Final Pilgrimage Extension

What is the "pilgrimage extension"?

We began offering our pilgrimages to India from 1999. Asha spent almost 4 months on her own, researching all of the spots that would be spiritually rewarding, yet safe, and fun, to take our students from the West. For many years, we had been asked to lead such a pilgrimage by attendees of our workshops nationwide. To our surprise, our first pilgrimage, designed for 18 power-packed days, was such a success that we continually had subsequent years waitlisted in advance.

Our pilgrimage, "Journey to Find the Other Half of the Soul" had such an impact, that people began to return a third, fourth, fifth and sixth time with us. We needed new locations to create some variety for our return pilgrims. This is how the pilgrimage extension was born.

Our first exotic pilgrimage extension to North India

In 2006, we took our pilgrims to the Taj Mahal, to the charming "pink city" of Jaipur, and to 13th-century emperor Akbar's fort. He was a Muslim emperor who promoted inter-religious dialog, perhaps the very first to do so. We chanted and prayed on the very same floor where these sessions were conducted. We also took them on a boat ride on the Ganges in the early morning and walked the streets of ancient Benares that Mark Twain described as, "older than time, older than history".

However, despite all the exotic charm, the rigor of travel was too much. And it was hard to keep people healthy, which is one of the hallmarks of our pilgrimage: delicious meals and a diet that helps us lose weight. Our main goal, though, is to lose emotional and psychic weight. We realized that the environments we know so well in South India are better suited to this. So we continued to extend our pilgrimage to a whole month, focusing on spiritual practice and less travel during the extension. Our pilgrims loved it. Since then, pilgrims return to India with us with most of them choosing the entire 30-day experience because of the depth of the extension.

It is time to bring this to an end.

Caring for 30 people spiritually, emotionally, physically, logistically, for 30 consecutive days is not easy. We have been offering this extension for 13 straight years. Additionally, being away in India for 30 days is becoming harder for us as we want to launch many new aspects to our work and ministry here in the West.

In 2018, for our 20th-anniversary pilgrimage, we took our pilgrims to Kerala, on the west coast of India. Known for its spices, beautiful scenery, Ayurvedic and Tantric traditions, we planned as carefully as possible after having spent a month exploring and choosing specific locations. The experience paled in comparison to our signature pilgrimage in Tamilnadu.

The spiritual locations we have cultivated over the years in our native state of Tamilnadu are incomparable with any place else in India. Now, we know this from direct experience, as do pilgrims who have traveled with us there repeatedly. This is why this new location we discovered this February is so exciting! Our entire pilgrimage, including the extension, will remain in Tamilnadu.

Our final extension in January and February 2020 involves experiences that none of our pilgrims have ever experienced before.