"A retreat is a time to come home inside yourself, where the mind stops and silence of the heart begins." Ruth Davis
At age six, Ruth had a spiritual awakening in her first ballet class. Her heart burst open to the divine and joy filled her body. She felt she was dancing to God, as all and everything. Her dance became her devotional practice, which eventually matured into the energetic studies of Yoga, Chi Gung and the movement of consciousness through the body and beyond the body.
Ruth began meditation practice at the age of 16 in 1968 when she embraced Surat Shabd Yoga as her spiritual path. Ten years later she started visiting many holy sites in India including Punjab region, Rishikesh, Hardwar, Varanasi and most recently Chennai. She is a continuing student of Vedic, Tantric wisdom & Mystic Catholicism, with particular connection to the teachings of Ramana Maharshi, the silent saint. |
Nicole draws on 30 years of immersion in the radical acceptance practices of Classical Yogic & Tantric philosophy and world devotional/mystical practices. She delivers a simultaneously simple and sophisticated Hatha yoga practice that harmonizes the whole being and heals the personal and collective nervous system. Her teaching is expressed with authenticity, depth, graciousness, humor and intuition.
Nicole teaches you how to do "your Yoga" - emphasizing a natural and personalized approach including movement, breath, rest, and meditation. Her movement classes are a unique blend of traditional yoga, yoga therapy, modern somatic exploration, developmental movement, meditative inquiry and laughter. She assists people of all ages, experience, and fitness levels to get curious and stay compassionate. Nicole is a certified Heartfulness Meditation Teacher and part of the interfaith teaching team trained by Ruth and Bruce Davis of Silent Stay Retreats. She has been teaching and leading classes, workshops, and retreats in US and abroad since 2004 and founded/directed Ojas Yoga Center in El Cerrito, California 2009-2020. |
Brenda has been lovingly guiding contemplative retreats for over 40 years and has devoted much of her life to spiritual inquiry. After practicing Transcendental Meditation in the 1970’s, she studied Vedanta philosophy and yoga with an Indian monk from Gujarat. She began teaching Hatha Yoga in his school in Chicago shortly thereafter.
In 1976, she met her teacher, Swami Muktananda, with whom she traveled widely for many years. She became a monk under his auspices, and he instructed her to continue teaching in Europe, India, and the United States. She was the swami in residence at his ashram in Paris. She joined the Silent Stay community of retreat leaders in 2016, teaching in California and Assisi, Italy. Brenda helps people discover their own pathway to inner peace, and to understand that all of life’s circumstances are a guide to finding the stillness within. |
Vinod has been practicing meditation for over 30 years. In 1994 he was trained in Vipassana at the Wat Ram Poeng monastery in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Although not a buddhist monk, he accomplished the same degree of training. A few years later he earned his Mindfulness Teacher Training from Bangor University.
He currently facilitates the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course in London. In the earlier part of his career, he worked in the corporate world as a lawyer before joining various non-profit organisations including; the UNHCR and Amnesty International Secretariat in London. In Amnesty International he helped people dealing with sexual & gender equality, migrant & refugee rights, compassionate care for drug addicts and animal welfare. Vinod finds joy in sharing the heart practices of St Francis as a guide to inner peace. |
FeEl The ongoing presence of peace |
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