Yogaville - Sachidananda Ashram

I went there in September as I got a Groupon deal for welcome weekend. I just wanted to get away from DC to a peaceful place. The place is exactly what I expected , calm and peaceful. Three organic meals a day are included along with your stay, the food is great.I was able to attend 2 yoga classes and 1 mediation class. Only downside is all the programs are scheduled between 6 am to 5 pm so you will not be able to attend all of them because most of them are scheduled at same time.You have to pick one which is important to you.

Great place, great location and most of all great people running the place. Please note this is not a vacation resort but a place to practice Yoga and spirituality. Did a gentle somatic yoga retreat by James Knight and helped a lot with my lower back pain. Liked the meditation and hatha yoga sessions. Best was the Kirtan and talk on Saturday. Will definitely visit again.

Yogaville is a quiet retreat in central VA, near historic Appomattox. The LOTUS temple houses artifacts and teachings from around 10 religions and is a good place for meditation. Many tourists stay here for weeks doing meditation courses offered. I have visited Yogavile mainly for the dance programs organized by Smt. Padmarani Rasaiah Cantu and her students, a prominent exponent of Bharatanatyam. There is a huge Nataraja statue, which depicts the Hindu god of dance. Guru Poornima (during July every year) is one of the most celebrated festivals here, rife with various programs to commemorate it. The view of the James river and railroad running here are just calming and beautiful. One tiny downside is that you will not receive cellular signal unless you are a Verizon customer.

I visited for the first time this weekend, and I had a positive experience. I am interested in returning, but I am leaving some constructive critique in the hope that there will be some improvement in the future for guests like myself and others. Positive elements: 1) The spiritual teachers create a really welcoming, uplifting, and kind environment. I was treated with an immense amount of respect. 2) The gift shop is very well-organized. 3) The food offered during meal times is fabulous and healthy. 4) The accommodations are sufficiently modern, and I wouldn’t expect a higher standard for an ashram. The wifi was easily accessible inside of buildings. Critique: 1) The reception is patchy throughout the community. If I experienced an emergency and needed to call 911, it would be impossible to call due to Verizon being the only carrier whose range is accessible consistently on Yogaville campus. 2) The covid testing adds expense and delay, and I bear the cost, although I was informed that people in the community test positive, regardless. I think that it would be far more safe for people to simply mask just like I did if they are concerned about higher exposure, since the rapid tests are not even effective when a person doesn’t have symptoms. 3) Schedules should be mailed out to guests, in advance, to ensure that guests can actually plan their arrival in the most optimal way since check-in time is between 3 and 5 pm. A yoga session was scheduled during check in time, so I didn’t even have the ability to participate in a yoga class on the day of arrival. If I I had known that a yoga class was scheduled at 4 pm, I would have arrived at exactly 3 pm and hit the road earlier. 4) I think that it would be fabulous if yoga classes were scheduled later after rather than before breakfast, but I understand that ashram members are very early risers. I don’t expect them to make this change for guests if the residing members prefer a 7 am yoga class, but most people aren’t accustomed to rising quite that early. The scheduling prevented me from even being able to participate in any yoga class while I was there, and the name of this community is Yogaville. 5) I hope that the campus opens up so that I can drive here more regularly, being that I live not too far away. Needing to be able to spend the night with a 3 pm check in and a 12 pm check out didn’t give me enough time to really enjoy what the campus has to offer. I am not able to stay multiple nights consecutively due to the fact that I can’t leave my pets alone for extensive periods of time, and bringing pets is not allowed. So, although I am not leaving a really high rating, I really DID love the location, events, speakers, musicians, accommodations, dining, and atmosphere. The post-pandemic scheduling just creates a lot of barriers for people who don’t even live far away to truly enjoy what the community has to offer. Obviously, I am just one person, and no changes should be made simply in response to just my opinion. If my perspective resonates and echoes the concerns of others, then, I am glad that I could be vocal.