Ricardo's bio/story

Ricardo started his studies in Oriental Nutrition at an age of 19 in his home country, Venezuela, with his long time mentor, Sensei Mario Lopes San (Founder and Director of Venezuela's Center of Macrobiotics). Ricardo completed all courses at the center and became Mario's assistant in cooking classes, workshops and the production of   Macrobiotic's specialty foods like tofu, soy milk, tahini, tempeh, natto, seitan and amasake, among other products. Ricardo wanted to expand his knowledge in macrobiotics and decided to take a short trip to Portugal to attend a well-known macrobiotic conference in Algarve, Portugal.   Such short trip, end up been almost a two years adventure studying/working with some of the best macrobiotic teachers in the world. Ricardo had the opportunity to study closely with Macrobiotic teachers like Francisco Varatojo (Founder and Director of Portugal's Kushi Institute of Macrobiotics) Magdalena Corominas (Founder and Director of the International School of Shiatsu in Tenerife, Spain) Madame Francoise Riviere (George Ohsawa's assistant) Adelbert and Wieke Nelisses (Founders and Directors of the Kushi Institute of Europe in Amsterdam, Holland) Maria Gillott and Joao Borges, (Founders and Directors of One World Camp (a macrobiotic oriented summer festival in England)) Phil Janeta & Warren Kramer (US visiting teachers)

Ricardo decided to come to the US in 2001 to study the Art of Sourdough Bread Baking with master baker Richard Bourdon in Housatonic, MA. While living in the Stockbridge, MA, Ricardo used to prepare "to-go" Macrobiotic meals for people who were staying at Kripalu's Center for Yoga and Health. A few months passed and while working as a sushi chef at BIZEN (a famous Macrobiotic/Japanese restaurant in Great Barrington, MA) Ricardo met Joshua Rosenthal (Founder and Director of Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City) Ricardo became Joshua Rosenthal's private chef/housekeeper and decided to enroll in his program at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) in NY City. It was thanks to Joshua's teachings that Ricardo was able to deprogram himself from the rigid concepts of Macrobiotics and took his practice to a new level, offering more flexibility and more individualized holistic health counseling to his clients.   Unfortunately and due to Visa requirements after 9/11, Ricardo could not finish his training at the IIN and had to go back to his home country.   After a few months later Ricardo was able to come back to the US and later on became a permanent resident.

A few years passed and through reading and contemplation Ricardo became much more interested in the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine and decided to delve deeper into the principles of Traditional Chinese Nutrition and became certified in Traditional Chinese Nutrition in April 2003 by Maoshing NI, author of Tao of Nutrition and founder of Yo-San University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Los Angeles, CA. In 2006, Ricardo completed an Advanced Traditional Chinese Herbalist Training Program from the Institute of Chinese Herbology.

In July 2006 Ricardo had the opportunity to travel to the Himalayas in India, where he met his guru Maha Yogi Pilot Baba. Pilot Baba iniciated Ricardo during the auspicious day of Guru Poornima and was given the name of Raghavendra Giri.

Ricardo has taught Oriental Medicine at the Hudson Valley School of Massage Therapy in Highlands, NY

Besides offering his services, Ricardo works at Souen as a waiter, serving the best Japanese/Macrobiotic foods in New York City!

For more information about his Guruji, Pilot Baba, please click here