in India’s independence movement – and her early exposure to Gandhian principles inspired her exploration along paths of mindful practice. She has devoted herself to lifelong study of Ayurveda and is committed to sharing the teachings of this empowering wisdom tradition in an inclusive, antiracist, accessible, and sustainable manner.

Keshari has immersed in studies with Vasant Lad, MASc, and faculty, Dr. Claudia Welch, Dr. Robert Svoboda, Karen Rose, Tyler Wauters, and the inaugural cohort of the Living Ayurveda Internship, amongst many beloved others. Now she is grateful to serve with Ali Mramor as LAI Co-Coordinator.

Otherwise, Keshari can often be found wandering the east coast, accompanying her partner in the practice of kirtan. In between, she dabbles in design and illustration, and dotes on her dog.

As a child growing up in the piney woods of Northeast Texas, Nikimbre' has always felt a deep connection with plants, and nature. As a vessel of the beauty nature has to offer, connecting people and plants through relations is a blessed honor of Nikimbre’. Her classes entail a rich importance and remembrance of plants, allowing intuition to be the driving vessel in which it is used.

In 2017, Nikimbre' attended Appalachia School of Herbalism, and taught for the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine in 2022. She operates a small batch, grass roots apothecary—Herbal Euphoria. Nikimbre’ is currently enrolled in the Ayurvedic Clinical Foundations program through Dhyana Essentials. Nikimbre’ finds weaving Ayurveda, postpartum care, and western herbalism a Divine mission.

Tikka is a trained Ayurvedic Practitioner, who is currently the Research and Product Development Manager at Banyan. As part of her role, she acts as the liaison with other departments to follow through with new product launches. In addition, she manages all projects tied with the research, development, and launch of new products.

Tikka is an avid learner of the Sanskrit language and enjoys decoding and understanding ancient Ayurvedic scriptures. She has a passion for Sanskrit literature, Ayurvedic cooking, yoga, and pranayama. As a devoted nature lover, she strives to connect with all forms of energies present in nature.

Tommy Redding is a dirt worshipper, naturalist, educator, and farmer.

Tommy has been growing food and medicine in the Williams area for the past 10 years, and for the past 7 years has worked closely with new farmers to train the next generation of homesteaders and food producers. He is passionate about strengthening local food systems, building soil, and the connections between the plants of the farm and the wild plants of our surrounding bioregion. Tommy finds daily inspiration in the personal transformation that he has seen take place in the garden and seeks to support others in creating a deeper connection with their bodies and the source of their sustenance.

Tyler is the Plant Education Director at Banyan Botanicals, a place-based herbalist, Ayurvedic practitioner, and founder of Hawthorn Institute.

Tyler has devoted his life to the practice of bioregional Ayurveda and community herbalism. He brings his passion and knowledge of nature into everything he shares. Tyler’s intention is to ignite deeper connections to place, people, and plants.

Tyler has studied with Vasant Lad, MASc, Dr. Claudia Welch, Sonia Masocco, Isla Burgess, 7song, and Frank Cook. He thanks all of his mentors for sharing life’s wisdom.

Valerie currently works as the administrator for Banyan Farm and before that spent two years in the field as a farm tender alongside the intern groups. She loves being able to help students and interns find what excites them about healing and the natural world. She is originally from Wisconsin and spent much of her life moving along the West Coast before settling down in Southern Oregon. She has now been in the Applegate Valley for 7 years.

Valerie has an Environmental Sciences B.S. degree from U.C. Santa Barbara. She continued on to study Western Herbalism at the California School of Herbal Studies and also received her certification for Clinical Herbalism from Hawthorn Institute. Valerie also spent several years co-operating Rogue Herbalism, a local non-profit pop-up herbal clinic. She has spent much of her adult life studying plant medicines and working on farms from California to Alaska.

Valerie is inspired to help make herbalism accessible to everyone and enjoys helping people find ways to bring more plant medicines into their kitchens and homes. She loves having a good laugh, sharing stories with friends, and learning from the world around her—including all of you lovely people who travel from far and wide to visit us at the farm! The intern program is very special and Valerie is honored to share in the journey with you.