Sometimes you just feel a boost to shut up and go inside.
Whether you are looking for a deeper link with your spirituality, to study meditation or to keep you away from lively lights, a big city for a day, an ashram or a retirement center in the Colorado mountains can be a good change in pace compared to daily life.
Eldorado Mountain Yoga Ashram, about 10 minutes from Boulder, offers day pensions and meditation and yoga lessons. Its sister center, Shoshoni Yoga Retreat, south of Nederland in Rollinsville, offers night and weeks pensions, yoga teachers, meditation and yoga teachers and workshops. Visitors can stay in shared dormitories or private cabins. The two centers offer vegetarian meals during pensions.
“A yoga ashram is a place where spiritual researchers can go to study yoga and study the lifestyle,” said Jatila Hayes, resident professor at Eldorado.
The centers, exploited by non -profit SGRY, date back to the mid -1970s when a man named Sri Shambhavananda brought a group of yogis to Boulder. They opened the first vegetarian restaurant in the region, appointed him in honor of their teacher, Swami Rudrananda, and found enough success for them to build Eldorado. In 1988, they opened Shoshoni in what was once a summer camp.
“Most people who make a day retirement want a day for themselves,” said Hayes. “But to really deepen their inner practice or their inner sense of food or rejuvenation. We are far enough to feel in a different place. Because it is an ashram, the atmosphere is different. We meditate here every day, so it creates an atmosphere of safety and harmony. »»
The two centers attribute to a specific Hindu tradition – the shaivism of cashmere, which believes that God exists in each sensitive being. Some of these beliefs can be discussed during lessons, and visitors can choose to take philosophy lessons to find out more, but the centers are open to all confessions.
“We have people who come here who are Christians, Muslims, Yogis, Jews, but you want to define your religion or your practice,” said Hayes. “We do not push a philosophy in the throat of anyone. People can come and relax and when they leave our hope, it is that you can take with you what you have found. It is the magic of a real ashram or a real yogic tradition or a real practice of meditation. It has an effect on you and you want to continue to find this place inside. »»
For greater experience focused on Buddhists, the Drala Mountain Center, located on 600 acres west of Fort Collins, offers more than 100 pensions and courses each year in a range of interests, including yoga, meditation, mindfulness, psychology and traditions of native wisdom. Visitors can stay in private lodge rooms with bathrooms, dormitories with bathrooms and common tents with access to the baths. One night’s getaway are also available for those who do not necessarily want to take a course, but who want a mountain escape or a lonely moment. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten -free meals are available to remove participants or those who participate in a visit. There is a suggested donation of $ 15 per meal and if there are more than two or three people, you are asked to telephone in advance.
“One of the biggest prints is the magnificent location of the valley if you want to connect to yourself and nature,” said Rhiannin Bunney, Drala programs director. “There are many different ways to do so, whether it is a yoga or meditation retirement. Whatever avenue you want to take to recover positivity and energy, that’s why we are here. “”
The center also houses the Grand Stupa of Dharmakaya, a Buddhist structure in the shape of a dome. It is one of the biggest stupas in the world and one of the few that you can get inside and meditate. It is open for free to visitors from sunrise to sunset. “In Buddhist practice, they are a site that amplifies energy,” said Bunney. “If you surround the stupa with intention, it is supposed to be magnetizing for this intention. It is also an excellent calm space for the practice of meditation. »»
Drala was founded in 1971 by the master of Tibetan meditation and teacher Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who also founded the Naropa University in Boulder.
“(He was) at the forefront of Buddhism coming to the West,” said Bunney. “We started as a Dharma Center and more recently, we are opening more on the arts of wisdom. We want to be a paradise for people who want to practice, examine their minds and find new ways to improve their lives. »»
Contact the writer: 636-0270