Privacy Policy

Updated: 23 November 2023

1. GENERAL

1.1. We process your personal data according to the principles outlined in this privacy policy.

1.2. We respect the privacy of our visitors and members and all who visit our website (Somananda.org, “the Website”). This Privacy Policy describes the information about you that we collect through the Website, and how that information is used, maintained and, in some cases, shared.

1.3. The Website is operated by Ananda OÜ who is the controller of your personal data. Our contacts can be found here https://somananda.org/contact/.

1.4. In order to fully understand your rights we encourage you to review this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, we advise you not to use or access the Website.

1.5. We may, from time to time, revise or update this Privacy Policy.  This may include making changes to the way we collect, maintain and store information.  If we make changes to this Privacy Policy, Changes will become effective immediately. The currently applicable version of the Privacy Policy is always accessible at https://somananda.org/system/privacy-policy/. When we make material changes, we’ll provide you with prominent notice as appropriate under the circumstances, e.g., by sending you an email. We encourage you to visit this page regularly to keep yourself up to date with the latest changes. If you disagree with any of the terms of this Privacy Policy in its current form, or in the future, in any of its modified forms, we advise you to discontinue your use of the Website.

2. WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU AND HOW WE USE IT

2.1. Information You Provide to Us

2.1.1. We gather and retain personal information about you when you voluntarily submit it to us.  For example, if you choose to complete and submit a form or otherwise provide information through our Website, including but not limited to the “Contact Us” page, we will retain the data you submit to respond to your inquiry and consider your request.  The legal basis for processing such data is either our legitimate interest to answer to your queries and provide our services to you or to take steps at your request prior to entering into a contract with you. After we have responded to your inquiry and/or considered your request, the information you submitted may be retained for facilitating future communication with you. The basis for this data processing is our legitimate interest to ensure swift communication.

We process your personal data in order to provide our services to you. This includes your contact details and other information we have collected from you. The legal basis for such processing is that the processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which you, as a data subject, are a party.

2.2. URLs and IP Addresses

2.2.1. Like many other websites, we collect information about users’ utilization and navigation of the Website. This information helps us to design the Website to better suit our users’ needs. Information collected from Website visitors includes: domain name used to access the internet, browser used, pages visited, referring site and Internet Protocol (“IP”) address. We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer the Website. Your IP address is also used to help identify you and to gather broad demographic information.  We track the keywords that are entered into our search engine and the terms selected to browse and filter information in order to measure interest in specific topics, but we do not monitor which terms a particular user enters. The legal basis for processing this data is our legitimate interest to understand better the preferences and requirements of users in order to provide better services to them and make relevant information easily accessible.

2.3. Cookies and Other Similar Technologies

2.3.1. Like most websites, we employ cookies on certain pages of the Website. A cookie is a small text file that is saved on your computer or other device when you visit the website. Cookies make using the Website easier by, among other things, saving your preferences for you. Certain cookies are necessary in order to deliver the content of our website. We may also use cookies to deliver content tailored to your interests. Some of the cookies we use enable us to identify you. If your browser is set to reject cookies, or if your browser notifies you that you are about to receive a cookie and you reject it, then your use of the Website may not be as efficient or as enjoyable as it would be if the cookies were enabled. The information that we collect with cookies allows us to improve our membership benefits and information, to statistically analyse usage of the Website, and to improve and customize our content and other offerings.

2.3.2. We use the following types of cookies/other similar technologies:

MailChimp web beacons, in order to recognize when have users opened our marketing emails or clicked certain links. These technologies record each subscriber’s email address, IP address, date, and time associated with each open and click for a campaign. We use this data to create statistics about how an email campaign performed and what actions subscribers took. The web beacons are used for these purposes until the person unsubscribes.

MailChimp cookies which help us track attribution rates and browser activity on our website, as our website and e-commerce store are connected to our Mailchimp account. These cookies help us understand and analyse which email campaigns, channels, or touch-points contribute to the desired outcomes, such as website visits, conversions, or purchases.

Hotjar cookies, in order to identify usability issues. Hotjar provides us with recordings and visualizations of users’ behaviour on our website. The cookies that Hotjar stores on a visitor’s browser expire automatically after 365 days.

OptinMonster cookies which help us to personalize your experiences with our pop-up campaigns. More specifically these cookies: (a) determine whether you are a new or a returning visitor; (b) determine whether you have interacted with our pop-up campaign; (c) determine whether you have opted in to our pop-up campaign.

Google Analytics cookies – these include 4 types of cookies which help us to:

  • determine whether the website visitor is a new or a recurring visitor. This cookie expires in two years;
  • identify a new session on the website. This cookie expires after 30 minutes. If a person stays longer on the website, then a new cookie is placed and this is saved as a new session;
  • understand how you reached our site by storing the traffic source or campaign. This cookie expires in 6 months;
  • store visitor-level custom variable data. This cookie expires in 2 years.

We also use Google cookies which help to measure the effectiveness of targeted advertising. In addition, in order to make your visit to our site more comfortable, we use cookies to identify a specific website visit session and the data related to your shopping cart.

Google Ads cookies which allows us to target ads that you may see on Google or on Google’s partner networks.

Facebook Pixel which is used for advertising purposes. More precisely, it allows us to show ads on Facebook and to analyse the effectiveness of such advertising. You may always control your Facebook privacy settings here.

