Ayurveda for a Good Life Retreat

The Ayurveda for a Good Life Retreat is a week-long Ayurveda retreat at Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm in Grass Valley, California. It is led by Nitya (Hoa Tran) and Omkara, and it is open to anyone interested in Ayurveda and yoga as practical guides to healthy living, whether you are new to both or already well along the path.

Ayurveda is often called the science of life. Its aim, as the course describes it, is healthy living and a sustained sense of wellbeing. Taught alongside yoga, it becomes a way of working toward your goals, material or spiritual, in every phase of life. The course is for everyone, wherever you are on your journey.

What to Expect

The retreat takes place within the daily life of a Sivananda ashram in the Sierra Nevada foothills, so the teaching sits beside a yoga practice rather than apart from it. Nitya (Hoa Tran) and Omkara lead the week together, and the focus is on bringing Ayurvedic understanding into ordinary living: how you eat, rest, work and care for yourself.

The ashram offers its programs as optional add-ons to its basic yoga vacation, so the retreat fits around the rhythm of ashram life. The ashram also notes that retreats like this one can be joined for a weekend only, or for whichever days suit your calendar, which makes it easier to take part if you cannot be away for the full week.

Who Leads It

Nitya (Hoa Tran) and Omkara are regular teachers at Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm. They co-lead several of its week-long programs, including How to Progress in Life with the Four Paths of Yoga, Stress Relief and Relaxation, and this Ayurveda retreat. Nitya also leads the ashram's Ayurvedic Massage Rejuvenation weekends, and Omkara teaches the Meditation in Daily Life retreat.

The Setting

Sivananda Ashram Yoga Farm sits in Grass Valley, California, and is known as a quiet place to step away from the pace of daily life. The ashram describes itself as an ideal place to relax, rejuvenate and detoxify, which suits a week devoted to Ayurveda. Its calendar also includes satsang, with silent meditation, chanting and a lecture, as well as kirtan concerts and yoga classes. Retreat guests can take part in the wider life of the ashram during their stay.

Before You Go

No prior experience with Ayurveda is needed. The course is designed for people at any stage, whether this is your first encounter with the subject or you are deepening an existing practice. If you want to build on the week afterward, the ashram also runs an Ayurvedic Massage Rejuvenation Retreat, with body treatments, consultations and daily workshops, on separate weekends through the season.