Our Staff
Tashirat staff members are spiritual aspirants who have dedicated their lives to service in Tashirat. Many have been with us as full-time, live-in volunteers for more than a decade, and nearly half our staff has been with us for over 20 years.
Artimia Arian (Brenda)
Fundador y Director
Artimia es la fundadora y directora de Tashirat. Nació en 1956, en Johannesburgo, Sudáfrica. Fundó el Centro de Aprendizaje Cósmico Tashirat en Tepoztlán, México en 1994, y el Orfanato Tashirat en 2003. Durante más de 2 décadas, ha trabajado intensamente para establecer Tashirat y capacitar al personal de Tashirat.
El éxito de Tashirat se debe a su absoluto amor por las personas, su
dedicación y visión espiritual. Artimia también es autora de 8 libros sobre Espiritualidad, lecciones de vida de los chakras y nutrición.
Karly (Thyesha)
Director
Thyesha was born in 1987, in Los Angeles, California. She moved to Mexico with her parents when she was 2 years old. She received her Sivananda Yoga Teacher Certification when she was just 15 years old, and became a Tashirat staff member at age 18. Soon after she adopted her first Tashirat children. She is currently the parent to many Tashirat children and Tashirat’s director.
Jonathan
Jonathan was born in 1992, and is Artimia’s son. Jonathan grew up in Tashirat and was just 11 years old when we opened the orphanage in 2003. He runs the administrative areas of Tashirat, and is the general manager of our Amatista Retreat Center. He has helped build Tashirat through his work and involvement on many levels since so young.
Bryony (Anathea)
Anathea was born in 1980 and grew up in far-flung corners of the UK. She became a staff member in 2012. Anathea is one of our Tashirat parents and currently works part-time in our primary school and part-time in Tashirat coordination.
Esther (Kira)
Kira was born in 1978 and grew up in the country outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She became a staff member in 1999 and is now a full-time teacher in our primary and middle school, and works in the homes and in Tashirat PR work.
Rosaura (Shenaya)
Shenaya was born in 1961 in Mexico City, Mexico. She became a staff member in 2009 and now is a Tashirat parent and teacher in our primary school.
Chris (Arlan)
Arlan was born in 1976 in Toms River, New Jersey. He has been a staff since 2009, is a Tashirat parent and currently works in fundraising and agriculture.
Marisa (Shyra’el)
Shyra’el was born in 1979, in Los Angeles, California and grew up outside of Philadephia, PA. She became a staff member in 1999 and now she teaches in our primary school and works in Tashirat administration and organizational work.
Matthew (Zarak)
Zarak was born in 1984, in Phillipsburg, New Jersey. He became staff in 2014, and now he assists in the homes and teaches in our primary and middle school.
Melissa (Natainya)
Natainya was born in 1976, and grew up in the small town of Tiverton, Rhode Island. She became a staff member in 1999 and now assists in the homes.
Artimia Arian (Brenda)
Founder & Director
Artimia resided in Johannesburg, South Africa for the first 28 years of her life. She received her B.A. in Social Anthropology and Psychology, with a post-graduate degree in Education. She acquired a wide variety of teaching experience in South Africa with the different sectors of the population and in numerous diverse teaching areas such as: literacy programs with the native Africans; Special Education with emotionally disturbed and disabled children; public school teaching; teaching the gifted; and directing a computer school for children. She emigrated to Los Angeles, USA in 1984, as she was strongly opposed to the South African government’s policies.
The same year she qualified as a Yoga teacher, taking the Sivananda Teachers Training Course in Canada. She became a full-time Yoga teacher and rehabilitation therapist, before marrying and having her first child, Thyesha. When Thyesha was a toddler, Artimia opened a Yoga Center which was an immediate success in Mexico City. Three years later Artimia had her second child Jonathan and left the city due to his respiratory problems.
Shortly after, in 1994, she moved to Tepoztlan to open a Cosmic Learning Center. Tashirat’s
success has been thanks to all of the love and care that she has poured into Tashirat so
intensively for so very many years. Artimia is a Cosmic Medicine doctor and a doctor of Naturopathy. She lives on the Tashirat Ashram with her daughter Thyesha, her son Jonathan, and the Tashirat staff and children.
