Venue

What You Will Find

Guests arriving at Ritam breathe in the fresh high-altitude air, as they settle in for their stay. Many beautiful structures are found on Ritam’s site. The Main Lodge has a welcoming feeling of serenity, harmony, openness and well-being, inviting rest and refreshment. Our Guests will emerge into a spacious and windowed central area through which the entire Retreat site can be viewed, with vistas down the expansive valley to the south and over to a forested hillside to the west. Within the Main Lodge, our Guests can access a variety of purposely designed unique spaces that enhance each and every experience, all equipped with chromotherapeutic lighting, balancing the body’s energy.

At Ritam, one of our core values is collaborating with Nature, absorbing its energetical properties to enhance all of our activities and offerings. A grounding energy envelopes you throughout Ritam’s forested site, from the vistas seen along the walking paths, to the intimacy of the Mystical Forest with its secluded meditation spots, the majesty of the Forest Circle and the refreshing burbling of the Waterfalls. Unique meditation spots have been thoughtfully placed in each setting throughout the site. All beckon our Guests as alternate destinations to experience peace and stillness, while inviting renewal. Serene encounters, spatial beauty, and dynamic silences await.

Thoughtful and purposeful design has gone into the construction of all aspects of the facilities and grounds of Ritam, to foster the intention of each space and to ease your transformation.

Although Ritam’s programming consists of various offerings that start off being held in their designated locations, during the Retreat, the offerings’ locations are changed daily, utilizing the different energy of each space, which provides our Guests with different and unique experiences.

Healing Cave

Amethyst, selenite, agate and Himalayan salt lamps, chromotherapeutic lighting, with a surround of various semi-precious stones and soft candlelight, illuminate and frame the space, creating a serene, zen atmosphere in Ritam’s Healing Cave. Their healing energies enhance the flow and intensify the frequencies generated in the treatments, resulting in expansion and release. Tibetan Singing Bowls and Alchemy Crystal Bowls, together with a variety of other sound-frequency therapeutic instruments are used in the Healing Cave for holistic healing therapies.

Sound Dome

Ritam’s Sound Dome is an architecturally designed, acoustically vibrant room that enhances the flow of sound and energy. It also houses an extensive collection of unique instruments that are used in Ritam’s various sound therapies. The Sound Dome is where Ritam’s Sound Baths and other offerings are performed, using specifically selected frequency-infused instruments which target predetermined areas of the body, creating a total immersion in sound.

Mind & Body Studio

Ritam’s Mind & Body Studio’s main focus is conscious body work. Here you will activate and access your the body’s core energy through different yoga styles and modalities. The Studio uses chromotherapeutic lighting and surround-sound acoustics, which bathe our Guests in various predetermined light frequencies and sound, as they engage in their yoga practice; physical and energy- enhancing properties, light specific, stimulate the performance of our Guests in their yoga sessions. The light frequencies generated in the Mind & Body Studio have been specifically selected to enhance and extend flexibility and the ability to stretch, also helping to lubricate joints and ease tension in the surrounding muscles, increasing range of motion and flow of energy.

Yagam Space

The Yagam Space is an architecturally stunning interior structure, which has been spiritually activated by Vedic priests who visited Ritam from India for that purpose. The dynamic silence and energy of the Yagam Space enhance the experience of our meditating Guests, whether for transcendence, concentration, reflection, or mindfulness. Within this sacred space, you will find that your efforts can bring you clarity about purposeful intentions and actions for preferred futures, or simply a sense of the expansion of your consciousness for greater capacity of thought and action.

Forest Circle

The Forest Circle is found deep in Ritam’s Mystical Forest, in a natural cathedral-like setting, surrounded by towering lodgepole pines and spruce trees. Here, Nature bestows its benign blessing on all who are present. The Forest Circle, under a clear blue sky, provides a sense of immensity in the outdoors, and is a favorite destination for meditation, sound baths, shin-rin yoku, yoga practice or other offerings and events.

Rustic Red Shack

Ritam’s Rustic Red Shack is a cozy, stand-alone cabin, overlooking a stunning view of the forest valley below, which allows our Guests a retreat within their Retreat, where you can withdraw to simply rest, meditate, contemplate or reflect; or more actively, journal, draw, or write. With total privacy, and for an extended time, half-day or full-day sessions are offered as part of your Retreat experience. This offering allows our Guests a place for some quiet solace, for which many of us yearn from time to time. After your respite from the other Retreat offerings, you can seamlessly resume your regular Retreat programming.