2.3.3. We only disclose information collected with cookies to third parties on an aggregated basis without the use of any information that personally identifies you. The legal basis for using cookies is our legitimate interest in ensuring the functioning of the website, analyzing the success of our marketing activities, providing the users with better user experience and analyzing the website statistics for developing a more user-friendly interface.

2.3.4. You may always disable cookies via your browser settings or from one of the following websites: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout/, http://www.youronlinechoices.com/.

2.4. Social Networking Activities

2.4.1. The Website enables you and other users to link to social networking websites.  As a result, we receive information about you when you choose to post or otherwise share information about our Website on these social networking websites.  We may use such information about you in a variety of ways, including to administer the Website and enhance your experience with Somananda.org. We keep this information only as long as it is necessary to achieve these purposes. The legal basis for processing the aforementioned data is our legitimate interest in providing the users with better user experience and analysing the statistics about the behaviour and interests of Website’s users in order to tailor our services and the Website to meet the users’ expectations.

2.5. Financial Transactions

2.5.1. When you engage in any financial transaction through the Website, you will be asked by our cooperation partners to provide certain payment information, such as your debit card, credit card or PayPal account and billing address. This information will only be kept as long as necessary to complete the transaction or series of recurring transactions authorized by you. The legal basis for processing this data is the performance of a contract to which you, as a data subject, are a party or the prior steps we need to take at your request, prior to entering into a contract with you.

3. HOW WE MAY SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

3.1. We will not share, rent, sell or otherwise disclose any of the personally identifiable information that we collect about you through the Website, except in any of the following situations:

3.2. We may use the information we collect from you to fulfil your requests, manage the Website, communicate with you about membership, registration, products, services, events and other opportunities related to our courses, and conduct research and analysis. If you no longer want to receive emails from Somananda.org on a going-forward basis, you may opt out of receiving emails by clicking the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of those emails you receive or, you may send a request to unsubscribe to: . If you are having difficulty unsubscribing, using the above methods, please contact us directly at the email or phone number listed at https://somananda.org/contact/.

3.2.1. We may disclose information that we collect about you to our third-party contractors and payment processors who perform services for us in connection with the Website, or to complete or confirm a transaction or series of transactions that you conduct with us. We may also disclose information to service providers or suppliers if the disclosure will enable that party to perform business, professional or technical support for us.

3.2.2. We may be legally obligated to disclose information about you to the government or to third parties under certain circumstances, such as in connection with illegal activity on the Website, or to respond to a subpoena, court order or other legal process. We reserve the right to release information that we collect to law enforcement or other government officials, as we, in our sole and absolute discretion, deem necessary or appropriate.

3.2.3. We may share aggregated or anonymous information that cannot identify you with third parties. For example, we may disclose the number of visitors to the Website or the number of people who have downloaded a particular document.

4. DATA SUBJECTS’ RIGHTS

4.1. Subject to statutory restrictions, you have the right to:

4.1.1. request access to your personal data;

4.1.2. request rectification of your personal data;

4.1.3. request erasure of your personal data;

4.1.4. request a restriction on processing your personal data;

4.1.5. object to the processing of your personal data;

4.1.6. receive your personal data in a machine-readable format and to transmit the data to another controller (right to data portability);

4.1.7. when your personal data is processed based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, without this affecting the lawfulness of the processing prior to withdrawal.

4.2. You have the right to object to the processing of your personal data. However, we note that certain personal data is necessary for us to provide our services to you, such as your contact details and payment details. Therefore, when you object to the processing of such data, we may not be able to provide our services to you.

4.3. In order to exercise the abovementioned rights, please contact us at .

4.4. If you are of the opinion that we have breached your privacy rights in any way, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority in the Member State of your habitual residence. The list of European Data Protection Authorities can be accessed at http://ec.europa.eu/newsroom/article29/item-detail.cfm?item_id=612080.

5. SECURITY

5.1. To help protect the privacy of data you transmit through the Website, where personally identifiable information is requested, we use technology designed to encrypt the information that you input before it is sent to us. In addition, we take steps to protect the user data we collect against unauthorized access. However, you should keep in mind that the Website is run on software, hardware and networks, any component of which may, from time to time, require maintenance or experience problems or breaches of security beyond our control.

5.2. Please also be aware that despite our best intentions and the guidelines outlined in this Privacy Policy, no data transmission over the Internet or encryption method can be guaranteed to be 100% secure.

6. LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

6.1. We do not endorse and are not responsible for the information practices or privacy policies of websites operated by others that may be linked to our Website, including the websites of our program partners and sponsors.  If you decide to access a third party’s website that may be linked to this Website, you should consult that website’s privacy policy. This Privacy Policy governs only information that we directly collect, and not websites, services or applications that do not refer to this Privacy Policy or that are maintained or controlled by other companies or organizations, including third party websites linked to from the Website. The inclusion of a link or reference on the Website does not imply endorsement of the linked site by us.

7. CHILDREN’S PRIVACY

7.1. This Website is not intended for minors under the age of 18. If you are under 18 years of age, please do not use or access this Website at any time or in any manner.  By using this Website, you affirm that you are over the age of 18. Somananda.org does not intend to use this Website to gather personal information from or about persons under the age of 18.

8. OTHER

8.1. If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or the processing of your personal data, please contact us at .