Karly (Thyesha)
Director
Since she was little, Thyesha always lead a very independent life. She received her Sivananda Yoga Teacher Certification at age 15, finished up her home-based high school education a year early at age 17, and joined a theatre group in Cuernavaca, Mexico that same year. The next year, she found herself briefly in New York City studying at The Art Students League. The more she traveled and the more people she met, the more Thyesha realized how much she appreciated Tashirat staff, and the life philosophy everyone lived there. She also realized how much she appreciated living in a community surrounded by people who share the same ideals. At age 18, Thyesha returned to Tashirat as a full-time staff member and adopted her first Tashirat children.
Thyesha received her certification in Naturopathy at age 20 and married the same year. One year later, Thyesha’s biological son, Nariok, was born and she currently lives with him and her Tashirat children.
Jonathan
It is thanks to Jonathan that Amatista has been turned into the beautiful space that it has today and is on the way to being one of the financial pillars that will allow us to expand and provide a home to many more children. Although Jonathan is not a staff member, his business expertise and his love for Tashirat have made him an invaluable member of our team. From the beginning, Jonathan has always been a beloved older brother to our oldest kids and is like an uncle now to our youngest. At 16 years old, Jonathan completed high school early and entered college. He studied Touristic Business Administration in Atemajac Valley University where he exceled and graduated top of his class with honors. He also received a degree in financial administration. Jonathan supports Tashirat a fortune through all of his dedication and work. He now lives in Tashirat with his wife Yael and their 7 rescued street dogs and he runs Tashirat’s administration areas.
Bryony (Anathea)
Anathea lived in and around Camphill Communities for adults with special needs and attended a Waldorf School as a child. After graduating from University with a major in Japanese, she went travelling and teaching in Japan and Mexico. Tashirat was recommended to her by a friend of a friend and after a few months of volunteering, she decided to stay for a year, which turned into 3. Still unsure whether she was ready to commit to Tashirat indefinitely, she left in 2010 for 2 years to work in Canada and to do a teacher training course in Integral Education at the Mirambika Free Progress School in Delhi, India. Her natural interest in alternative education has always been a major deciding factor in all of her big life decisions. The more she read and learned during the course, the more she realized that Mirambika and Tashirat are based on the same basic understanding of the Cosmos and of human evolution, and this confirmed for her that Tashirat was where she was meant to be and was everything she had been looking for. Anathea returned to Tashirat in 2012 as a staff member.
Esther (Kira)
Kira’s artistic parents and Waldorf school education filled her with a deep love of learning. At the age of 17, she was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. The next couple of years Kira spent in and out of hospitals and doctors’ offices, experimenting with different allopathic and alternative medicines, diets and doctors advice, none of which worked. Nearing the end of her first year in college, Kira was rushed in for an emergency operation which took away the pain, but left her feeling just as sick and debilitated as before.
Eventually, she was drawn to Yoga, and soon after entered the Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training Course in upstate New York where she met fellow staff member, Shyra’el.
Upon completing the course, they traveled to Mexico together, planning to stop at Tashirat on the way to the beach. Kira was so drawn to the consciousness being taught in Tashirat that she felt compelled to stay and learn more. She became a patient and volunteer in Tashirat, healing herself from Crohn’s disease within a few years. As time passed, Kira discovered that the physical disease which she once thought had “ruined” her life, was the greatest gift she ever received, as it forced her to change the direction of her life and stumble upon a much deeper than physical healing and a consciousness that rang true to her in every single way.
Esther (Kira)
Kira’s artistic parents and Waldorf school education filled her with a deep love of learning. At the age of 17, she was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. The next couple of years Kira spent in and out of hospitals and doctors’ offices, experimenting with different allopathic and alternative medicines, diets and doctors advice, none of which worked. Nearing the end of her first year in college, Kira was rushed in for an emergency operation which took away the pain, but left her feeling just as sick and debilitated as before.
Eventually, she was drawn to Yoga, and soon after entered the Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training Course in upstate New York where she met fellow staff member, Shyra’el.
Upon completing the course, they traveled to Mexico together, planning to stop at Tashirat on the way to the beach. Kira was so drawn to the consciousness being taught in Tashirat that she felt compelled to stay and learn more. She became a patient and volunteer in Tashirat, healing herself from Crohn’s disease within a few years. As time passed, Kira discovered that the physical disease which she once thought had “ruined” her life, was the greatest gift she ever received, as it forced her to change the direction of her life and stumble upon a much deeper than physical healing and a consciousness that rang true to her in every single way.