Rustic Red Shack

At Ritam, the facilities include a modern, spacious Main Lodge. As you walk into the Lodge's welcoming front entry, a grounding energy envelopes you. The Lodge's living spaces bring nature and light inside through expansive windows. The feeling is one of serenity, harmony and openness, inviting you to refresh and reset.

The Retreat's Yagam Poojas and Group Meditations are held in an authentic and architecturally magnificent space. This sacred room has been spiritually activated by Vedic priests who visited Ritam from India in December, 2018, with the blessings and guidance of Sri Sakthi Amma. The resulting effect from their visit has been an elevation of the richness of experience when one is in the room, and an increase in the beneficial effect on the surrounding environment from the performance of Yagam Poojas and Group Meditations in the room.

Each afternoon's Mastermind Visioning will take place in a room specially designed to enhance your creativity and elicit transformative breakthroughs.

Thoughtful and purposeful design have gone into the construction of all aspects of the facilities and grounds of Ritam Spiritual Retreat, to foster the intention of each space and to ease your transformation.

Venue

By leaving the world behind for the duration of several days, and opening yourself to the dynamic silence of nature at Ritam, you will receive a gift, one that can have a profound and positive impact on your life.

Yagam Pooja

The Alchemy of Pooja

Why do we perform Yagam Poojas? To feed the devas and thereby serve Nature.

Sri Sakthi Amma, teaches that the devas are the administrators of the set rules of life in the world. They function on behalf of the Divine here on Earth. We, as humans, have the greatest privilege and duty of performing Yagam Poojas, because the holy smoke from the fire sustains the devas.

There is a system of reciprocity, or give and take, between us humans and the devas. The word yagam comes from the Sanskrit word yajana, meaning giving – humans giving to the devas. We give to the devas through our offerings into the Yagam Pooja fire and thereby the devas are fed; nourished through the smoke produced from the fire. In turn, the devas bless us, and support and keep the world in balance. Whatever is provided to the devas through the smoke of the Yagam Pooja fire benefits and yields to us and the world much more than what has been given.

Another name for Yagam Pooja is kama-dhenu, meaning one who bestows – someone who grants you what you need. Only humans are able to bestow upon or provide for the devas, through creating the holy smoke of a Yagam Pooja fire.

The devas have form but they do not have a physical body. Since devas are in astral form, their food likewise must come to them in an astral form as holy smoke from the Yagam Pooja fire. When we perform a Yagam Pooja, we attract the devas by our chanting. Whenever and wherever a Yagam Pooja takes place, the devas will converge at that place and accept what is offered.

The devas require us to understand and perform Yagam Poojas in a proper and disciplined manner. For a Yagam Pooja, we do not use just any sort of offering: we use flowers; specific foods and herbs; and ghee (clarified butter). This mixture of flowers, foods, herbs and ghee, offered to a Yagam Pooja fire, creates a holy smoke, which feeds and nourishes the devas.

Pooja means to perform with flowers.

The Divine is embodied in a Yagam Pooja fire. A flower offering symbolizes the flower of our heart, which is our soul. When we perform a Yagam Pooja, we are offering our soul energy, with devotion, to the Divine. As we perform Yagam Poojas regularly and continuously, day after day, gradually our ritual becomes a source of Divine energy for us.

Even though we perform Yagam Poojas physically, during that time we are also thinking of the Divine by being mindful in our actions and by chanting Divine names. Externally, it appears that we are doing a physical action; however, throughout the duration of the Yagam Pooja, our consciousness is actually on the Divine.

Yagam Poojas allow us to connect our soul with the Divine.

Changing everything into itself is the specialty of fire. When we make offerings into a Yagam Pooja fire, it will burn them to ashes. Whatever we want to offer to the Divine, we can do through a Yagam Pooja, which then allows the Divine to accept it immediately.

The great secret is that the Divine is close; the Divine is within us. We do not need to go searching here and there for the Divine. Whenever we are performing a Yagam Pooja, it is good to remember that we are making our offerings to the Divine within us.

We are a part of the Divine through our soul. Bringing the Divine and our individual soul together is like mixing water with water; they will mix. A Yagam Pooja attracts the Divine; by experiencing a Yagam Pooja, our soul is able to connect with the Divine.

