191 Cragsmoor Road, Cragsmoor, New York 12566, USA
July 10 - 13, 2025
About this Retreat
Vedaji is a life-long practicing yogi, community builder, and teacher to thousands of souls throughout the world. With a background in the ancient lineages of Vedanta and Bhakti yoga, he was raised in a monastery in eastern India as a monk which he ultimately acted as the head of for many years. Eventually feeling the call to fulfill his dharma, he moved to the United States approximately fifteen years ago to help raise consciousness in the western world.
Based in Atlanta, Vedaji travels the world throughout the year to lead programs, retreats, and group tours. As founder of the non-profits Food4Lives and Mindful Seva Institute, his dharma is to raise global consciousness, to assist spiritual seekers through the process of Self-realization, to eliminate the mental health crisis, and to create lasting spiritual communities (sanghas) throughout the world. Through his signature Chitta Cleanse Technique, Vedaji assists those looking to overcome harmful patterns and traumas to ultimately find their unique dharma.
Vedaji is excited to travel to New York to share his wisdom, realizations, and heart with the Dharmakaya community. He will lead most sessions at the retreat, including breathwork, kirtan, the fire ceremony, and more.
Learn more about Vedaji and his worldwide sangha here: instagram.com/vedathemonk and chittacleanse.com
Hara Keshavi Devi (Jodi Robinson), MPH, RYT 200 is a community and retreat leader, practicing yogi, and the founder of Keshavi Yoga LLC.
Keshavi found yoga 15 years ago while living a demanding, corporate lifestyle in Washington, DC. Knowing there was something more to yoga than what is taught in the west, she went on a search for truth which ultimately led to a yoga teacher training in Bali, on yoga yatras and living in northern India, to spending time with one of her most influential teachers, Ram Dass, on Maui.
As a Director of Food4Lives in Connecticut, she lives Neem Karoli Baba’s directive to “Love Everyone, Feed Everyone.” Based in Connecticut, Keshavi devotes her time to raising the consciousness of the world as a global leader in Vedaji’s community and through sharing the lifestyle of yoga. She offers weekly online philosophy classes, group and 1x1 Chitta Cleanse Technique sessions, leads kirtans, guides tours in India, and acts as a lead retreat organizer, facilitator, and teacher.
Keshavi is elated to co-host a retreat with the incredible Dharmakaya Center for Wellbeing.
Daksa Devi (Erin Day) encourages inner and outer environments through which individuality and wisdom of Self thrive and collective experience and conscious interaction with all of life is embraced.
For 25 years, anchored by Yogic studies, she’s mentored others in exploring their relationship to body, breath, mind, and spirit. As an herbalist and Greenspirit practitioner, Erin works with nature in tangible and nonphysical ways in order to support all beings in realizing their oneness with all and their unique expression of Self. She’s the founder of Ten Summit Yoga & Earth Based Wellness in Connecticut.
Daksa Devi will act as a lead teacher and guide us in yoga asana.
Details of this retreat
RETREAT BY INVITED PRESENTER
Join us for a four-day, three-night deep dive into the innermost chambers of your heart in order to uncover your Soul’s inherent nature, purpose, and path in this lifetime. Guided by Vedaji, a lifelong yogi raised as a monk, you will learn strategies to uncover your truth and discover the beauty of what lies within. Using techniques derived from the ancient traditions of Bhakti yoga and Vedanta (self-inquiry), you will be guided on a path to help reveal your true nature in order to live a more purpose-filled life.
This is a not-for-profit event. 100% of net program fees* from the retreat go directly to Food4Lives, a non-profit founded by Vedaji that offers warm vegetarian meals, basic necessities, and loving connection to unhoused and underserved populations throughout the world.
*Accommodations fees go to the Dharmakaya Center for Wellbeing, a 501c3.
“These retreats are life changing! To be in an environment with the same spirited souls as yours, coming from a place of love is a wonderful and amazing experience.”
“Vedaji’s retreats are like none other I have ever experienced. His wisdom and teachings are Divine messages from the heart. Vedaji doesn’t just teach, he lives the yoga philosophies and teachings in all that he does and all that he is. His genuine desire to help people heal is authentic and inspiring. Time spent with Vedaji will transform you and touch your heart.”
“Through Vedaji’s guidance, I have found ways to live my dharma in every moment. The overwhelming joy, freedom, and peace that knowing my dharma provides is infinitely spiritually uplifting.”
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Dharma: a word so deep it is difficult to summarize cohesively. Dharma goes beyond your life purpose; it is your Soul’s inherent nature over many lifetimes that is upheld and supported by the Divine. Everyone has dharma, but due to past conditioning, traumas, and outside influences, we have lost touch with ourselves and our true nature. Dharma is inherent in everyone; one must strip the layers of past conditioning and deep impressions (samskaras) in order to uncover it.
This retreat will be a deep dive into your heart in a small, relaxed group setting. Utilizing the Vedanta practice of self-inquiry, you will be guided through a series of questions that will help you to uncover your true nature while being supported by a loving, open, and honest community of fellow seekers. Through the practice of self-inquiry, you will be guided to understand the depths and impediments to discovering your dharma, as dharma is the deepest layer of your being.
