Spiritual Travel: Retreats and Pilgrimages
Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage, Spain
Sep. 2021
Ayurvedic Healing Retreat,
Kerala, India
Pilgrimage to Spain: Sacred Sites in Southern Europe
A Sacred Himalayan Pilgrimage
Israel Pilgrimage:
Holy Sites of Christianity
An Indian Pilgrimage
Footsteps of Yogananda
GET ON THE STAY CONNECTED LIST
The Expanding Light Retreat is currently closed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. At this time we are unable to plan and schedule our international spiritual travel programs. If you would like to be kept informed about any of our travel program plans as we develop them then please click on the individual program pictures and sign-up on the Stay Connected list.
Pilgrimage
We journey to places of authentic spiritual magnetism. Our leaders are joyful, knowledgeable, and experienced pilgrims who offer very personal attention to each guest to help you achieve your piligrimage vision.
Vacations
We offer uplifting vacations so that you can rest and renew your body, mind, and spirit. Lovely accomodations that are affordably priced at times of the year when the weather is good but the crowds are less.
Healing Retreats
Our lives are can be more expansive when we are healthy and calm. These healing retreats bring you to the highest quality healing locations with excellent food, treatments, and time for enjoyable activities.
Providing you relaxing, uplifting, and spiritually deep vacations and pilgrimages
Enjoy truly relaxing travel that supports your spiritual life in all ways. We choose inspiring sites and lovely accommodations. Our experienced Expanding Light staff leaders create travel that strengthens your spiritual practice, and a journey that leaves you feeling uplifted and renewed.
We plan trips using the following criteria:
- Journey to a place of magnetism
- Lovely accommodations that are reasonably priced
- Travel at affordable times with pleasant weather
- Programs consistent with the Ananda vibration
- Personal contact with leaders and like-minded people
- Programs that support a spiritual vibration and spiritual practice
WHAT GUESTS ARE SAYING
I can't say enough about the many wonderful and powerful experiences I had on our pilgrimage! Feeling the amazing power of the several sacred places stands out. And being a part of a group of like-minded people was a strong confirmation of how real our spiritual journey is. More...
—V.B., Aptos, CA
OUR SPIRITUAL TRAVEL HOSTS
Gyandev and Diksha McCord
Nayaswamis Gyandev and Diksha are long-time teachers and ministers at Ananda, as well as experienced leaders of retreats at home and abroad. Diksha directs Ananda’s Meditation Teacher Training program. Gyandev directs Ananda Yoga® and Ananda Yoga Teacher Training and was a founding member of Yoga Alliance. Both lead workshops on a wide range of topics in the spiritual life and are great Indian Storytellers. They have led retreats and pilgrimages to India, Hawaii, Costa Rica and Israel.
Diksha ia a native Israeli who came to the U.S. in 1990, a multi-talented woman, of great warmth and humor, with a background in Biology, Fine Arts, Cooking and Ayurveda. Gyandev’s delightful sense of humor and light-hearted humility shine through, putting you at ease immediately.
Nayaswamis Krishnadas and Mantradevi are longtime teachers and ministers of Ananda, Krishnadas and Mantradevi have helped establish Ananda communities in Seattle, Portland, Dallas, and Los Angeles. Currently, they both work at The Expanding Light, regularly leading pilgrimages to India, Europe, and other places of inspiration. They have been sharing Yogananda’s teachings for decades and lead many workshops at The Expanding Light. Mantradevi creates beautiful artworks and Krishnasdas loves to chant and connect with seeking souls.
Keshava Taylor is the spiritual co-director of Ananda's meditation center in Delhi, and he has been leading pilgrimages in India for the past 13 years. In 1984, Keshava became a founding member of Ananda's European center in Assisi Italy. There he began his love of leading pilgrimages while guiding groups in the footsteps of St. Francis and tours of Renaissance cities. Keshava and his wife Daya have lived in India since Ananda's work began there in 2003.
Sitabai has decades of experience as a walker and hiker in the California Sierra Mountains leading children and families and has twice completed the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. She did an amazing job planning and co-leading our first highly successful Camino Plus Pilgrimage in 2019.
Nandadevi Traymar has been a long-term practitioner and teacher of both Hatha Yoga and meditation in her home country, Argentina. She has served at The Expanding Light Retreat for two years working with the Karma Yoga Program, supporting people in their efforts to strengthen their spiritual lives. Nandadevi has enjoyed taking walking pilgrimage in Argentina.
Melody Hansen has served for over 10 years at The Expanding Light Retreat, and is the Director of Level One Hatha Yoga. extraordinary yoga teacher, who conveys her great knowledge of yoga asanas—from physical mechanics to spiritual upliftment—with a blend of graciousness, authority, and fun. She is able to help students experience that depth in their yoga practice.
Annapurna DeLyle graduated from Ananda Institute of Living Yoga, in Bothell, Washington, and has taught yoga since 2007. She has been a student of Ayurveda since 1990, and continues her education with Kerala Ayurveda School in Wellness Counseling. She loves teaching yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda and helping others discover their natural energy, health, and joy.
Mantradevi teaches with insight, clarity and joy, gained from over 35 years of meditating and sharing yoga philosophy. Her concern for others is one of her key qualities, and she has the innate ability to communicate and apply spiritual principles to real life situations. Her classes are creative and experiential, with humor and discussions keeping them lively and interactive.
Sahaja is a minister and yoga teacher who has been practicing yoga postures and meditation since 1975. Sahaja loves sharing yoga and meditation with others because she has experienced their transformational results firsthand. Her bright, upbeat energy and the calm, dynamic joy she brings to her classes are a testament to the effectiveness of yoga.
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