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Yoga Vacation Program
June 1 — 9, 2025

Swami Swaroopananda's Birthday Celebration

Dr. John Douillard, James Twyman, Rob and Melissa, Suba Ramesh Parmar, Ramesh Parmar, Menas Kafatos, and Swan Michelle (Michelle Baker)

We invite all new, returning, and longtime members of the Sivananda community to come together for a joyful celebration in honor of the Sivananda lineage and the celebration of the birthday of the ashram’s director and acharya, Swami Swaroopananda.

We will enjoy a special Q & A on Yoga and Spiritual Life with Swami Swaroopananda, and other wonderful presenters sharing their gifts.

With a special birthday puja on the morning of June 7, a birthday feast, gift-opening ceremonies, addresses by Swamiji’s devotees from the ashram and around the world, and a most amazing birthday cake… we encourage you to be with us during this joyful time.


MISSION STATEMENT

The vision behind this symposium is to celebrate Unity in Diversity by gathering spiritual leaders from all traditions, musicians, artists, dancers, scientists, philosophers and scholars. We gather these variety of minds to expand our knowledge and horizons. Doing so is in accordance with the mission of Swami Sivananda and Swami Vishudevananda. This mission of Unity in Diversity is now the foundation of the Sivananda organization, of which Swami Swaroopananda-ji is one of the most senior spiritual leaders.


SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE

Discover the 7 days and nights of wonder and see what the ashram has in store for both in-person and virtual attendees of the symposium held in celebration of Swami Swaroopananda’s birthday and the Sivananda lineage.

June 1: Dr. John Douillard

June 2-5: Rob and Melissa: Bhakti Yoga

June 5-6: Suba Ramesh – Pamar Classical Indian Dance

June 6: Ramesh Pamar – Jain Meditation

June 6-7: Menas Kafatos – Mind and Its Mysteries

June 7-9: James Twyman – A Course in Miracles

June 9: Swan Michelle – Sound Healing Concert

Offered as 9 satsangs and 9 workshops (subject to change).

The presentations associated with this Yoga Vacation Program begin with an 6am satsang on the first day of the program and conclude with an 8pm satsang on the last day of the program.  Click here to read more about the Yoga Vacation Program details and view the ashram schedule for yoga classes and meals during your stay. We suggest you arrive at least one day prior to the start of your program for the optimal experience.

 

Dr. John Douillard, DC, CAP is a globally recognized leader in the fields of natural health, Ayurveda, and sports medicine. He is the creator of LifeSpa.com, where ancient Ayurvedic wisdom meets modern science. LifeSpa.com is one of the leading Ayurvedic health and wellness resources on the web with over 11 million views on YouTube and over 130 thousand newsletter subscribers. LifeSpa.com is evolving the way Ayurveda is understood around the world, with thousands of free articles and videos published weekly.

Dr. John is the former Director of Player Development for the New Jersey Nets NBA team, author of 7 health books including his newest Amazon bestseller Eat Wheat and a repeat guest on the Dr. Oz show, He directs LifeSpa Ayurvedic Clinic, the 2013 Holistic Wellness Center of the Year in Boulder, CO.

James Twyman is an Episcopal priest and Franciscan friar in the Community of Francis and Clare. He is also the NY Times bestselling author of 23 books including Emissary of Light and The Moses Code. James has been called “The Peace Troubadour” for his journeys into war-torn areas like Bosnia, Iraq, and Ukraine to promote peace with his music and wisdom.

worldpeacepulse.com

Rob and Melissa are kirtan singers and yoga teachers devoted to sharing the heart-opening practices of Bhakti yoga and kirtan, call-and-response chanting. Kirtan with Rob and Melissa is a fresh take on an ancient practice, where Sanskrit chants blend with modern, accessible melodies and lush harmonies to create an atmosphere that has been described as “joyful medicine,” “heart-opening bliss” and “love and devotion materialized!”

When Rob and Melissa first met, neither of them sang kirtan nor practiced Bhakti yoga. By the time they married two years later, love and devotion had become the foundation of their partnership. As these seeds of devotion to each other grew, Rob and Melissa’s Bhakti yoga practice blossomed, as well as the desire to share this love with others. Their music, teachings, and storytelling create a space of comfort, discovery, and deep joy.