Rosaura (Shenaya)
Shenaya met Artimia in 1992, when a doctor recommended that she try Yoga for her depression. She ended up becoming one of the Yoga teachers in Aritima’s Yoga Center in Mexico City and when Artimia left the city to live in Tepoztlan, Shenaya felt deep down that she would end up following her one day, as she had always had such a connection to her.
Shenaya married and then suffered the loss of her 3 month old baby, who was born with Down’s Syndrome. She also suffered reoccurring depressions and excessive tension and tremors. In 2009, Shenaya finally decided to come to live for some time in Tashirat where she could heal herself. She stayed for several months, during which her physical and emotional ailments disappeared and soon after, she joined our staff team. Since then, Shenaya has found a growing sense of purpose and new strength in life.
Chris (Arlan)
Chris attended New York University where he dual majored in Finance and Marketing and minored in Anthropology. Upon graduation, he knew that the “corporate world” was not for him and spent the next 10 years in New York City pursuing a career in music, as well as working in restaurants and real estate to pay the bills. He met Thyesha while he was still living in New York, an event that forever changed the direction of his life. A few years later he moved down to Tashirat to be with her and they were married. Although Thyesha and Arlan are no longer married, they continue to be good friends and they work closely together in Tashirat. Arlan has seen his life make a complete 180 degree turn from playing music with his band in New York City to becoming a Tashirat staff member. He is excited to work in an environment with such a deep level of consciousness, love and commitment, unlike anything he had ever known in his life.
Marisa (Shyra’el)
Shyra’el was raised in a suburb of Philadelphia. At the age of 16 she left school and entered the working world. In 1999, after going through a difficult break-up and quitting her job, she decided to turn a new leaf in life by attending the Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training course in upstate New York. Eating healthy, practicing Yoga and meditation and living in an Ashram community was a radically new experience for her, but one that made her feel better than anything else she had ever done. It was in the Yoga teacher training course that she met fellow staff member Kira and they decided to travel through Mexico together. Tashirat was the first stop on their trip but they both decided to cancel their travels around Mexico and become Tashirat staff members within a month of their arrival.
Shyra’el was a Tashirat staff member for 8 years before returning to the US to reassess what she wanted to do in her life. In the 2 years that she was gone, she lived and worked in Los Angeles, California and traveled through the US and South America for many months. She returned in 2009 after her extensive travels, more convinced than ever that Tashirat was her home and path because it was the place she had felt happiest and most fulfilled in.
Matthew (Zarak)
He grew up as a typical American boy who enjoyed sports, television and the Standard American Diet. His life changed drastically in his early 20’s when he was introduced to healthy eating, vegetarianism, and eastern spirituality. Over the following 7 years, after working at several health food stores and a vegan restaurant, he decided to travel the United States while studying and practicing different types of permaculture and homesteading.
In 2013, he arrived in Tashirat as an agriculture volunteer. He began giving classes to the children and eventually became more involved in the school, putting to use his love of science and mathematics. Spending more and more time with the kids, he started to feel really at home. All of the principles and methods of Tashirat made so much sense to him. Over his first years as volunteer/provisional staff he became close to all the staff and children and developed the greatest admiration, respect and gratitude for Tashirat. In 2015, after taking a month off with friends and family in Fort Lauderdale, he realized that Tashirat is his true home and where he plans to spend the rest of his life, so he decided to commit to becoming a Tashirat staff member.
Melissa (Natainya)
After finishing her last semester of high school in a student exchange program in Australia, Natainya traveled to Mexico, eager to explore the country and culture. The Mexican people captured her heart and spirit with their warmth, love and overwhelming hospitality; everywhere she traveled she was treated as family. She knew that she’d found her home. After 2 years of traveling, Natainya decided to settle down in Tepoztlán, where she found Tashirat. Since that moment, her life took on a different direction. Tashirat was the home she had been looking for, a spiritual path with a Universal, Cosmic teaching that rang true to her. Natainya attended Yoga classes and meditations and soon became one of Tashirat’s students until eventually becoming a Tashirat staff member shortly after having her son, Kian.