Swami Shambhavananda heads a successful yoga community with two centers, Eldorado Mountain Ashram and Shoshoni Retreat Center.

As she was entering a state of peaceful calm during her Monday night yoga class, Aleta Sherman temporarily lost her concentration. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced up to see three alpacas and a doe-eyed baby alpaca staring at everyone through the room’s large plate glass windows. “It made it hard not to laugh,” she says.

Sherman, who lives in Boulder, has been attending hatha yoga classes at the Eldorado Mountain Yoga Ashram (commonly known as Eldo) for the past six years.

An ashram is a spiritual center for the practice and teaching of yoga and meditation. These sacred communities have been around for thousands of years, especially in India, and have offered a place for people of all walks of life to quiet the mind, center the self, and connect with higher states of consciousness. In the ‘60s, ashrams gained worldwide attention when the Beatles traveled to India to study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. More recently, bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert vividly described her journey to an Indian ashram in her popular memoir, Eat, Pray, Love, which was made into a movie starring Julia Roberts (reviewed in the Nov.-Dec. Nexus).

Although ashrams are historically Hindu based, most American ashrams welcome different religious and spiritual backgrounds. “My religious background is Unitarian Universalist and I think any religious background could be drawn to an ashram or yoga,” Sherman said. “Yoga makes me feel closer to a spiritual way of living and to God.”

Eldorado Mountain Yoga Ashram: hidden gem in the canyon
Located on 25 acres near the tiny town of Eldorado Springs, the ashram was founded in 1985 by spiritual leader Rishi Mahamandaleshwar Sri Shambhavananda, affectionately called “Babaji” by his community. The ashram is a sister location to nearby Shoshoni Yoga Retreat in Rollinsville, and the Konalani Yoga Ashram in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. Each of the three centers is based on yogic philosophies with roots in Hinduism and influences from Buddhism, and all three are part of the Sri Gurudev Rudrananda Yoga Ashram, a non-profit organization with many ashrams around the world. And although they’re connected, each has its own mission and distinct style.

Eldo, which offers a variety of drop-in hatha yoga and meditation classes as well as yoga teacher training and certification, is a hidden jewel tucked away in Eldorado Canyon. “Some people call it Boulder’s best kept secret, “ says Mukti Miller, who teaches yoga and meditation at the ashram and is the office manager. “It’s a spectacular setting with a mountain backdrop. And we’re on a hill, so you can look to the east and see all of Boulder Valley.”
The Eldorado ashram was the second of four ashrams founded by Babaji. Babaji first came to Boulder in 1975 with Faith Stone, and the two later married. They opened Rudi’s Bakery in 1976, and Rudi’s Restaurant followed shortly thereafter. About the same time, Babaji also founded a small ashram on University Hill before selling it to open the Eldorado ashram nearly nine years later.

The original Eldorado property included a small farm and farmhouse that’s still in use. Today, a herd of five alpacas, two dogs and a number of chickens roam the acreage. It’s creatively landscaped with meandering pathways, mountain flowers, xeriscape vegetation, and various pavilions and archways to showcase statues of Ganesha and other deities.

Miller, who was raised as a Methodist, found a spiritual connection at the center that truly resonates with her. She says the worship of deities, which is common at an ashram, was an important path for her in her practice of yoga. “It’s a pretty big leap from the material world we live in to higher states of consciousness,” Miller said. “Looking at beautiful statues and the qualities the statues represent can help us find a deeper understanding of the source and our inner selves.”

Over the years, various buildings have been constructed at the Eldorado ashram. In 1987, a meditation temple with a geodesic dome and large windows overlooking the surrounding foothills was built for chanting, dance and meditation. Serene and awe-inspiring, the dome’s interior is filled with sacred art, sculptures of deities, colorful flags, candles and flowers.
In 2007, the large, contemporary Lotus Dome, also constructed with geodesic features, was built to house an expansive gathering area along with various rooms for classes, yoga, meditation, office space, and youth activities.

Both domes come alive on Monday nights, when festive community events including live music, dance, chanting and meditation are open to the public. The evening is followed by satsang, which is a question and answer opportunity offered by Babaji or various teachers in the Lotus Dome.

One of the most sought after programs at the ashram is a yoga-based summer day camp for children aged five to twelve, with drama, creative game playing, science and nature projects, swimming at the nearby Eldorado Springs pool, and treks through Eldorado Canyon State Park. The camp includes an art program, headed by Stone, who is also a Boulder Valley School District art teacher. “We incorporate a respect for the environment and nature and being green,” says Stone, “because this is all part of a spiritual way of living.”

The summer camp program is flexible and fluid, and is based on kids’ individual levels of experience and knowledge. “We encourage students to see how various practices work for them at their own level,” Stone says. “Our school is very much a personal, experiential type of learning and not an ideology.”

