Hi all
I was reading a book on meditation and it mentioned this retreat and village set up by one of Yogananda's disciples:

http://www.ananda.org/ananda/village/

I thought that you might enjoy looking through it as inspiration of your own desires for a community (as I know the Heart's Center precipitation call describes something very similar - and I know, it's not the same).

Anyhow, it's really cool - they have permanent residents, member shops (including a whole foods store, gift store, publishing, yoga supplies, essential oils store), K-12 schooling, a retreat center that's open to members, new people and groups, beautiful gardens etc. Sounded just like what I could imagine you guys might like (well, I would too, but I'm not over there right now). Anyhow, maybe you're already aware of this kind of thing, I just hadn't heard of it before and thought you might like to get ideas or at least see that it can indeed be done. Even the schooling is interesting. In addition to regular schooling they teach yoga, unity of the world's religions, service to others etc.

Blessings to all.

Serena,

Thank you for the referral to the Ananda Village website. Their community is located near Nevada City, California and is apparently dedicated to combining "the spiritual insight of the East and the practical efficiency of the West." They appear to have about 250 permanent residents.

It is interesting to see how other groups run their communities. The Ananda group generates income by offering a retreat experience and also has both private and community-owned businesses on their property. They also have a 600 member world-wide prayer group for healing, a Karma Yoga program and an emphasis on Kriya Yoga, which Yogananda described as "the airplane route to God" due to its ability to "enhance one's spiritual evolution."

Yes, they sure have a lot there. I know it's a bit different to what you guys may be planning but they certainly have got it together so it's nice to see that it's indeed possible to plan and implement a spiritual community and retreat on a large scale and with such detail. I think it would be fun to live in a spiritual community.