Nina Rao, Claudia Welch, Genevieve Walker, gentle yoga with Keli Lalita Reddy, and with honored guest Prof Robert A.F. Thurman. 

Join us for a healing and rejuvenating retreat where we will slow down, take time for ourselves and experience the benefits that mantra, meditation, music, and movement have to offer our body, mind, and soul. By caring for ourselves, we are fortified to care for and simply be with others in a good way.

Claudia is so happy to work live for the first time with her new (old?) friend– devotional chantress and recording artist, Nina, who will share devotional stories of her guru Sri Siddhi Ma, share mantra japa recitation in Veda as well as chanting kirtan with musical accompaniment. Nina explores the complementary wisdom and devotional traditions of Tibet and India and weaving together mystical stories, meditations, mantra, singing chants.

Nina will share traditional chants from her ancestral home of India, guiding us to release into presence, where we find our inner sanctuary. Just knowing that this sanctuary exists can soften anxiety and clear a more open path as we walk through life. When you enter this practice of devotional chanting intentionally — day after day — the foundations of this sanctuary grow stronger such that your confidence in the practice develops with a clearer mind and an ever-opening heart to carry you through the day, one step at a time, moment-to-moment. We will practice mantras for healing, compassion, clarity, courage, wisdom — a sense of well-being. Whatever your spiritual path or meditation experience, you will benefit from finding and resting in the inner sanctuary of your heart, a place we arrive at naturally through releasing into a place of open, grounded presence.

Claudia will explore the role ṛtam –the natural order or, “rhythm” (related to the word, “ṛtam”), of manifested truth–can play in calming our hearts.  ṛtam manifests as the progression of the planets, the seasons, the days, etc., but also internally in the pulsation of cerebrospinal fluid, inhalation and exhalation, and in the beat of our hearts (the Sanskrit word for heart—hṛdayam—is also related to ṛtam.

When we quiet our minds and consciously become aware of–and align with– these beautiful and mandatory natural rhythms, we are aligning and cultivating a relationship with the truth underlying that natural order. Claudia will lead us in visualizations that serve to harmonize us with our natural internal and external rhythms and order.

Along with gentle yoga led by Keli you will receive an immersive experience of the many pathways available to us as we explore the creative power that underlies our inner and outer nature.

We will practice in the beautiful home of the Medicine Buddha, Menla, both indoors and outdoors on the sacred land of the nagas calling forth the celestial divine beings within us. Enveloped by the beauty of the Nature that surrounds us, we will walk along the river bed and amongst the trees, take easy/moderate walks to practice in the temple of the trees, and, weather permitting, a bonfire puja under the night skies.

In between programs you’ll have an opportunity to experience the beauty and care of onsite Dewa Spa (book your treatments in advance if you can).

Menla is sacred land and being there for the early unfolding of spring is truly a magical experience. All are welcome, no prior experience is required.In this four-day retreat, you will have the opportunity to benefit from the following:

• Guided visualization and meditation

• Practice meditation inside and out in nature on the sacred land of Menla

• Vedic mantras in the form of repetition/japa

• Enjoy live kirtan

• Sacred stories of deities, saints, rituals associated with the practices

• While in restorative yoga poses, be serenaded in a sound bath.

• Learn gentle and accessible therapeutic exercises and movements to bring more comfort and ease to your meditation and your life

• Opportunities to share and discuss

• 3 -6 pm  Arrival and Check-in

• 6 – 7 pm  Dinner

• 7:30 – 9 pm  Welcome by Nina, Meet and Greet amongst Participants, Practice.

• 8 – 9 am  Breakfast

• 10 – 12 pm  Yoga with Keli

• 12:30 – 1:30 pm  Lunch

• 2 – 4 pm  Meditation, Stories, Instruction, Chant/Prayers Practice, Teachings

• 6 – 7 pm  Dinner

• 7:30 – 9 pm  Kirtan

• 7 – 8 am  Meditation or Mantra Practice

• 8 – 9 am  Breakfast

• 10 – 12 pm  Yoga with Keli

• 12:30 – 1:30  Lunch

• 2 – 4 pm  Walk in Nature and Sitting Meditation or Free Time for Spa Therapies

• 6 – 7 pm  Dinner

• 7:30 – 9 pm  Kirtan and Restful Sound Bath

• 7 – 11 am Check-out of Rooms

• 7 – 8 am  Yoga with Keli

• 8 – 9 am  Breakfast

• 10 – 12 pm  Closing Program with Talks, Sharing, Chanting

• 12:30 – 1:30 pm Lunch & Departure