Retreat Finder Tour Blog

Mangrove Creek, NSW, Australia

Located just 1.5 hours from Sydney in the Blue Mountains, this beautiful center with many newly renovated buildings sits along a salt water creek with a delightful swimming hole and under a hill with a wonderful cliff trail and views.

Satyananda Yoga, the largest residential retreat centre in the southern hemisphere, welcomes people of all spiritual backgrounds to their teachings which is considered an integral yoga which brings together many branches of yoga so that the whole person can develop and evolve. The staff of this vibrant healthy and warm hearted community range in age and backgrounds and easily convey the message that spirituality is both serious and fun.

Established in 1975, the center now runs programs on a variety of topics including wellbeing and vitality, Hatha yoga cleansing, yoga for the blues, yoga art and yoga dance, Kirtan, Ayervedic cooking and nutrition, yoga ecology and women’s spirituality, as well as in-depth courses in yogic studies and yoga teacher training.

Personal retreat are also available in which you create your own retreat, or you can join in on any of the daily activities or the entire schedule.

The daily schedule starts with a 6am yoga class followed by breakfast and chanting then an hour of karma yoga cleaning and optional additional karma yoga. The community gathers again at noon for relaxing Yoga Nidra then lunch and cleanup. Various activities round out the day.

With three delicious vegetarian meals and two tea breaks per day one is never want for food, even if you are diary free, gluten free, onion or garlic free.

Accommodations range from a single room with ensuite facilities to shared rooms with five beds and shared facilities. With the observance of Mauna (silence) each evening starting at 8:15pm and ending with morning chanting, what may seem like close physical quarters suddenly become ample.

The compact campus has wonderfully landscaped grounds and three meditation/yoga/class rooms in the main building. All buildings rely on the air conditioning supplied by nature and maintain focus on the environment with timed heaters sot that energy is not wasted.

But just because this is an ashram it does not mean that people are disconnected. A nice student room is provided for those who need computer access.

For those who are a bit weary of ashrams, I would like to share a bit of my personal experience at Satyananda. In a wonderful display of the centre’s spiritual inclusiveness there was chanting of the names of Jesus and singing carols on Christmas day even when the center was on staff holiday and closed to non-residents.