Anandra George is a kīrtan artist, Sanskrit mantra teacher and sound yoga pioneer, based in Hawai'i and India, and the founder of Heart of Sound. A yoga therapist certified by the International Association of Yoga Therapists (C-IAYT) and an E-RYT 500 teacher, she is an internationally respected sacred musician who brings 27 years of teaching and 37 years of musical experience to an approach that treats the voice as an instrument for self-growth and community upliftment.
Her roots are in India. Anandra has studied there extensively since 1997, and she shares Sanskrit sounds, mantra meditation and Indian music with audiences around the world at the behest of her beloved gurus. Since 2009, tens of thousands of students from more than 65 countries have taken part in her teaching. She created Heart of Sound, which she describes as the world's first yoga teacher training based entirely on the transformative power of sound, with 200-, 300- and 500-hour Yoga Alliance teacher trainings in mantra and nāda yoga. She also founded the Sacred Sound Stage at the International Yoga Festival in Rishikesh, India, and the global Mantras for Peace subtle activism project. She has taught and sung at some of the world's largest yoga festivals and has been featured in Hindi, Russian, Japanese, German and English press.
Alongside her own teaching, Anandra trains in Hindustani vocal music in Delhi with Pandit Baldev Raj Verma. Heart of Sound is a member school of the International Association of Yoga Therapists, and its training runs in English, German and Japanese, including a full 200-hour course in Japanese. She has taught at Yoga Fest Yokohama in Japan, Hanuman Festival, Bhaktifest and Wanderlust in the United States, True Nature in Japan and the Xperience Festival in Germany (2024), and she developed sound-based meditation workshops for the main TED conference in Vancouver. She consulted on mantra fMRI research for India's National Institute of Mental Health, and she created an open-source code of conduct against sexual harassment and guru abuse for yoga and spiritual festivals.
Heart of Sound offers online courses, mentorship circles, teacher trainings and retreats. The courses include Sacred Sanskrit Sounds, Nāda Yoga, a 200-hour teacher training and a 300/500-hour advanced teacher training, offered online or as a hybrid with in-person study. The training covers Sanskrit sounds anatomy for tuned mantra chanting, a therapeutic approach to mantra, āyurvedic principles of sound and mental health, vocal coaching for pleasure rather than performance, practical Tantrik philosophy, Indian rāga-based kīrtan leadership for non-musicians, empathetic listening, and yogāsana for sound-based practices. Anandra also offers one-to-one Sound and Mantra Therapy sessions. Her approach avoids dogma and spiritual bypassing, and values vocal skill as a form of devotion. Free online chant experiences, including the Mantras for Peace Marathon, give newcomers a way in.
Anandra has led nearly 100 chant retreats. Her Sound Rejuvenation Retreat in South India pairs traditional Kerala āyurvedic panchakarma with daily deep chant sessions, in an āśram setting with lakeside walks, a Lalitā Sahasranāma pūja and satsang. In Australia she leads a seven-day Chant Retreat and Training at Swami's Yoga Retreat in the Sydney hinterland, where the days combine Sāvitrī Gāyatrī mantra meditation, rāga-based kīrtan, experiential lectures, rest and evening jam sessions. German-language retreats are taught with a German teaching team. These retreats count toward attendance hours for the teacher trainings.
Kaua'i is her home island. She has described making introductory videos from her tiny house on wheels there, and she leads occasional in-person events for local residents, including a monthly Deep Chant Series of nāda yoga, Indian rāga singing, mantra chanting and deep listening. She also offers private sound rejuvenation retreats on the island.
Her work is open to beginners and experienced musicians alike. Her programs welcome non-musicians and musicians, introverts and extroverts, and people of every age, background and nationality. Her students include yoga teachers, sound healers, chant leaders, singers and people who simply love mantra. Participants come away with Sanskrit pronunciation they trust, a grounded way of using sound therapeutically, and the confidence to lead chant for others.
