Christmas and New Year Symposium and Celebration

Unity in Diversity: Merging in the One, Rejoicing in the Many
 

December 22, 2009 - January 1, 2010

Event Details

Mystics and saints of all religions and spiritual traditions know that despite our apparent differences, in our very essence we are one. This holiday season we continue with our tradition of bringing together spiritual leaders, mystics and musicians from the world’s major spiritual traditions to celebrate the unity within our diversity and the common wish to bring peace, love and harmony to the world. . 

Presenters

Swami Swaroopananda
Swami Swaroopananda is a senior disciple of Swami Vishnudevananda, director of the Yoga Retreat and the Acharya for the Sivananda centers and ashrams on the West Coast of the USA, the Middle East and the Bahamas. He is renowned for his knowledge of yoga, vedanta and yoga scriptures. 
 
 

The Venerable Tulku Karma Gyurme Sonam Rinpoche
The Venerable Tulku Karma Gyurme Sonam Rinpoche is the founder and spiritual leader of the Yogi Tsoru Decehen Rinpoche Foundation in Miami, Florida. He has devoted his life to championing humanitarian efforts. www.tsorurinpoche.org

Brother Rolph Fernandes
Brother Rolph Fernandes has been a Franciscan monk for over forty years. Now residing outside monastic walls, he travels and shares his experiences of Franciscan spirituality and its implications for this changing world. www.two-sandals.org.

Rabbi Joseph H Gelberman
Rabbi Joseph H. Gelberman is a Master-teacher in the tradition of Neo-Hasidic mysticism and Kabbalah. He is the founder of the New Seminary, New York (the first interfaith seminary in the world), and the All Faiths Seminary International.
www.allfaithseminary.org  

Reverend Dr. Prince Hepburn
Reverend Dr. Prince Hepburn is dedicated to serving the underprivileged youths of the Bahamas. He is the Founder of the Bahamas Brotherhood and Sisterhood. He assisted Swami Vishnudevenanda in the founding the Yoga Retreat.

Grandmother Sara Smith
Grandmother Sara is a Mohawk and Turtle Clan of the Iroquois Confederacy. She has lived her entire lifetime on the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada. Being a leader in the movement of Traditional Grassroots People towards the establishment of World Peace, She travels extensively and is frequently called upon to carry the Peace Message to those who ask. She addresses the prophecies and teachings that were orally shared with her and is a promoter of returning to the simplicity and philosophy of the Great Law of Peace. She and her husband, Roger, are the visionaries of " Roots 4 Peace Sharing Centre" a manifestation to promote Peace, Unity, Harmony and Understanding for ALL peoples and is dedicated to the "Coming Faces."

 
 
Lench Archuleta
Lench Archuleta is a Yaqui Indian and traditional native healer from Southern Arizona. He has worked with individuals and in small groups in the Sonoran Desert for more than twenty years. He collaborates with numerous medical doctors, health practitioners, therapists, and other traditional healers as a counselor, consultant, advisor and spiritual guide.

Imam Abdul Haqq
Imam Abdul Haqq is the National Director of the Naqshandi Haqqani Sufi Order of America. He is a disciple of the famous Sufi Master, Shaykh Nazim Adil Al-Haqqani from Cyprus. He travels all over the world teaching Sufism and Islamic mysticism in universities, churches, synagogues, temples, and spiritual centers of diverse faiths.

Daniel Matt, PhD
Daniel Matt, PhD is one of the world’s leading authorities on Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition. He is currently engaged in an immense project of translating and annotating the Zohar, the masterpiece of the Kabbalah. In his workshops he explores the infinite nature of God, the balance between divine feminine and masculine qualities, the mystical meaning of the Bible, and how to discover God in the material world.

 

Hana Matt
Hana Matt is a spiritual director and a teacher of World Religions and Kabbalah. One of her specialties is helping people address and transform depression, anxiety, addictive patterns and relationship problems. Hana leads meditation retreats and teaches at the Graduate Theological Union and the Chaplaincy Institute, both of which are located in Berkeley, California.

Krishnan Namboodiri
Krishnan Namboodiri is a Tantric priest from Kerala, South India. He is trained in the classical tradtion of mantras, pujas, homas and yantras.

 
 

Russill Paul
Russill Paul has been educating and entertaining the American yoga community for twenty years. The author of The Yoga of Sound: Tapping the Hidden Power of Sound and Music , he is also the producer of many well received music chant CDs. Having lived the unusual combination of a being both a Benedictine monk and a yogi under the direction of the renowned sage and mystic, Bede Griffiths in India, Russill is dedicated to interspirituality: living two traditions. His recent book is Jesus in the Lotus: The Mystical Doorway between Christianity and Yogic Spirituality. His website is www.russillpaul.com 
 

Andy Karr
Andy Karr is a senior Buddhist teacher, known for the clarity and warmth of his teachings and writings. He has combined a life of meditation practice, Buddhist philosophical study, and teaching, with a career in business and finance. He is the author of Contemplating Reality: A Practitioner's Guide to the View in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. www.contemplatingreality.com

 
 

Latif Bolat
Latif Bolat specializes in Sufi music and the ancient Turkish mystical-devotional music genre. By creating an intimate, storytelling atmosphere, he explains Turkish folk and mystical music and its sociopolitical and cultural elements. www.latifbolat.com

 
 

Bolo!
Bolo! is a group of devotees from diverse spiritual backgrounds that have come together to enliven the Divine presence within themselves and others. They offer ecstatic live kirtan that is easily accessible and honors the authentic roots of traditional Indian devotional singing. www.bolochant.com

 
 

Arrival and Departure

You are welcome to stay with us for the duration of the program, or for a longer or shorter stay according to your own schedule.
For arrival details please see how to get here.

Reservations

To reserve your accommodation, please go to register on line or print the application form and fax the form to the Yoga Retreat at fax number: 1-242-363-3783. Then please call us to give a credit card deposit and to confirm your reservation at 1-866-446-5934 or 1-242-363-2902. A US$100 deposit is required for your registration. Please see cancellations for information on our cancellation policy.