October 15–18, 2026 · Wakefield, QC
Sacred Song,
Sādhana & Silence
Into the Seasonal Transition of Autumn
A four-day autumn retreat of Kirtan, Yoga, Qigong, Taichi, Meditation, seasonal wisdom and spacious time together.
A return toward what is essential.
Into the Turning Season
Come Gather With Us This Autumn
Four days to sing, move, listen, nourish, rest—and allow the changing season to bring us back toward what is essential.
Autumn carries a natural invitation to come home.
After the expansion and outward movement of summer, life begins to gather itself again. Children return to school, familiar rhythms re-form, the light softens, the air cools, and the natural world begins its gradual movement inward toward winter. There is a sense of returning—to routine, to the body, to what matters, and perhaps most deeply, to ourselves.
Both Ayurveda and the wisdom traditions of Chinese Medicine recognize this seasonal turning as a meaningful threshold. As the qualities around us become cooler, drier and more changeable, we are invited to cultivate greater warmth, steadiness, nourishment and inner listening. Through Kirtan, Mantra, Yoga, Qigong and Taichi, Meditation and seasonal teachings, we will explore practices that help us move gracefully with this transition rather than against it.
This Retreat is an invitation to gather what has become scattered, release what no longer needs to be carried, and re-establish ourselves in the rhythms and practices that truly nourish us.
The intention throughout the weekend is simple: grounded vitality in the body, spaciousness in the heart, clarity in the mind—and a deeper remembrance of the place within us that is already at Home.
The Invitation
Gathering Inward…
Gather · Ground · Stabilize
Autumn asks something different of us than summer. The light changes, the air cools, and the outward movement of the warmer months gradually begins to gather inward.
There is a particular invitation in autumn: to gather what has been scattered, release what is complete, and return more intimately to what nourishes us.
Over four days at Vichara Yoga Shala, we will move between sacred song and silence, focused practice, deep rest, community and spaciousness.
Rather than filling every hour, we will allow the days to breathe—creating enough structure to hold us, and enough space to listen.
Through Ayurveda, Tiffany will explore the qualities of the season and the practical ways we can cultivate warmth, rhythm, nourishment and steadiness as Vāta becomes more pronounced.
Rishi will bring the complementary vision of Qigong and Taichi—working with movement, breath, energetic awareness and the intelligence of this seasonal transition through the Chinese traditions.
The Living Practice
Sacred Song · Sādhana · Silence
These three streams of intention each bring us more deeply into an intimacy with our hearts, presence, energy and the turning season.
Sacred Song
Kirtan and mantra open the heart through shared voice, melody, percussion and devotion.
Sādhana
Yoga, Prāṇāyāma and Meditation invite steadiness, receptivity and intimate inward listening.
Qi & Movement
Qigong and Taiji support vitality, energetic balance and seasonal attunement through embodied practice.
Seasonal Wisdom
Ayurveda and the Chinese energetic traditions offer complementary lenses for meeting autumn wisely.
A Homecoming to Vichara Yoga Shala
Rest & Be at ease in the lap of Nature
Sacred Song, Sādhana & Silence will take place at Vichara Yoga Shala, a Retreat space nestled within the forests of the Gatineau Hills.
Autumn is especially beautiful here. The surrounding forest is changing colour, the air has begun to sharpen, evenings invite fire and warmth, and the landscape itself seems to encourage a quieter pace.
Our days will move naturally between the Shala and the land, enjoying times of immersion cocooned indoors and also amidst the sacred land, nourishing seasonal meals, quiet walks, shared fires and cedar soaks and spacious rest periods.
For a few autumn days, we come together to make the movement that the season itself is making: from the outer toward the inner, from dispersion toward gathering, from doing toward Being.
THE RETREAT HOSTS
We Welcome You
Different streams of practice meet in a shared love of creating spaces where sacred song, movement, wisdom and stillness can become a direct and lived experience that fuels our lives.
Tiffany & Alexander
Ayurveda · Yoga · Meditation · Percussion · Facilitation
Tiffany weaves classical Ayurveda, Yoga, Meditation and Advaita Vedānta into practices of embodied self-recognition and seasonal attunement. Alexander brings percussion, facilitation and a grounded presence to the shared field of mantra, practice and community.
Dana & Rishi
Kirtan · Qigong · Taiji · Medicine Music
Dana and Rishi bring years of shared practice in Kirtan, Yoga and contemplative life. Their music moves between grounding, meditative song and joyful devotional expression, while Rishi’s Qigong and Taiji teaching offers an embodied way of working with Qi, seasonal change and inner alignment.
October 15–18, 2026
Retreat Details
Days Immersed In:
- Daily 2x Kirtan
- Qigong practice
- Taijiwuxigong practice
- Daily Yoga
- Daily Meditation
- Ayurvedic teachings and seasonal workshop
- Nature-immersion: walks, outdoor sadhana and campfire kirtans
- Cedar wood-fired hot tub
- Contemplative atmosphere
- Nourishing and delicious organic Ayurvedic Meals
- Take-home practices and integrations
Into the Turning Season
Come Gather With Us This Autumn
Four days to sing, move, listen, nourish, rest—and allow the changing season to bring us back toward what is essential.