Board meetings are typically held at 5:30 pm on the 3rd Thursday of every month. Please contact us if you would like to attend and/or add something to the agenda.
Left side of table (front to back): Swami Radha Bharati, Lori Beron (vice-president), Deepak Thapa, Skip Dykoski
Right side of table (front to back): Sunita Gangopadhyay (president), Georgeann Bianchi (treasurer), Sophia Showalter (secretary), Chris Young
Executive Committee
Sunita Gangopadhyay (President)
Sunita has been associated with the Meditation center (TMC) since 2007. She was initiated in the Himalayan tradition in 2011. She has been serving on the TMC Board of Directors for the last few years. Sunita is deepening her spiritual journey by helping with various administrative initiatives at the centerand by learning the ancient Vedic Himalayan teachings. She takes turns guiding the free gentle hatha
class on Thursdays at TMC and strives to serve her community by sharing the Himalayan healing practices. She was born in New Delhi, India, is married, has two children and lives in Eden Prairie MN. Sunita holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Delaware, specializing in data storage and magnetic recording. She retired from Seagate technology after 25 years from their Research Development division as Advance Technology and Strategy Executive Director.
Lori Beron (Vice-President)
Lori is an initiate and certified teacher through the Himalayan Yoga Tradition as well as a Certified Holistic Nurse, she has an MA in Holistic Health Studies and is employed as an RN on a surgical oncology unit at the University of Minnesota Health.
Sophia Showalter (Secretary)
Sophia is an initiate in the Himalayan Tradition and joined the TMC board in 2023.
Georgeann Bianchi (Treasurer)
Georgeann was initiated in 2003. After leaving the corporate world she was invited to work in the Center’s office. She enjoyed coordinating programs and getting to know the community for five years. She continues to help out as needed, a small token of appreciation for all the gifts bestowed by the Tradition and its wonderful teachers.
Board Members
Skip Dykoski
Skip has been a continuous member of The Meditation Center since 1973 and has been on the board for the majority of those years. He has taught courses at The Meditation Center on “Science (physics degree) and Yoga” and “Yoga and Aikido” (“The way of harmony with the forces of nature”.)
Deepak Thapa
Deepak is an initiate in the Himalayan Tradition and joined the TMC board in 2023.
Chris Young
Chris Young was initiated into the Himalayan Yoga Tradition in 2005, but has been connected with The Tradition in some way since birth, with his parents being early members and faculty of The Meditation Center in Minneapolis. Chris occasionally leads Kirtan at the Meditation Center’s Thursday satsang, and helps with some IT aspects of the HYT Teacher Training Program. Chris finds the thread of yoga and meditation that has been taught through the Tradition and its teachers, and cultivated through practice, to always keep him returning to his heart’s path – the path of Yoga – and he is grateful to be a part of the local and global communities that are working to further the mission of The Himalayan Yoga Tradition. He is the father of two amazing boys, he enjoys singing and playing music, and is ready to help with your ocular asanas through eye-roll-inducing dad jokes. Chris joined the TMC board in 2023.