Please visit my website: JayaLakshmiMusic.com
For more info about me and to listen to my music!
Thank you for your interest in my
'Goddess Mantra - Vocal Empowerment and Yoga Retreat for Women'.
This retreat is for you if you:
We'll be learning more about and honoring the ancient and timeless goddesses Saraswati, Durga, Kali, Radhe, Lakshmi and Tara. It's fine if you are totally new to these practices and teachings.
This includes learning about and practicing shakti bija (seed) mantras of the divine feminine that have been passed down through the ages, and how their power has the potency to invoke great transformation, awakening and healing.
These practices are all about accessing and cultivating our own power, for the benefit of all beings. These specific techniques work with the vibration of our own sound and awareness of our breath (pranayama).
Every morning we’ll go on a 2 hour Sattva Yoga based journey
(visit www.sattvayogacademy.com for more info)
This includes asana (postures), pranayama (breath exercises), mantra (sacred chants) and kriya (‘evolutionary action’ - particular movements/meditations coordinated with breath and/or mantra for a specific result ).
The yoga practice is for all levels of yoga experience.
Some mornings we'll be out hiking and will be doing our practice on a gorgeous, flat red rock mesa with a stunning panaramic view!
In the late mornings we'll visit some sweet spots of Oak Creek for a swim or cooling plunge in the clear crystal spring water, or hike to a sacred place on the rocks.
After lunch in the afternoons we will dive into more practice and details about accessing and empowering our voices through singing mantra, meditations and pranayama -
including sharing and discussion of our own experiences.
Every evening we circle and sing mantras, bhajans (devotional songs), kirtan and sacred heart songs. One evening features a special sound healing journey with crystal bowls, gong, voice, etc. and another evening we will gather around a fire outside and sing under the stars.
Groups of friends, family and/or couples will fill an entire room. If you are a single person coming on your own for a shared room, please understand we may have to change your original room request to get the best arrangements for the entire group.It may take time to match you up with other singles. Thanks for being flexible!
Check-in opens on Thursday, May 21st at 4pm.
Check out is Tuesday, May 26th at 11am.
You can fly into Flagstaff, which is a bit closer to Sedona (45 min) although it can be more expensive - you can always check for deals. Otherwise, fly into Phoenix. Renting a car is suggested, or there are shuttles available directly to the venue through Groome Transporation. Ride shares are also possible with other participants if set up ahead of time.
I have had the vision of a Goddess Retreat for many years. The time has come where everything feels aligned to do this kind of work. The concept has evolved over the last 6 years since I began the retreats - originally they started out more as a healing retreat (of course the retreats are still very healing!) but over time I have noticed the need and desire of so many of us wishing to empower our voices, literally. I feel quite qualified to activate and nurture this process! I have been chanting (Sanskrit) mantras every day since 1992.
In recent years I have taken a deeper dive into Shakti Mantras, or mantras of the divine feminine aspect of creation. There is something about the current time we are in and humans realizing the power of sacred sound. Many of us are beginning to cognize and experience the correlation of sound, energy and spirit in greater numbers than ever before. I believe this is part of the evolution of human consciousness.
I can say that I feel divinely inspired and on a mission to get more and more people chanting and singing, focused on the higher vibrations of existence, to keep upholding the light. Though it's generally joyous, it's not easy sometimes to be consistent and can require a bit of discipline. Coming together as a kula, we can support and learn from each other! As warriors of the light, and serving in the army of love, it's our dharma (sacred duty) to amplify the vibrations of love, kindness, compassion and harmony more than ever, as much as possible - and we all have the capacity to do this.
Here's some background about me.
You can also read more about me on my website story:
https://jayalakshmimusic.com/about
At this time in my life I am on a deep journey of reclaiming my sovereignty and rediscovering my essential self, after a lifetime of thinking my answers lie eleswhere. I have found that the Shakti mantras are foundational keys to realizing my true nature.
I often feel that the ‘Goddess’ whoever She may be, in whatever forms she comes, has called me to journey deeper within myself, to heal myself, to more intimately align myself with the energies and forces of the Divine Feminine surging through me. And on this journey the Divine Masculine is also revealed and coming back into balance. It’s really what it’s all about, all this spiritual work. To come into Divine Union within ourselves, integrating the Divine Feminine and Masculine.
Yet because I agreed somewhere in my soul contract to incarnate in a women’s body this lifetime, I get the opportunity to fully live and embody the divine feminine. As we women understand, being a woman in this world has an extra set of challenges, that also comes with great reward. Just the fact that we bear children and go through the whole process of motherhood, that physically we are not as strong as men (in general) and we are extra sensitive emotionally sets us up for a lot of intense growth in one lifetime on this planet.
