Our Teachers
Guru Ranjit Deora
From all of these experiences, Guru Ranjit is able to choose from 108 different meditations and personalize his lessons based on each organization’s, individual’s or student’s needs. The premise is always the same: relax your mind and body so you can discover your true self, leading to a productive, peaceful and joyous life.
Guru Ranjit specializes as a Corporate Wellness Consultant. He is an expert in adding mind-body balance programs into a corporate environment, including lessons in Laughter Yoga. Guru Ranjit also teaches one-on-one meditation sessions in his Charlotte Meditation studio in Myers Park. His Mindfulness Meditation lessons not only improve health but also increase joy with a focus on the mental dimensions of this ancient practice adapted for the modern world. His main approach is the discovery of the true self through meditation.
Community Connections
Through mind-body awareness and Ayurvedic medicine, he has been helping people experience emotional freedom, physical healing and increased spiritual consciousness for over 35 years.
He has been interviewed on WBT and FOXTV as well as featured in Charlotte Magazine, the Charlotte Observer, and other publications. Companies and non-profit organizations such as Bank of America, AT&T, Citi Financial, P&G (Procter and Gamble), NYTimes, and Laugh for the Cure ( Susan G. Komen breast cancer organization) have benefited from his community health and wellness programs.
Guru Ranjit’s other teaching programs include Techniques for Relaxation and Stress Relief classes and corporate wellness training seminars for UNCC and Central Piedmont Community College.
Guru Ranjit’s Holistic Approach
Guru Ranjit teaches mindfulness meditation where the goal is not to block out thoughts but to let them flow naturally. With this awareness comes relief from stress and anxiety as well as improved sleep. Guru Ranjit stresses that meditation does not replace religion nor medical treatments, but it can enhance both.
Mindful Eating is also part of the practice. Guru Ranjit does not push vegetarianism but encourages people to eat easily digested fruits and vegetables which he calls “happy foods.”
Charlotte Meditation focuses on the ancient practice of mindfulness meditation’s ability to transform our experience of today’s modern life.
Guru Ranjit Deora is a meditation master teacher. He is the owner of Charlotte Meditation and co-founder of Youth Meditation, a non-profit organization bringing mindfulness meditation into schools.
Guru Ranjit's meditative life began as a youth in Udaipur, India. His first teacher was his mother, who meditated daily at home and believed spirituality leads to happiness. As a young man, he walked in the footsteps of Buddha, visiting Buddhist monasteries and shrines in India and Nepal to learn and practice the teachings of Buddha.
His formal teaching was studying Zero Point Meditation with Guru Dhirendra Bhramchari. The focus of his practice was about self-leadership and self-discovery, not to retreat from the world, but to take this practice into the world for more joy and prosperity.
Angela Gala
Angela Gala is Charlotte Meditation’s Senior Instructor. Previously the owner of a prominent event design and production firm, Angela has been featured on the Today Show and quoted about event production by The Associated Press, ABCNews, MSNBC, and Bankrate. In the middle of her career she began studying and working in meditation with Guru Ranjit. In what could be a high-stress and competitive industry, she realized, through meditation, that she can be calm, focused, more creative and more productive no matter what else might be going on.
The impact meditation had on her work and family life brought her to want to share this practice with others, most specifically children. She is a mother of three children who are her most enjoyable experiment with mindfulness meditation.
Ms. Gala has been studying meditation since 2008 and has taught Laughter Yoga and Mindfulness Meditation not only in our studio but also in corporations, non-profits, universities and schools. Their belief in the need for a secular and universal presentation of mindfulness meditation prompted Ms. Gala and Guru Ranjit to create the Youth Meditation program.
Kathy Babula
Kathy (“Babu”) Babula is a veteran classroom educator who taught Spanish to middle through high school students for 30+ years in the Charlotte area.
The pressures of a fast-paced educational workplace and a busy life as wife and mother led Ms. Babula to begin her mindfulness studies with Guru Ranjit Deora in 2008. As a long-time observer of the stress that adolescence can bring, she has a special interest in sharing her practice of mindfulness meditation with students, parents, and teachers.
As an instructor at Charlotte Meditation, she is available to teach private lessons. Completed coursework includes Charlotte Meditation Teacher Certification, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindful Educator Essentials (Mindful Schools, California).
As the acting Director of Education for Youth Meditation she promotes the unique experiential method of teaching and learning that Guru Ranjit’s lessons ensure. Through purposeful self-exploration, students of all ages discover how to manage their emotions with confidence.
As an instructor, Kathy has experienced the power of YM’s Mindfulness Meditation course in several K-8 settings that include Ashley Park Elementary, Charlotte Country Day Middle School, Michelle in the Middle and Freedom Schools programs.
Kathy maintains a personal practice based on her studies with Guru Ranjit Deora at Charlotte Meditation. The experiential nature of his lessons has been life-changing and long-lasting. She credits Ranjit and his guidance with helping turn her 2010 experience with breast cancer into a spiritual adventure. “Babu” looks forward to sharing these “lessons for a lifetime of happiness” with you.
Darlene Morrison
Darlene Morrison, a native of New York City, moved to Charlotte in 2006 with her son. Ms. Morrison has 27 years’ experience working with individuals who have intellectual developmental disabilities, and within the mental health field. She has worked with children in day treatment programs, implementing behavior management and intervention for adolescents with mental health diagnoses. These interventions included group therapy, experiential learning, and recreation therapy. Darlene currently works with a managed care organization that helps provide quality of life support to families.
Darlene’s practice of yoga began in 2015 and led her to begin mindfulness meditation practice with Guru Ranjit Deora at Charlotte Meditation in 2017. While enduring several complex medical health concerns and complicated surgeries, Darlene embraced a daily practice of meditation on her own for a year. Meditation allowed Darlene to not focus on her medical problems and provided a clear insight on healing of her mind, body, and spirit. During this time it was very clear and important for her to share her experiences and share her personal journey with others to help assist with their healing. Ms. Morrison continued to practice meditation with Guru Ranjit in 2018 and completed her field work with Youth Meditation. She has a passion for helping others and a desire to share her journey with others.
Ms. Morrison studied Human Services at the City University of Borough Manhattan Community College, Psychology at the City University York College, and earned her Masters of Science degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from the City University of Hunter College.
Ashley Moye
Ashley Moye stepped in to her role as a mindfulness meditation instructor through a conscious choice to embrace a more fulfilling channel for both selfless service and lifetime learning than her previous career in law librarianship.
During her decade as a law librarian, Ms. Moye maintained her own mindfulness practice and frequently promoted mindfulness and emotional intelligence within her profession as necessary soft skills for both lawyers and librarians. After completing her Mindfulness Meditation Certification with Guru Ranjit, she began working for Youth Meditation as an instructor, sharing mindfulness practices as well as her own experiences with a wide range of young people.
During her own youth and on in to adulthood, Ms. Moye struggled with mental health issues and associated trauma, and her own personal practice of mindfulness brought her access to unparalleled peace, balance and joy. As a result, she is most passionate about sharing these life-changing practices with individuals who are enmeshed in difficult and high-stress situations.
