JIVAKA
WELLNESS CENTER
Upcoming Events
Scroll down for weekly schedule
Come To Your Senses:
A Sensory Awareness Retreat
Seeing, touching, tasting, hearing, smelling – we tend to take these senses for granted as we go about our day, moving through our preoccupied lives. But our senses can serve as a portal to self-discovery, leading to a deeper connection with and understanding of our own hearts and minds. Engaging deeply and intentionally with the physical senses helps us shake loose from patterns that don't serve us, increase compassion for ourselves and others, and make more authentic life choices.
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This retreat offers you a few days away from your daily life, immersed in a beautiful natural setting, allowing time and space for fresh perspectives. We create a safe and encouraging space: for discovery and fun, for reflection and periods of intentional silence. Once the retreat is over, you will have a personal toolkit of practical skills, ready to face the world and all that it holds, with courage and with wonder.​
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Turning on all our senses and being truly present in the moment turns out to be a great way to tune into understanding ourselves – and can prove to be the most powerful portable tool you have. Connecting sense and memory, exploring senses beyond “the famous five,” and playing at the boundary between the familiar and the unfamiliar are some of the ways we’ll tap into a deep sense of confidence, groundedness, and balance.
The discoveries you'll make cannot be taught or read in a book – only gained through direct experience. By engaging with the physical senses with a willing and open mind, you can come home to an empowering truth: that what might at first seem like another new habit to establish is actually an innate ability that just needed to be recognized.
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Cost includes accommodation and meals. Please reach out directly if finances are a concern; we want all of the workshops, retreats, and courses that we offer to be accessible to anyone who has a strong volition to attend.
Yantra and Mandala Art
Taught by Bengali artist, yogi, and scholar Sri Sri Kulavadhuta Satpurananda (Khyapa Baba)
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Baba Ji will discuss the theory and principles of Indian Tantrik Mandala art – composition, measurement & perspective, ideation & emotion, aesthetics & ideals, metaphor & symbolism, line & color – imparting an understanding of yantras (specific geometrical patterns that serve as a tool for meditation) & mandalas (yantra with the addition of color, and sometimes in three dimensions) in this five-day course.
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His lectures will be followed by practical instruction in drawing precise geometrical structures of mandalas, painting using traditional Indian wash techniques, and connecting color & symbolism with corresponding internal meditations. His teachings on theory and practice will introduce the meaning of sacred geometry and symbols, allowing you to apply this understanding as you create these forms in your choice of materials. In the daily meditation periods, you will have the opportunity to learn and practice meditation techniques that correspond to shapes, colors, and symbols.
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Baba resides in the Himalayan Mountains outside of Kalimpong, West Bengal. Born into the Buddhist lineage of Atisha Dipankara – which has maintained the continuous practice of Vajrayogini/Chinnamunda for centuries – his instruction in Tantra began at the age of five. He then completed twenty-nine years of arduous study and practice under a range of masters, including the royal Guru of Nepal (Baba Ramnath Aghori), and Mother Teresa. He teaches in the lineage of Padmasambhava, Guru Rinpoche, the eighth-century Tantrika renowned for establishing Buddhism in Tibet.
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Cost includes accommodation and meals. Please reach out directly if finances are a concern; we want all of the workshops, retreats, and courses that we offer to be accessible to anyone who has a strong volition to attend.
Tibetan Healing Retreat
Dr. Jampa Yonten is returning to Saranam Retreat Center to lead the Tibetan Healing Retreat for the first time in several years. This retreat will focus on healing through the cultivation of bodhicitta (the wise and compassionate mind), Medicine Buddha practice, sitting and walking meditation, and gentle yoga. Daily talks will be given on healing through the perspective of Tibetan medicine. Food will be carefully prepared to be conducive to balance, health, and spiritual practice.
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Dr. Jampa Yonten is a Tibetan Medical Doctor and author of the book Compassion as Remedy in Tibetan Medicine. He has had the good fortune of receiving the Medicine Buddha initiation three times from His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama. He has also received the Medicine Buddha initiation from His Eminence Khamtrul Rinpoche while working in Dharamshala, and from his teacher Dr. Trogawa Rinpoche. Dr. Yonten graduated from Chagpori Tibetan Medical Institute, in Darjeeling, and has had the privilege of working under eminent senior Tibetan physicians such as Dr. Trogawa Rinpoche, Dr. Pema Dorjee, Dr. Thubten Gyatso (Tholing Rinpoche), Dr. Yeshi Dorjee, and Dr. Kyizom (Mundgod). Dr. Yonten successfully completed the Menrampa degree from Men Tsee Khang in 2010. He currently heads the Tibetan Healing and Wellness Center in Bangalore, and travels around the world for consultations, teachings, and healing retreats.​
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Cost includes accommodation and meals. Please reach out directly if finances are a concern; we want all of the workshops, retreats, and courses that we offer to be accessible to anyone who has a strong volition to attend.
Come To Your Senses: Meditation for Non-Meditators
We have a confession to make: this is not actually a meditation retreat. Wait, what?
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The truth is, our meditation practices are deeply rooted in well-established lineages. Maybe yours are too. Or maybe everything you've heard about meditation makes you think that it is the most unappealing, terrifying, baffling, or boring way imaginable to spend a long holiday weekend.
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So maybe we should start with: what is meditation anyway? And why is it worthwhile?
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We hope that this retreat can show you one surprising answer: that maybe it's something you're doing already. And harnessing the potential of this latent superpower might just be a matter of giving yourself the space to notice it.
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We know this is not a very detailed description of what will happen on our retreat. But who can describe your mind to you, other than yourself? Our intention is simply to create a safe and encouraging space in which to make discoveries about your own mind through fun, purposeful experiments, balanced with periods of intentional silence – and to help you remember how to apply these findings in your daily life, once the retreat is over.
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We’ll explore how to be truly present in the moment, without having to fold into special postures or learn mantras to chant. And we'll do it all in a gorgeous off-grid retreat venue, staying in luxury glamping bell tents, snuggled into the countryside of North Wales.
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Turning on all our senses to experience and engage with the world fully turns out to be a great way to tune into understanding ourselves – and can prove to be the most powerful portable tool you have. Connecting sense and memory, exploring senses beyond “the famous five,” and playing at the boundary between the familiar and the unfamiliar are some of the ways we’ll tap into a deep sense of confidence, groundedness, and balance, giving you a clear and inquisitive view on life that lasts long beyond the end of the retreat.
The discoveries you'll make cannot be taught or read in a book – only gained through direct experience. By engaging with the physical senses with a willing and open mind, you can come home to an empowering truth: that what might at first seem like another new habit to establish is actually an innate ability that just needed to be recognized.
Weekly Schedule
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Tues 5:30 - 6:30 PM — Align & Flow with Julie (Shine On Yoga)
Thurs 5:30 - 6:45 PM — Yoga with Kyle (appropriate for all levels)
Thurs 7:00 - 8:00 PM — Tergar Meditation with Kyle
Meditation sessions are free to attend in person, or via Zoom
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