Welcome to the Yoga Wellness Retreat at Ananda Dhiira from November 8 – 12, 2023! We will have a special guest, Dr. Michael Owen, in this retreat. Dr. Owen is a chiropractor and a clinical nutritionist and has specialized in kinesiology and understanding the root cause of disease.
This retreat will introduce various naturopathic treatments such as mud packs, sun baths, hip baths, cold and hot packs, saunas, and graduated fasting.
The schedule combines classes, treatments, nature walks, yoga, meditation, games, delicious fruit and vegetable juices, light meals, and time to socialize.
What is Special About This Retreat?
This retreat combines yoga, meditation, various naturopathic treatments, and expert advice from Dr. Owen.
Didi Ananda Acira and Dada Diiptimanananda are meditation teachers with decades of experience and will guide you during this retreat in meditation and yoga and help you advance spiritually and connect to your inner self.
During this meditation retreat, you can improve your health, go deep into your meditation, make good friends, relax in a natural environment, and enjoy naturopathic treatments, classes, and other programs.
During the retreat, you can also learn individual meditation and have recommendations on yoga, diet, and other lifestyle habits.
We will also take one day for an outing by the nearby South Yuba River and enjoy mud-packs, singing Kiirtana, meditation, and having lunch in the beautiful natural environment. The river has pure, cold, mountain-fed water for those who love cold plunges.
Didi Ananda Acira, Dada Diiptimanananda, and Dr. Michael Owen will lead this retreat. They are all experienced yoga and meditation teachers and can help you advance spiritually and connect to your inner self.
Ananda Dhiira Master Unit
Ananda Dhiira
19393 Sanctuary Road
Penn Valley CA 95946, United States
Ananda Dhiira Master Unit is a beautiful retreat center in Penn Valley, California, dedicated to the welfare of women. The center has a main building with accommodation for ten women and another with a large meditation hall and accommodation for five men.
Nature at Ananda Dhiira is breathtaking, and you can see many bright stars at night. The retreat center is surrounded by oak forest and is a fifteen-minute walk to the South Yuba River.
Didi Ananda Acira and her volunteers live at Ananda Dhiira, grow organic fruits and vegetables, and organize various retreats and fasting programs.
What to Expect:
- Graduated fasting
- Juice fasting
- Three sattvic vegetarian meals, juices, and smoothies per day prepared by our spiritual teachers
- Yoga classes in the morning and evening
- Collective meditation four times a day
- Inspirational talks on healthy living, diet, meditation, yoga, philosophy, food, and nutrition
- Fun games and workshops
- Outdoor walks and activities
- Individual meditation lessons with our teachers (optional)
- Mud Packs (optional and depending on weather)
- Outing to the nearby river
- Relax your body and calm your mind in a tranquil, beautiful environment.
Healing Modalities Used During the Retreat:
During the retreat, we will use various healing modalities based on naturopathy, yogic lifestyle, and other integrative medicine modalities. We introduce food and fasting as medicine and experience graduated fasting and juice fasting throughout the retreat. The intensity levels of the fasting may vary according to the physical condition of the participants.
Yogic fasting and detox is a safe and effective way to rid the body of harmful toxins. The elimination of toxins is achieved through juice fasting, yoga asanas, sauna, mud treatments, massage, hot and cold packs, cold plunges, hip baths, and meditation. The juices, smoothies, and light meals contain highly nutritious foods and superfoods. All of these tools aid in restoring the body to its optimum health and building vitality through lifestyle changes.
Dr. Michael Owen (Mukunda) will assist the participants in taking the healing deeper by using a five-level healing model widely used in integrative medicine today. He will explain how the yogic lifestyle can aid in healing on the various levels of our existence (layers of mind.)
Each level has its own diagnostic methods and specific therapies.
