Ganges Retreat – 25-29 February, 2008
The Inner Yogic Experience

Photos of the 2008 Retreat taken by some of our guests: Album 1, Album 2, Album 3 Album 4, and Album 5.

More than fifity people spent five days deepening their experience of Yoga at the beautiful resort on the banks of the Ganga, above Rishikesh in the Himalayas at the Glass House on the Ganga, a Neemrana Hotels property, one of the best facilities available on the river itself. The hotel is set in a lychee orchard with a garden of tropical plants, rare birds and butterflies, with a private sand beach of its own.

This magical region of the Ganga is especially sacred because it is the only place apart from Varanasi where the river flows north back towards its source, taking a northern loop before turning south to reach Rishikesh and the plains of India. All participants visited the famous Vasishta Guha, a cave sacred to the ancient rishis and used by modern saints as well.

This unique program focused on the deeper teachings of Yoga in the presence of Ma Ganga, the most sacred river of India, bringing the participant into the living energy of Shiva and Shakti in their Himalayan homeland. Pujas (rituals), havans (fire offerings), Meditation, Yoga and Mantras were taught in a personal and practical manner. Participants learnt how Yoga, Ayurveda, Vedic astrology, Veda and Tantra come together to unfold the deepest aspects of our being. The retreat allowed participants to benefit from the healing presence of the Ganga, both as a physical and a spiritual reality, and all the Divine powers and yogic energies that the river carries – a veritable return to the source.

The program enabled participants of the Yoga and Ayurveda Conference to share the spiritual secrets of Yoga, in a relaxed, comfortable retreat setting, with special guidance and instruction. Participants shared in creating an inner experience of the Himalayas and the Ganga with their ancient deities, yogis and sages.

Registration was closed (sold out) within a few months of the program being announced.

The 2009 Retreat is being planned.

Teachers:
Dr. David Frawley (Vamadeva) and Shambhavi Chopra will share their experience of the Ganga, Shiva and Shakti, and the Yoga and Ayurveda teachings. Betheyla will teach special Yoga classes with reference to Ayurveda. This will be the first such retreat they will be teaching.

Dr. Frawley is a world renowned author and teacher on Yoga, Ayurveda, and Vedic Astrology. He is currently director of the American Institute of Vedic Studies and conducts programs worldwide. Dr. Frawley will also be a keynote speaker at the International Yoga and Ayurveda Conference (February 21 – 25), and the International Yoga Conference (March 1 – 7) at Paramarth Niketan in Rishikesh.

Shambhavi Chopra is the author of Yogini: Unfolding the Goddess Within, a best selling book in India on Tantra and the worship of the Goddess. She has visited the great Himalayan holy places and knows how to contact their energies and bring them to life for others to experience. Her new book on her personal experiences with the great Goddess Kali is being released in July 2007: Yogic Secrets of the Dark Goddess: Lightning Dance of Supreme Shakti.

Experienced teachers of Yoga, will lead the students in daily asana and pranayama classes.

The program featured a specially trained traditional Pandit to perform the pujas and Vedic rituals.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: E-mail: Deepak Singh, Spiritual Journeys, Inc., 25 Hazelbrook Lane, Wayland, MA 01778, USA. Ph: 508-358-4267, or fax: 508-358-8148.

Event was managed by:

Renu Gulati was born in the UK and currently lives in Rishikesh. She studied Sanskrit and Indian Philosophy at Edinburgh University, worked as an Immigration lawyer in both the charitable and international corporate sectors and then qualified as a Yoga asana teacher and as an Ayurvedic Practitioner. She is currently writing her thesis for an M.Sc in Ayurvedic Medicine from Middlesex University in London, manufacturing Ayurveda Incense and organizing spiritual retreats in India. She is also the Rishikesh and Europe co-ordinator for this “Ayurveda and Yoga – Where Science Meets Consciousness” conference at Rishikesh in February 2008.

 

Deepak Singh was born in India, studied as a mechanical engineer in England, attempted to understand air craft engines, developed products for the coal industry, cleaned fuel for the offshore North Sea oil platforms, went to India as the auto industry was opening up, came to the USA to work on alternative fuels, sold Ayurvedic products, and is now packaging spiritual journeys to India. As an event manager, he has managed more than 50 multi-day and multi-hundred people conferences all over the world. He is also managing the “Ayurveda and Yoga – Where Science Meets Consciousness” conference in Rishikesh in February 2008.