Prama Institute is an educational conference and retreat center located in two, large geodesic domes on 150 acres of forested hilltops and grasslands in the Appalachian mountains about 25 minutes outside Asheville. The center has panoramic views of the legendary Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina. The institute provides facilities and programs for educational seminars and retreats in the area of spirituality, environmentalism, sustainable economics, holistic health, and other intellectual and artistic fields that contribute to human development and social change.

The name of our institute is derived from the Sanskrit term, prama, which means dynamic balance or equilibrium in Sanskrit. To lead a personal lifestyle according to prama is to seek harmony between body, mind, and spirit. As a society, we encourage prama by developing economic, political and social systems that enhance greater harmony bwtween people, community, and the environment.

Our retreat and seminar space has been designed to nurture people's spirit and creativity within the context of sustainable living and planetary change. We offer a supportive community environment for creativity, healing, meditation and learning.

Prama Institute features an eclectic schedule that includes a wide range of programs: from yoga and meditation classes to world music concerts, from seminars on sustainable living to writer's workshops, from art and theater retreats to classes on holistic health, and much more. Please click here for further details.

Some of our presenters are world renowned, others are homegrown locals. We welcome you in joining them to enrich your spirit and deepen your understanding of yourself and the world you live in.

Our facilities are also available for individual and group rentals. Please click here for further information

Sid Jordan Ph.D.
Exective Director
Sid Jordan has combined a career as a licensed clinical psychologist and yoga teacher since 1971.  As a clinical psychologist, he taught psychotherapy and community psychology in the Department of Psychiatry and served as director of the Mental Health, Alcohol and Drug Services in a community center at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, SC over a period of 25 years.  Since 1994, he has been developing a green intentional community north of Asheville on 140 acres of land.

Roar Ramesh Bjonnes
Marketing Director
Roar Ramesh Bjonnes has a degree in agronomy and has been active in the environmental movement for many years. He co-founded a course in organic farming in Norway which has since grown to become a noted institution promoting organic agriculture in Northern Europe. Bjonnes is also a freelance journalist, columnist, and former editor of the environmental magazine Common Future as well as contributing editor of the online magazine New Renaissance (www.ru.org). He has published numerous articles on ecology and culture in books, magazines and newspapers in the US and Europe.

Pamela Nemon
Facility Administrator
Pamela Nemon is a professional educator and school administrator. She worked for many years in international relief and development, supervising community projects for disadvantaged populations in Latin America. She received extensive training in early child education and emergency health care and has managed pre-schools in Latin America, Europe and the US.