Rob and Melissa are based in Seattle, WA, but their music keeps them on the move, sharing kirtan as far away as India, Europe, and Central America. When they aren’t on the road, the couple leads regular kirtans in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to sharing their music at yoga studios and festivals, they teach Bhakti yoga workshops, kirtan trainings, provide live music for yoga classes and lead retreats around the world.

robandmelissa.com

Suba Ramesh Parmar, Founder, Shubanjali School of Performing Arts, NJ is a highly sought after dancer, teacher, and choreographer, and a proponent of the vintage Pandanallur style of Bharatanatyam. She is the recipient of many prestigious awards including the Presidential Scholar’s “Most Influential Teacher Award” (2015) by the Obama Administration and the most recent “Lifetime Achievement Award” by Spandana, NJ. She has received rave reviews for her exemplary original dance productions, including ‘Santa N’ Shiva,’ Rendezvous with Shubanjali’, ‘Splash the Wonder,’ ‘Tales of Krishna,’ ‘Chauladevi,’ ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ ‘Lured by the Myths’, ‘Oneness’, ‘Tribute to the Legends’, ‘Tattva Tapas Tejas”, TATHASTU, among many others. She has been regularly performing for the Sivananda Organizations worldwide for over 29 Years in US, Canada, Bahamas, South America and Europe.  She is an excellent storyteller and through the medium of Indian classical dance, brings to life the philosophy and stories from Mythology making them understandable to global audiences.

https://www.facebook.com/Shubanjali/

shubanjali.org

Ramesh Parmar is a successful entrepreneur with a history of establishing, operating, and selling mobile software companies. He is a graduate of the Sivananda Yoga Teacher Training Course and a regular practitioner of Jain Preksha meditation.

Menas Kafatos, PhD, is a quantum physicist, cosmologist, climate-change researcher and philosopher who works extensively on consciousness. He studied with renown physicist Philip Morrison at M.I.T., who was a student of J. Robert Oppenheimer. He has 47 years of experience in undergraduate and graduate teaching and research, and he holds seminars and workshops for individuals and organizations on the natural laws that apply everywhere and are the foundations of the universe.

Menas is the Fletcher Jones Endowed Professor of Computational Physics and Director, Institute for Earth, Computing, Human and Observing (Institute for ECHO) at Chapman University in California. He is member of the Romanian Academy of Science and the Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST); an international scholar with the Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering also serving as an advisor on the BK21 Plus Eco-Leader Education Center at Korea University in Seoul, Korea, an affiliated researcher at the National Observatory of Athens, Greece as well as international scholar at several countries.

Menas has authored 345-plus articles and published or co-authored 22 books, including The Conscious Universe and Looking In, Seeing Out, and has many social media and blogs. He is also co-author with Deepak Chopra of the New York Times bestseller You Are the Universe, which has now been translated into 20 different languages, the latest being Greek and Korean. Menas is often interviewed for international television networks, newspapers, and radio.

Swan Michelle has been a full time Holistic Educator, Wellness Event Producer and Sound Therapist, specializing in Sound, Meditation & Energy, since 1998. She is the Founder of Swan River Yoga, the largest wellness & yoga center in the Gulf Coast region of the United States. She has traveled to India and Bali, the East, numerous ashrams and world many times to gather trainings in Asana, Sound Therapy, Restorative Yoga, Ayurveda, Reiki, Bhakti Yoga, Somatic meditation, Trauma informed practices and Yoga Nidra. Her specialties are offering and leading Yoga Teacher Trainings, Somatic Meditation Trainings, Sound Bath Concerts and offering both local and International Yoga Retreats in nature.

Studying with countless masters, such as Ram Dass, Radhanath Swami, Jai Uttal, Krishna Das, Shri K Pattabhi Jois, Judith Lasater, Dr. Mark Halpern, John Beaulieu and many more, her most current training is with Dr. Joe Dispenza, as a student of Neuro-science concepts & neuro change in his Neuro Change Solutions Program, where she will graduate in June 2024.

You can view her many offerings, concerts, online and in person courses, videos, mantra CD’s on her websites.

swanmichelle.com

swanriveryoga.com

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