In order to uncover these truths, we will partake in some of the following activities:
Guided Self-Inquiry Sessions: The practice of yoga is not about someone telling you what to do and think, it is about you uncovering your own inherent nature deep within the heart to then live from that space. To assist in that process, you will be provided with a set of questions throughout the weekend in order to help you access what already resides deep within your being.
Journaling: The practice of journaling is recommended to successfully practice self-inquiry. Writing hand to paper allows you to access and utilize the five senses, needed in order to deeply release what is covering your heart. A journal will be provided to utilize throughout the weekend and beyond.
Small group sharing and breakout sessions: We invite you to share what you have learned through your self-inquiry with a supportive, loving community of like-minded spiritual seekers. Sharing either one on one or in a small group is also an important part of the self-inquiry process.
Agni Hotra (fire ceremony): Vedaji will guide us through a traditional, Vedic-inspired fire ceremony that will help you to uncover the light within and release the samskaras, vasanas, and vrittis preventing you from accessing your true nature and truth.
Breath of Detachment: This signature breathwork practice guided by Vedaji will help you to release what is holding you back from your true Self. This is a deep form of purification that has the power for immense transformation if you allow it.
Yoga Asana & Meditation: The physical practice of yoga will be offered throughout the weekend. Classes, while optional, will be gentle in nature and accessible to all. Guided meditations that assist in accessing your dharma will be provided throughout the course.
Kirtan: A musical mantra experience consisting of call and response chanting of Sanskrit mantras in order to call in various Divine energies. We will offer approximately three kirtans throughout the weekend, each sure to stir up a love welling from deep within your heart.
Loving Community: The heart of Vedaji retreats center around the formation of a loving, supportive spiritual community (sangha). Expect a weekend filled with love, connection, sharing, and an overwhelming sense of joy that comes from connecting with others in a deep and meaningful way.
Short Hikes and Time in Nature: Spending time outdoors in nature helps us to uncover the truth of our being and to understand our own light and interconnectedness. Weather-dependent, we will spend time each day outdoors whether it be during yoga classes or meditation, hiking, or simply having a session under the trees. Connecting with nature helps us to access ourSelves.
Discovering your dharma will allow you to live a life on purpose. It is a process of Self-realization. While we are all inherently spiritual beings living in a material world, by uncovering your dharma, you can live a life on purpose rather than living your life unconsciously guided by your traumas. Rather than being guided by samskaras (impressions), vasanas (desires/inclinations), and vrittis (beliefs) which have accumulated over time, you will be guided by a force higher than yourself; you will live a life guided by the Divine. There is no greater power.
What you will take home
A more clear understanding of your true nature
A greater sense of purpose and fulfillment than you have ever had
Insight into your Soul’s dharma
Techniques and yogic-inspired practices to uplift your daily life that can be incorporated into your daily spiritual practice (sadhana)
A new global family and community of spiritual seekers
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
Time with Vedaji and a loving community of fellow yogis and spiritual seekers; a global spiritual family
An intimate, small group setting
Interactive sessions including ample time for Q&A
Delicious locally sourced vegetarian and vegan meals
Outdoor yoga, meditation, and additional sessions (weather-dependent)
Deep introspection through self-inquiry practices
Meditative & ecstatic kirtans
Easy, relaxing hike and time outdoors (weather-dependent)
Free time to experience the grounds, contemplate, and relax
Option to extend stay on Personal Retreat
100% of net proceeds go to the non-profit organization Food4Lives
OPEN TO ALL
There are no prerequisites for this program; it is appropriate for meditators at all levels and those simply interested in exploring the teachings.
SCHEDULE
(subject to change)
Thursday, July 10
3:00 PM
Check in begins
6:00-7:00 PM
Dinner
7:15-8:15 PM
Opening Ceremony
8:30-9:30 PM
Kirtan
10:00 PM
Lights Out
Friday, July 11
7:00-8:00 AM
Morning yoga and/or meditation
8:00-9:00 AM
Breakfast
9:15 -11:30 AM
Dharma Session
12:00-1:00 PM
Lunch
1:30-2:45 PM
Dharma Session
2:45-4:00 PM
Free Time or Hike
4:00-5:45 PM
Breath of Detachment
6:00-7:00 PM
Dinner
7:15-9:00 PM
Kirtan
10:00 PM
Lights Out
Saturday, July 12
7:00-8:00 AM
Morning yoga and/or meditation
8:00-9:00 AM
Breakfast
9:15 -11:30 AM
Dharma Session
12:00-1:00 PM
Lunch
1:30-2:45 PM
Dharma Session
2:45-4:00 PM
Free Time or Hike
4:00-5:45 PM
Dharma Session
6:00-7:00 PM
Dinner
7:15-9:00 PM
Fire Ceremony and Kirtan
10:00 PM
Lights Out
Sunday, July 13
7:00-8:00 AM
Morning yoga and/or meditation
8:00-9:00 AM
Breakfast
9:15-10:00 AM
Dharma Session
10:15-11:30 AM
Closing Circle
12:00-1:00 PM
Lunch
1:00 PM
Checkout and Departure
Verified