Drop-in yoga classes are also popular at the center. Priya Whitmer, who works in the computer industry, has taught at the center for seven years. “Yoga is a wonderful self-care system and I love sharing it with others,” Whitmer said. “I get a lot out of being of service to others, including my yoga students, and it’s wonderful to see them blossom.”

Whitmer has taught yoga at different facilities but prefers Eldorado. “It’s especially powerful and effective teaching at Eldorado simply because the atmosphere is very pure, beautiful and close to nature,” she says. “It makes for a deeper experience.”

Shoshoni Yoga Retreat: mesmerizing mountain meditation
Nestled near a lake in a pine forest at an altitude of 9,000 feet, Shoshoni is a mesmerizing slice of Rocky Mountain beauty. As a communal residence community for yoga practitioners and yoga training, it’s home to about 25 people who teach, study, work and experience the yoga lifestyle. Residents are both work/study and permanent, and more or less run the ashram, from growing and cooking food to teaching classes and constructing buildings on the site.

Visitors to Shoshoni can stay for varied lengths of time from one day to several weeks (or years), and experience many activities: hatha yoga, pranayama (breathwork), chanting, meditation, massage, Ayurvedic health treatments, and hiking nearby trails. Hatha yoga teacher training certification is also offered. Days begin and end with group chanting and meditation. In between, residents work to support the ashram (referred to as selfless service) and lead classes for guests.

There are a number of main buildings on the site including a large lodge with a communal dining area and sunroom, a yoga studio, pottery studio, various residence dorms, guest cabins and organic vegetable gardens and hoop houses. Shoshoni also has three beautifully adorned temples for meditation and chanting including a main temple, a fire temple, and a Ma Shrine temple dedicated to feminine aspects of the divine. The temples are colorful and, like the Eldorado ashram, showcase sacred art and sculptures.

Swami Kripananda, who grew up in eastern Tennessee, is the resident swami (teacher) at Shoshoni and has been there for many years teaching yoga and mediation. Known as KripaMa, she has a background in social work and public health, and first journeyed to the retreat to learn more about yoga. She says yoga includes the familiar physical postures, but is primarily a way to prepare for meditation.

“The heart of yoga in the larger sense helps us recognize and then establish ourselves in a state of higher awareness and consciousness,” she says. “It’s an awareness of our true or natural state of being that’s inside.” The ultimate goal of yoga, she adds, is to reach a state of happiness and harmony to help humans cope with the stresses of common, everyday life.
When KripaMa arrived at Shoshoni, she says she felt a strong connection and it changed her life. “I had almost an indescribable sense that there was real practice going on here,” she said. “I took vows to become a swami, which is a lifelong commitment.”

Although residents spend a great deal of time at Shoshoni, they also participate in many activities at Eldo and the outside world. “Our purpose and mission as an ashram is to provide a place where people can come and reconnect,” KripaMa said. “The purpose of retreating is to strengthen one’s connection with that peace inside so one can go back into one’s life in a happier, more balanced state.”

Nutritious, organic and local food is important at Shoshoni, and chef Deepak brings years of experience to his preparation of vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free dishes made with organic vegetables grown in the nearby gardens and hoop houses. Deepak, who also teaches meditation and yoga, says he believes a great chef is someone who truly cares about the food and sees its creation as an energetic expression of love. Some popular dishes include Butternut Squash Lasagna, Tostadas with Black Bean Refritos, Tandoori Tempeh, Thai Coconut-Ginger soup, and Sweet Potato Koftas.

So inspiring is the food that several cookbooks highlighting the ashram’s vegetarian dishes have been printed. The Kitchen Goddess by Susannah Narayani Levine, Yoga Kitchen by Faith Stone and Rachel Guidry, and The Shoshoni Cookbook by Anne Saks, also feature the vibrant illustrations and artwork of Stone.

Although Shoshoni draws thousands of local visitors each year, it’s also an international destination for spiritual seekers. Every year, guests come to Shoshoni from all over the United States and the world. KripaMa says that nearly everyone who visits the ashram leaves feeling better. “The sweetness, love and consciousness generated by Shoshoni residents and guests create an amazing, vibrant space for inner transformation,” she says.

Above all, these unique ashrams offer a way to access what Babaji defines as the inner self. “The inner self is a state of being and an experience of profound happiness and clarity,” he says. “Though quite beyond words, this state is classically described as satchitananda, which is being, consciousness and bliss.”

For more information, visit the Eldorado Mountain Ashram website (www.eldoradoyoga.net), the Shoshoni Yoga Retreat website (www.shoshoni.org), and the Konalani Yoga Ashram website (konalaniyoga.org).

Longing for a retreat/ashram? Check out our Travel & Retreats and Spiritual Practices & Intuitive Arts Classifieds. See page 38.

Ellen Mahoney is a Boulder freelance writer who teaches writing and produces radio features for KRCC Radio in Colorado Springs. Contact her at evm@infionline.net.