I have had quite a strong relationship with ‘the Goddess’ since I was a teenager. At a young age I understood there was a Goddess who lived within me, and She had her own connection to my ancient lineage, to streams of wisdom flowing through my body, and visions and memories of lives lived in the past and in other realms. I felt drawn to become more than I was expected to be in the flat 3D world where I grew up in suburban New Jersey, although I was certainly blessed to have a fantastic childhood with loving parents, filled with magic and mystery. I even had a horse for all my teen years before I left for college and would go riding on trails behind my house, fostering fantasies and daydreams of other times and lives. My beloved, kind father was a great provider and a faithful, loving husband. My mother grew a huge garden and fed us well. She was also an accomplished pianist and helped set my foundation and connection with music for life - for this and more I am ever grateful.
But I really had no spiritual mentors, nor was my mother any source of Goddess wisdom for me other than fulfilling her role as a traditional good mother. Which is precious, I know how fortunate I am in this sense. But you know what I’m saying…her daughter turned out to be a wild spirit, a shamaness being summoned to other realms, a healer and a devotee of the spirit, a dancer, a yogini, a weaver and singer, a rebel at heart that couldn’t be contained. What’s a traditional mother to do? She didn’t know what to make of me and struggled at even liking me sometimes, as I pushed the edge even though I didn’t want to - I wrestled with a force within me that was wanting to be expressed.
In my early 20’s in the midst of a number of psychedelic experiences with psilocybin, LSD, and ecstasy much was revealed to me. I was majoring in cultural anthropology in college at UNH, focusing largely on women’s global and tribal studies. I was particularly fascinated with the rise of the feminine power in the world. I read the classics such as ‘When God was a Woman’ (1976), ‘Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood’ (1979) by Merlin Stone (1976) , ‘The Spiral Dance’ by Starhawk (1979), ‘Drawing Down the Moon’ by Margaret Adler (1979), ‘The White Goddess’ by Robert Graves (1948) and later on, The Great Cosmic Mother (1987) by Monica Shoo & Barbara More, The Language of the Goddess by Marija Gimbutas (1989). I completely and totally related to all of it. My anthropology teacher always kept me in check though as she reminded me that many of the claims of long standing matriarchies had insufficient archaeological evidence to prove they actually existed as described. Yet it was acknowledged that so much of our past remains a mystery and much of it perhaps only existing within the memory of our DNA.
Something in me has always ‘known’ that many things have been hidden from us and ‘history’ as we know it is just that: ‘HIS’ story and is a very minimal telling of the complex and rich tapestry of human experience over thousands of years.
This is why I loved ‘The Mists of Avalon’ series and ‘The Firebrand’ (the re-telling of the Helen of Troy story) by Marion Zimmer Bradley, who dared to imagine a different version of these great stories from the feminine perspective. Isn’t this something we should do to all the great stories and historical accounts of humanity? Consider that there are huge pieces missing - very valuable perspectives that were not valued, reported or captured at the time. Perspectives of grandmothers, mothers, daughters, business women, educated women, etc have largely gone unrecognized and unpreserved by the dominant popular (patriarchal) cultures of the times, in most of the world.
This brings me to the revelation of the Goddesses of India. When I was 23 (1988), I found myself in a tiny little cabin loft, adorned with crystals and crescent moon windows, in the misty mountains of Coastal Oregon - the quintessential Oregon hippy dream I’d been dreaming for years. My partner at the time and I had collected a lot of books on Indian spirituality, including ‘Be Here Now’ and ‘Miracle of Love’ by Ram Das, The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, The Ramayana, the Mata AmritAnandamayi Ma (Amma) biography, ‘Awaken Children’ and other gems of popular spiritual literature streaming over into the west from the Motherland. I found a marvelous book in a shop in Santa Cruz titled ‘In Praise of Tara’, Songs to the Saviouress, by Martin Willson (1986) that changed my life. It became one of the bibles of my life. I still have it today and refer to it often as I seek to commune with the Goddess Tara. Many people don’t realize but Tara was originally an ancient goddess of the northern region of modern India. She had quite a following, that is known as the ‘Cult of Tara’. Only later did she migrate up to Tibet and become integrated into Tibetan Buddhism.
I read and absorbed. I also fell in love with the story of Ramakrishna and Sarada Devi. She was the embodiment of the Divine Feminine to him and he basically worshipped her. It was a divine love story, without the taint of the mundane. I was intrigued by the concept of ‘Kali’ and ‘Durga’ and the ancient pantheon of Hindu deities. I had always been drawn to India since I was a girl, by the sound of Indian music and the exotic tastes of Indian food, by the mystical temples and rich timelessness of the culture, where so many still actively worshiped the deities and many in the form of the divine feminine. Where else in the world does one find so many temples to the Goddess? To Lakshmi, Kali, Durga. Shrines to Radha. Saraswati murtis in the house of every musician. Daily ceremonies (pujas) and prayers are an integral part of life in India and in many communities and villages the Goddess reigns supreme. This doesn’t necessarily translate to equality among the sexes and the positive treatment of women, or a harmonious egalitarian society but it does say something that people see The Divine as feminine with feminine qualities, as Mother Creatress or Mother of the Universe (Jagad Ambe). So many other aspects of the Divine Feminine are at the forefront of the ‘Hindu’ culture and are revered and respected throughout India.
