Yoga retreat at 'Expanding Light'



I spent an awesome July weekend at the Sivananda Ashram's Expanding light at Nevada City. The atmosphere was exactly what I was looking for - calm, quiet, beautiful, peaceful and people with amazing energy and positivity. I loved it there.

Here is what we did.

DAY 1

We signed up for the "Personal Retreat" which means you tailor your itinerary yourself. We got there on a Saturday morning, ate a lunch of salad, wild rice and eggs, and a vermicelli stir fry with veggies. It was a great start to the day!

We then headed out in the sun to help Joan, one of the volunteers/workers at Ananda. We tilled the soil, weeded the ground, pinned fabric, and laid down some mulch. Phew, and that took about 2 hours.

When we couldn't take the heat anymore we headed to the Lotus Pond, and the Lahiri meditation center on the way. It was summer, and so we enjoyed dusty feet, sitting by the pond, and yes we clicked pictures in all our tourist glory.

We headed back to our accommodation. My husband and I stayed in tents and the friends we were with, stayed in the shared accommodation. We got to see and get a feel of both kinds of accommodation.

In the tenting option you are pretty much on your own - there are these dug out flat portions on the ground where you pitch your tents. You get a camping pass which you leave hanging on your tent, and thats about it. Bring your own flash lights at night!

The shared accommodation is two twin beds in a room, with a common bathroom. I was very pleased with the bathrooms here. I understand that this is an ashram and run with very low overhead costs, yet the volunteers have done a fabulous job of keeping the place comfortable and clean. Cheers to each and everyone of them!

We went to the 4.30 to 6.30pm session that evening which was held by a young yogini, she was going a little fast initially, and then went much slower allowing us to stay in our poses for longer. She sang for us, did some OM chanting and then concluded with some quiet meditation.

And it was time for dinner!

Dinner was pizza! Pizza in an ashram, really? Yes, and it was FABULOUS.

The chef that night was Premdas, a bright cheerful man who was so wonderful, it was contagious! We started off with an italian and english prayer and dug into the pizza.


Premdas, the Fantabulous Chef

Dessert was even more FABULOUS! It was berries with a cinnamon creme fresh. I seriously ate too much!

We sat at the living room/family room at serenity house reading, talking till a little late, and headed to bed soon after.

DAY 2

The bell went off at 6am! and I scrambled out of the tent at 6.20, rushed to the common bath area, took a shower, and got to yoga at 6:40, about ten minutes late.
The morning yoga was outdoors, and I'll say it again, I loved it!

We went back in to do some of the poses that required you to lay down. We had a breakfast of cereal, flaxseed, some sweet cobbler like fruit mix, fruit and toast.

Post breakfast we chatted up a lot of the volunteers at the Ashram, and listened to their amazing stories of how they got there.

We didn't stay for lunch, and left Sunday around noon to visit the Yuba river. It was totally worth the trip, it was shallow, the water was nice and warm, and they had a huge rock you could jump/dive off of into the water. There were LOTS of people and it was crowded, so make sure you expect that.

After two wonderful days we headed back to the South Bay driving about 4 hours to reach home at around 8pm.

Fabulous trip, and cheers to Expanding light and its staff!

PS: The pictures are copyrights of Ananda, I will upload pictures from my trip soon!