Yogaville, Buckingham

On August 15, 1969, Sri Swami Satchidananda spoke at the opening ceremony of the Woodstock music festival, calling music “the celestial sound that controls the whole universe.”Devoting his life to the pursuit of unity, in 1980 he founded Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville, a spiritual community and retreat center located on the banks of the James River in Buckingham, Virginia, and encompassing more than 750 acres of wooded countryside. Today, the community has grown to over 250 permanent residents, and Yogaville offers a wide variety of public workshops and yoga teacher trainings. In addition, Yogaville is open year-round for guest stays, provides a retreat for practitioners of varied skill levels who join one another to relax and practice the tenets of Integral Yoga, a synthesis of six classical branches of yoga into a complete lifestyle system as taught by Sri Swami Satchidananda. At the center, the Satchidananda Ashram houses five sacred sites, including the Light of Truth Universal Shrine, or LOTUS, in which altars for every major religion let visitors of all faiths discover their personal enlightenment. Committed to the harmonious teachings of Sri Swami Satchidananda, the ashram’s instructors carry on the founder’s legacy by leading everything from workshops to multiple-day retreats.