The community of Ananda, near Assisi, Italy, is based on the spiritual teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda, a teacher from India, who had come to the United States of America in the 1930‚s to bring yoga practices to everyone who desired to work on their spiritual awakening. Paramahansa Yogananda, encouraged his American and worldwide followers to stay on the path of their original religion and to utilize yoga and meditation as a tool for spiritual advancement.
With no prior knowledge of this community, other than the enthusiastic "You have to go and visit" of a friend who had lived in a sister community in California for a while and who had informed me about the community in Italy, I headed for Assisi.
I arrived excited and full of anticipation to spend a week in the community as a visitor and to take advantage of their yoga, meditation and spiritual advancement classes.
Just previously I had reached a cross road in my life where I had decided to take the path of most effort to further my growth as a human and more importantly, as a spiritual being. Material acquisitions and their maintenance had been weighing heavily on me in my pursuit of meditation and yoga as means to simply come closer to my purpose in life. So far, it had been a good life with the usual trials and tribulations, suffering, love, loss and joy, but something was clearly missing from it, something I had caught glimpses of in the past, when I had been more open and less taken by stress and worries.
So I sold my house, gave away most of my possessions and took off on what I called a "walk-about" around Europe, to once more be free and unencumbered by the usual daily worries and to be receptive to what the Universe had to offer me.
And now I had the exciting opportunity to look more closely and to probe more deeply into the meaning of my spiritual life while staying at Ananda. Upon my arrival I was enthusiastically greeted by a lady from Croatia who was working in the front office and with whom I had been in contact before my departure for Italy. She immediately directed me to the dining room where the members of the community and the visitors are usually assembled to eat their meals together and motioned me to find a seat and to enjoy the lunch before taking care of business and registration. I filled my plate with delicious vegetarian food and sat down to eat. Later I learned that while breakfast and lunch are eaten to soft spiritual music and end with an inspirational quote from Yogananda, lunch may be enjoyed with talk and laughter.
The beautiful and nurturing meals are freshly made in the kitchen adjacent to the dining room everyday, all day long and the philosophy is to bless the food and prepare it joyfully. Meat is excluded from the diet, and cheese is generally omitted as well, but other dairy products are available, as well as eggs and beans as sources of protein. The freshness of the food is wonderful, the variety of dishes at each meal is amazing and there is the option of vegan and diet food as well, one just needs to check with registration before arrival. Warm drinks like tea and coffee as well as fruits and snacks are available throughout the day.
Since there are some American people living in the community, we celebrated Thanksgiving together a few days later with the most wonderful meal I had ever enjoyed on such an occasion. Having a turkey was out of the question, instead we were served a nut loaf of heavenly proportions, with cranberry sauce, gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes and a vegetable medley, followed by fresh pumpkin pie for dessert. Yum!!!
I was shown to my room after lunch and settled in to be ready for the yoga class at 4:30 pm. When touring the grounds to familiarize myself with my surroundings I realized how peacefulness exuded from every pore of this place and how spectacular its rural setting in the Umbrian hills near Assisi truly was. Mountains and small towns were visible from the site, beckoning me to take a closer look and I had more than one occasion to explore the countryside by foot during the next week. Winter had not yet arrived and the trees were still dressed in the most colorful of leaves, shining from afar and glowing in the afternoon sun.
When I first encountered the temple of the community, I gasped at its majesty and wonderful architecture. Octagonal by nature rather than rectangular and with a glass opening at the top, it seemed to flow and channel Divine energy from above, or was it just that so many heartfelt prayers had been uttered within the walls of this temple and so many deep meditations had been performed that it itself had been transformed∑
With large windows surrounding the main room, one could sit and meditate and at the same time enjoy the wonderful nature all around, from the rolling hills to the trees and birds and well-groomed grounds which are teeming with flowers and bushes in the Summer time.
I immediately felt at home in the Temple and settled to meditate, before receiving instructions on Yoga. The teachers at Ananda are highly trained in various techniques of yoga and tend to the different levels of their diverse student body. In fact, they accommodate all levels of ability. Periodically, they offer whole weekends of introduction to the practice of yoga and meditation for novices. At any given time during the year there are long and short meditations in the mornings and evenings and yoga classes on a daily basis.
Expecting mostly younger people I was surprised to see people of all ages and walks of life, living and visiting at Ananda. My roommate was a spunky elderly lady from Rome who kept discussions alive with her insights and questions.
Being in transition and not having set plans for my life rendered me somewhat of an outsider within my former community of friends and certainly within my family. My quest for spiritual advancement generally was frowned upon and misunderstood. But here at Ananda, most people appeared to be on the same path and many a good soul congratulated me when I quietly admitted that I had no earthy plans at the moment, but was rather searching inwardly for guidance. Many people had been in the same boat as I, had visited Ananda in the past and stayed on, turning into members of the community and eventually becoming disciples of the path of liberation through yoga and meditation. .
Families and single people alike live on the grounds around Ananda and on Thanksgiving night a new member was welcomed into the community, a little girl. She is blessed to have been born into such a wonderful circle of family and friends. Her arrival into this world marked the 5th birth within a year in the community and people jokingly remarked on the fact that they would have to build a school pretty soon for the education of their new members. Assisi does not have educational facilities on its grounds, but its mother community in the United States offers education up to the high school level.
Community members mostly come from the United States, where the first communities were founded, Italy and Germany, as well as Slowenia, Switzerland, England and Spain, with people from other European countries mixed in. The official languages are English, German and Italian and translation services are provided for those that do not know the language of the particular course that is being offered.
During the time of my stay, numerous courses took place. Aside from the daily yoga classes and morning and evening mediations, there was a weekend seminar on how to bring spirit into one's intimate relationships and a weeklong daily course on Yoga and the chakras. I attended them both and found them to be extremely pertinent and helpful to master the many challenges of daily life. I have been utilizing many of the practical exercises and suggestions that I have learned in the classes since I have returned from Ananda and I am eternally grateful for having more tools available to me now to face the challenges, trials and tribulations of daily life.
The days were filled with activity and contemplation and each day I felt closer to my center again, more whole and grounded and on my way. It is amazing what a little retreat in time and space and a little time out from the usual hustle and bustle of life can unearth. For me it was like filling up the tank of my life energy, drawing from the energy of the creator once more so I may continue with more clarity, love, openness and flow in my life. I furthermore gained renewed commitment to my daily meditation practice and reconnected with my inner guidance.
For sure I will return periodically to the community to enjoy the many beautiful lessons that Ananda has to offer to the world. And who knows, I may even end up living there one day. I am certainly most grateful to have found a community of likeminded people who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of self-conquest and spiritual growth.
Thank you to everybody at Ananda for your support, love and dedication.
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