Sitabai Betts

I love the outdoors, hiking, international travel, backpacking in the wilderness, and people. Ever since I was a child, I felt I was a citizen of the world and my heart knew that there is so much wonder to experience! As Paramhansa Yogananda said, “God smiles in the flowers.” I’ve witnessed that Divine Smile not just in the flowers but in trees, people, mountains, oceans, sunsets, and the breath of the wind all around us.

I’ve had the great blessing to experience many spiritual joys in my own travels that have made me the pilgrimage leader that I am today. In 1980, I traveled for a year around the world with my husband. For the last 35 years, I’ve backpacked in Yosemite National Park and the Sierra Nevada Mountains wilderness every summer. I’ve hiked in stunning mountain ranges - the Alps, the Dolomites, the Himalayas, the Cascades in Washington and Oregon States, and on many coastlines. I’ve solo walked 700 miles from southern France to the Coast of Spain on the holy pilgrimage El Camino de Santiago. Every moment in our travels, if the spirit of the Divine is at the forefront, is a pilgrimage back to our home in God.

I moved to Ananda Village in 1984 and I’ve had a lot of experience serving people in my most recent 18-year Ananda Village management job. I also have a lot of experience with families and children, having raised 4 delightful sons of my own. I became an Ananda minister and Lightbearer in 1992 – which has been a great joy of my life to share the deep and divine teachings of our Path. Come along with me to experience the great joy of pilgrimage, and as Yogananda said, “Smile that perpetual smile – that smile of God. Smile that strong smile of balanced recklessness – that million-dollar smile that no one can take away from you.”