The Goddess is alive and magic is afoot’ is certainly true in India as it is in many of the pagan movements around the world experiencing a resurgence of the ancient spiritual practices of their ancestors before Christianity took over. In India, the concept of the Divine feminine has been woven into the fabric of society and throughout their ancient scriptures of spiritual enlightenment, the Vedas, for many thousands of years.
This is why I am inspired to explore these living Goddess traditions of India as a way to experience the Divine Feminine archetypes and empower ourselves. There is a wealth of literature, ancient texts and yogic practices to dive into to learn more of the mystery of human consciousness relating to the 'Maha Shakti '(Great Goddess of Creation) in her many aspects. The Divine Mother has infinite expressions and She may appear to us in a multitude of forms, as we open to receive Her Grace.
In this retreat we will get acquainted with the idea of 'Maha Shakti', manifesting as six of the most popular goddesses of India. Truly we could spend many years just on one Goddess as many devotees do, even a lifetime or lifetimes of developing one’s relationship with Her ever unfolding aspects as She reveals Herself. But this is a good place to start!
With the yoga journeys, we get to experience the embodiment practices of kriya, pranayama, mantra and asana. The Goddess is living in these living yoga traditions and we have this incredible opportunity to align ourselves with such refined frequencies, body, mind and soul. Through the practice of these powerful yoga techniques that weave sound, light and energy and coming together to reflect the Divine Feminine for each other in her infinite unique forms we expand more into our beautiful and unlimited potential. I feel this is what pleases Her the most, to see Her creation growing and blossoming, Her beauty expanding, Her experience of ecstasy ever deepening through us. Om Devi Ma Namoh Nama.
$500 deposit is non-refundable.
If you cancel more than 120 days before your retreat start date, 100% of your payment will be refunded.
If you cancel 119 – 60 days before your retreat start date, 50% of your payment will be refunded. *
If you cancel 59 days or less before the retreat start date, you can apply 25% of whatever you have paid in (minus deposit) to another retreat.*
*If you find someone to replace your spot, you can receive a full refund.
Travel Insurance is recommended to cover any unforseen circumstances regarding your trip,
including late cancellation.
You can compare plans online - here is a place to start:
https://www.insuremytrip.com/travel-insurance-plans/
Meals are vegan and organic with dairy and egg options. Snacks provided throughout the day. Pure spring water from tested well on property.
Shared and single room options
Make sure to bring your swimsuit!
Yoga mats, blankets and cushions are available.
Participants are responsible for their own transportation. Rental cars suggested, or ride share with others
Check in is open at 4pm, Dinner served at 6:30pm, Welcome Circle at 8pm - 9:30pm
Day 2 we call in the grace of Saraswati Ma - the Goddess of the Arts and Music, Spiritual Learning and Knowledge, of Sacred Sound and language. She is a beautiful Divine HIgh Priestess archetype that bestows wisdom, intellectual capacity, talent and passion for the arts and languages.
Day 3 we explore the Goddesses Kali and Durga, learn and practice their mantras, their stories and why they are so often put together. Durga represents courage, fearlessness, empowerment and following intuition. She dissolves negativity.
Kali is a more fierce form and represents transformation, ferociousness, and ultimate liberated shakti power which reveals the divine eternal truth.
This day is about clearing old energy, unhealthy patterns and igniting our personal power for the next cycle of our lives.
Day 4 we invoke the Goddess Maha Sri Lakshmi, who is the Goddess of Fortune, abundance, prosperity, and fertility. She is also the Goddess of the Lotus, representing spiritual enlightenment and brilliance. She is widely worshiped in India and all over the world as the consort of Vishnu the sustainer. She is who brings harmony to the family and marriage, health, wealth and good luck. She is lustrous and she is the source of infinite abundance.
On this day we will learn embodiment practices to cultivate the energy and grace of Maha Lakshmi within our field so we vibrate in the frequency of overflowing abundance and well being. We'll learn more about the Sri Suktam recitation practice and what it means for the world.
Day 5 we connect with the Goddess Radha, who is the Embodiment of Pure Love and Devotion. She is sweetness and beauty personified and represents the longing of the soul to unite with the Beloved. Over hundreds of years the Goddess Radha has emerged as a sovereign entity in Her own right, although in the most profound teachings of Radha/Krishna it is conveyed that they are truly one being and inseparable in their eternal Divine Union. We'll dive into the richness of the Gaudiya Vaisnav tradition (the worship of Radha and Krishna) and learn more about the path of Bhakti (devotion) through the understanding of Radha and the power of singing devotional songs and mantras.
This day is about getting in touch with our devotion to the Divine!
Day 6 in the morning we call upon the Goddess Tara, whose origins go back to ancient northern India before She became a Buddhist deity. She is known widely as the Mother of Compassion and Wisdom although She has many attributes, including her fierce forms. We'll learn about Her different expressions and the cultural contexts She emerges from and sing her most well known mantra.