Level One: The Physical Body (PB): all structures of the physical body, including its chemistry and microbiome, toxins, infections, physical trauma, and physical stress. Level one therapy includes much of the Yogic Lifestyle and practices: Asana and meditation, yogic dietary guidelines and principles, including modified and supervised fasting, and various natural yogic means for detoxification. Blue zone lifestyle and exercise, “Walk your blues away,” as well as Ayurvedic medicines and other herbs, spices, nutrients, and specialty diets. Other healing modalities are shoacha (cleanliness,) chiropractic adjustments, most forms of exercise and play, dancing, laughing, making and listening to music, and Kiirtan (mantra chanting.)
Level Two: The Electric Body (EB) includes the meridians and other subtle energies and channels in and around the body, Chakras. Energetic channels animate the body and provide healing expression. Healing is undermined when impaired through physical, energetic, or emotional trauma or memories until the energetic foci are released. Energetic healing is possible through ancient wisdom and recent developments in the alternative healing arena.
Level Three: (MB) The Mental Body includes one’s thoughts and beliefs, habits, including psychological trauma. Therapy includes mantra, mindfulness practices, and many psychology methods, mixed with plenty of introspection and self-regulation. Sometimes healing comes through being graced with a different or expanded view or an experience of oneself and one’s place in the universe.
Level Four: (IB) Intuitive Body includes nonphysical influences, ancestors, dreams, trance states, meditation, and shamanic healing. One is advised to have divine guidance in this realm.
Level Five: I Am is the soul level where everything originates from and is witnessed by the consciousness.
Some of the specific healing modalities that we may use during the retreat are:
(1) Acupressure massage technique in the style of Shiatsu.
(2) Meridian tapping method for emotional healing and self-regulation. The B and E technique means the Beginning and Ending technique for emotional healing and uses the beginning and ending acupuncture meridian points by taping and repeating an affirmation and humming, mostly on the face. It affects the sympathetic nervous system.
(3) Dr. Owen will explain the principles of digestion and elimination and how to avoid constipation, irritable bowel, so-called food toxins, and allergies.
(4) He will also explain how to activate the parasympathetic nervous system—chanting, singing and making sounds, dancing, asanas, meditation, smiling, breathing deeply, looking with soft focus, “walking your blues away,” eye movement, and so forth. They would broadly support many of our yogic practices.
(5) Family Constellation Healing for Level Four Healing. We may add this healing modality depending on the interests and needs of the participants.
How To Get There (Flights, Airport Transfers, Buses, Trains)
Sacramento International Airport (SFM) is the nearest airport, 45 miles from Ananda Dhiira. You can take an Uber from there to Ananda Dhiira or rent a car.
If you arrive at SJC, OAK, or SFO airports, you can get an AMTRAK train to Auburn station, and from there, there is a shuttle to Grass Valley and another shuttle to Penn Valley. We can pick you up from Penn Valley.
Please note that getting public transportation (shuttle or Uber) in the evening from Auburn station is not easy. It is better to arrive during the day.
When you enter the entrance gate at Sanctuary Road, you will need a security code in case the gate is closed. Please get in touch with Didi Ananda Acira to get guidance.
We will also try to arrange a ride-sharing with other participants when possible, so please let us know your travel plans in advance.
Arrival By Car
The address is:
Ananda Dhiira
19393 Sanctuary Road
Penn Valley CA 95946
United States
Please contact the organizers to get the code to the gate to the private road leading up to Ananda Dhiira. After you enter the gated road, continue up the gravel road and take the second right to the main building of Ananda Dhiira.
What To Bring
Please bring comfortable clothing and shoes, toiletry, towel, notebook & pen, swimming suit, medications (if you have any), sunscreen, insect repellent, hat, and other personal needs. Please don’t bring or wear sleeveless shirts or short skirts. Ananda Dhiira has yoga mats, but you are also welcome to bring your own.
Prohibited Items:
It is not allowed to bring any tamasik items, such as tobacco, alcohol, drugs, intoxicants, meat, fish, eggs, onion, garlic, mushrooms, or any food containing those items. If you have any questions, please contact us for more information.
The food during the retreat is plentiful and delicious, so you don’t need to worry about going hungry!
Out of respect to our guests with scent sensitivities, we ask that no strong perfumes or lotions be used.
Pets are not allowed at Ananda Dhiira.
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