Performing Yagam Poojas is a way of lovingly giving back to the Divine what has already been given to us. Indeed, everything we offer into the Yagam Pooja fire has come from the Divine. It is the love and devotion (our bhakthi) with which we make our offerings to the fire that matters to the Divine. When we give a gift, it is not the gift itself, but the thought behind the gift that brings happiness to the recipient. The thoughts, "I want to make this offering, and I want to perform a Yagam Pooja", make the Divine happy.

Aarthi

Dispel the Darkness

We all want peace, happiness, and a problem-free life. Sri Sakthi Amma teaches that in our life, there will always be problems and difficulties which disturb our peace and happiness and that, according to the Law of Karma, even though we may try to live our life without harming anyone, or otherwise doing wrong, we may have produced negative karma in our previous life through our actions. The negative karma from our previous life has followed us and comes back to us in this lifetime in the form of problems and difficulties. There is a solution for this. Through the grace and blessings of the Divine, our difficulties and problems can be reduced or even wiped clean. Just as the paper burns in a fire, our difficulties will become less with the Divine's grace and blessings.

There are several ways to receive the Divine's grace and blessings in our lives, one of which is through Aarthi, or Ghee Lamp Pooja.

The unique feature of Aarthi is agni (fire), using ghee as its fuel. The flame from the Aarthi lamp produces jyoti, which is the light of the Divine.

If a room is dark, we turn on a light. Similarly, to dispel any darkness which we may be experiencing in our life due to problems and difficulties besetting us, we can perform Aarthi, the divine light from which will dispel the darkness caused by the negative karma we created in our previous lifetime.

Whatever we offer into a fire will be burned. Likewise, when we offer our negative karma and everything else that is negative about us to the jyoti light of Aarthi, they will be burned by the sacred flame and in their place, the Divine will bless us with positive thoughts and energy and our lives will be much better. We may be experiencing difficulties because of the past negative karma of our previous life, but when this negative karma has been burned or wiped clean by the jyoti light of Aarthi, we will not be distressed any further.

Theertham

Strength for the Soul

Water has the special feature of changing into what has been added to it. For example, a few drops of rose essence will change plain water into scented rosewater. Among all the five elements, only water has this characteristic of changing according to what has been added to it.

As part of a Yagam Pooja ceremony, ordinary water is added to a metal pot, called a kalasam, and a coconut is placed on top of the pot. The pot and the coconut are decorated in a certain fashion; this combination is referred to as a purna kalasam and is a representation of the Divine.

To infuse divine energy into the water in the kalasam, a Yagam Pooja is performed, with mantras being chanted to the Divine. The energy from the mantras goes into the kalasam and also into the water, transforming the plain water into sacred water or theertham.

Drinking theertham from a kalasam, activated by a Yagam Pooja and the chanting of mantras, provides us with the divine energy contained within the theertham, producing a calming effect on us; and also, we gain strength and courage therefrom.

Even if we only consume a small drop of theertham, our difficulties will be reduced or perhaps may even vanish.

As a doctor will only draw the required amount of medicine for your medical condition and not use the entire bottle, the theertham produced from a Yagam Pooja has the same effect on us, whether we consume a drop or a tablespoon.

Venue

What You Will Find

Healing Cave

Sound Dome

Mind & Body Studio

Yagam Space

Forest Circle

Rustic Red Shack

Rustic Red Shack

Venue

Mastermind Visioning

Spiritual seekers yearn for a way to experience connection with their divine source to gain strength and support.

Ritam's Unique Process

Yagam Pooja

The Alchemy of Pooja

Aarthi

Dispel the Darkness

Theertham

Strength for the Soul

Meditation

Yoga

Achieve Greater Control

Sound Therapy

Sound is Energy

Crystal Bowl Visualization

Shinrin-Yoku

Ganesha Package

Particulars of the Ganesha Retreat Package are:

Saraswati Package

The particulars of the Saraswati Retreat Package are:

Acknowledgements

Chinese Gongs

Chinese Gongs

Chinese Gongs

Chinese Gongs

Tibetan Singing Bowls

Tibetan Singing Bowls

Alchemy Crystal Bowl

Alchemy Crystal Bowl

Sword Forks

Sword Forks

Tuning Forks

Tuning Forks

Sound Baths

Sound Baths

Holistic Massage

Holistic Massage

Cupping

Cupping

Hot Rocks

Hot Rocks

Marma Therapy

Marma Therapy

Acupuncture

Acupuncture

Reiki

Reiki

Healing Touch

Healing Touch

Visualization

Visualization

Aroma Therapy

Aroma Therapy

Chrome Therapy

Chrome Therapy

Covid - 19 Measures

Chinese Gongs