TRAVEL TO INDIA FOR A TRANSFORMATIONAL RETREAT?

Fire Puja or Havan in Rishikesh on the banks of the Holy Ganges River.

incredible india

Incredible India has a mystical allure that is unsurpassed by any other country in the world. In fact India compels one to visit, calling and calling and our hearts desire cannot be quelled until we go. Being the country of ancient wisdom, the birthplace of Yoga, Meditation and Ayurveda, India has so much to offer. Everything is vibration and different vibrations have different frequencies. Just as sound waves that reverberate from the instrument into the environment allow us to translate the vibration as sound through our hearing sense organs, vibrational frequencies are engraved into the environment. That’s why when we go to a place of ancient spiritual practice, we have a spiritual experience. It is the vibrational essence that we tune into and we experience the world from within.

inward journey

From the moment one lands in India, first time travellers and seasoned travellers alike, India charms us, bringing out all the colours, all the aliveness, all the sights and all the smells and flaunts her richness and diversity through her tastes and sounds. I recall the first time I landed at Mumbai airport many years ago and being greeted at 2am with an assault of the senses in the sweltering heat as hoards of people stood outside awaiting their charges. I was instantly transported into an alien world of saris, cardamom and turbans. A lot has changed at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai over the years but the essence of India has not. India is an outward manifestation of an inward journey. At first it challenges you emotionally and mentally – things just don’t work in the same way in India as they do back home – and then with each passing day as you sink into its soulful nurturing arms, the transformational journey begins.

ancient wisdom

Some of the earliest written records of meditation, come from the Hindu traditions of Vedantism, around 1500BCE. The origins of yoga have been speculated to date back to pre-Vedic Indian traditions, it is mentioned in the Rigveda, but most likely developed around 600 / 500 BCE. Ayurveda is around 5000 years old. These traditions are very old and it is for this reason that India excites so many. Whether reincarnation is a key to understanding the fact that so many of us long for our spiritual roots in India or whether it is simply a matter of vibrational energy – the centuries of vibrations of spiritual practices are present in many of India’s temples and in its many sacred sites. Ancient rituals are performed everyday all over in the same way that they were performed hundreds if not thousands of years ago. This has a powerful impact on us and is part of why we travel to India in hopes of finding abiding wellness.

transformational retreat

It is India itself that is the very foundation for a transformative retreat. What is left is the work. First we must remove the toxins from our body, emotional being and mind. In our daily lives we are inundated with stimuli through the foods we consume, through our environment both work and home and through our thoughts. We enter into a pact with ourselves and allow ourselves to passage through a process into the our deeper selves. Detoxification of the body, of the mind, the emotional life and of the spirit gives us an opportunity to emerge aligned with who we truly are. It gives us an opportunity to remember our heartfelt desires and bring joy into every part of our being. On the physical level through increased health and vitality that impacts every single cell, on the mental level through mental clarity and a deeper knowledge of meditation, on the emotional level through emotional release and on the spiritual level through genuine alignment. India is a spectacular teacher and we are blessed to still have this teacher in our world.

Meditation on one one of our Transformational Retreats