Shanti Yoga

29/04/2026

Vegetable Gardens at Nirvana Wellbeing Retreat.


We live in a world where buying tasteless food shipped across the country, treating wellness like a subscription, and outsourcing our basic needs to corporations has become normal. This isn't just modern life; it is dependency with better branding.

A different life is possible—one where your backyard feeds you, your garden supports your health, and competence replaces convenience. While we are taught how to earn, consume, and outsource, we are no longer taught how to grow our own food, create nourishing spaces, or work with plants for healing.

Gardening is a call to create space for deeper restoration. At Nirvana Wellbeing Retreat, we have been embarking on a Garden Adventure. We are building amazing soil and fostering a new relationship with the earth and deep ecology. This isn't a new concept; it is how humans ate for millennia before we decided soil needed a petrochemical makeover or genetically modified food to withstand chemicals.

Our goal is to grow our own food in a self-sustaining garden, starting with easy, low-effort systems that promote human and planetary health. We are cultivating living ecosystems with pollinator-supporting blooms and companion planting to create beauty that elevates our space.

Furthermore, we are embracing the healing power of growing our own medicine. By using beginner-friendly herbs as our primary pharmacy, we can create simple remedies for everyday life—wellness that doesn't come in a plastic bottle. The roots of true healing are found in plants, medicine, and community.

By growing these skills, we grow our freedom. We are inviting more birds, more blooms, and more life to our doorsteps. It is time to remember:

- How to grow food that truly heals.
- How to work with plants the way our ancestors did.
- How to let the earth do what it has always known how to do.

Gardening is the excuse; falling back in love with life is the side effect.

Join our Touch the Earth adventure.
To find the dates for Touch the Earth days please visit the website.

Shantiji


❤️

13/04/2026

INDIA WITH SHANTI

Trip of a lifetime

"Among the things for which I am most grateful, and to which I owe a significant part of my life, is the opportunity to help others find their way back to themselves through the lived experiences from my birthplace, India.

I've led many trips to India with my students and friends, and I'm accustomed to personally managing the behind-the-scenes details to ensure a seamless journey. I would like to invite you to join me for two upcoming travel experiences:

North India:
November 10–24, 2026

Kerala (The Heart of Ayurveda):
January 12–27, 2027

These small group journeys are curated for a community of ten travellers and include internal flights, rail journeys, private coach travel and refined, deluxe accommodation, spanning a curated collection of local experiences that I know you will love. To foster connection, fellow travellers rotate twin-share accommodations. Please note that these trips are smoke, v**e, and alcohol-free during shared meals.

TIMELESS NORTH INDIA: November 10 - 24, 2026

This 15-day journey explores the Golden Triangle: Delhi (the subcontinent's capital), Agra, home of the Taj Mahal (one of the Seven Wonders of the World), the distinctive Rajput energy of the rose-pink city of Jaipur, along with the spiritual centres of  Varanasi and the vibrant, cultural heart of yoga in Rishikesh. You will experience amazing sights, local culture, delicious food, shopping, meditation, yoga, chanting, and more. The full spectrum of what humans have used for thousands of years to get out of their heads and back into their hearts.

KERALA UNVEILED: January 12–27, 2027

If you've been feeling the weight of things lately—the sense that the world is moving faster than your capacity to process it—this immersive visit to South India could be genuinely helpful; not because it provides more information, but because it offers a direct way back into your own experience through authentic Ayurveda and wellness. Thoughtfully designed to take you deep into the heart of Kerala, exploring its rich traditions and vibrant culture.

10/04/2026

Namaste. We hope everyone had a blissful Easter.

The Health Institute Australasia (HIA) and Shanti Yoga will be temporarily closed over this time. We will return and reopen on Monday, 20th of April 2026.

We look forward to seeing you all soon.

31/03/2026

The gateway to a blissful Easter 2026.
Come to our Easter Retreat in the beautiful Scenic Rim on the Gold Coast.

Details, nirvanawellbeingretreat.com.au


With the incredible Shantiji guiding you through the practices.

26/03/2026

REFLECTIONS by Shanti Gowans.

"This is a compilation of a stream of consciousness that has emerged over many years in response to so many of my students in need of: time, patience and attention to heal when they were broken:help in keeping life together during times of pain, illness, suffering and mourning....
This book also bears the imprint of the synthesis of Yoga, Vedanta, Buddhism and Ayurveda- the field's of spirituality and holistic medicine that have inflamed my heart.." Shantiji



Available from the centre or on line.

19/03/2026

SHANTIJI IS HOSTING 2 TRIPS TO INDIA.

It will be an exciting and adventurous trip. There are limited places, so please register your interest now at admin@shantiyoga.com.au or call 07 5531 0511

We hope you can make it.

16/03/2026

Wellness Hub – Creative Writing – Friday 1st May

Creative writing is the art of making up stories or ideas. It's different from academic or
technical writing because it focuses on creativity and engaging an audience. 

During this hub, we will focus on the joy of writing. Putting all your thoughts on paper, then bringing them to life.

Writing can be fun, it can be emotional, it can bring clear thinking out of chaos.  

Join us on Friday 1st May at 10:30am, morning tea will be served.

Shanti Yoga Centre, 18 Rawlins Street, Southport  Ph: 5531 0511 at 10:30am

16/03/2026

TRIPS TO INDIA

Beloved

I hope this finds you well, wherever you are in the world.

For over five decades, I have served as an ambassador of India's spirituality in the West. While modern India is a secular state, it remains home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, where diverse traditions continue to play an essential role in daily life.

I invite you to join me in India to experience the spiritual heritage, philosophy, and healing wisdom that have shaped my soul. My own foundation was built on a unique blend of experiences: from a Roman Catholic and Jesuit education to the teachings of the Ramakrishna Order, J. Krishnamurti, and the profound insights of Siddhartha Gautama Buddha. These journeys reflect that embrace of ancient and modern, Eastern and Western, and the physical and spiritual aspects of our lives.

I have designed two sacred 15-day journeys that offer a rare opportunity to see the land of my birth through my eyes and immerse yourself in a living tradition:

North India:
November 10–24, 2026. Please review the North India Itinerary

Kerala (The Heart of Ayurveda):
January 12–27, 2027. Please review the Kerala Itinerary

I look forward to sharing these meaningful experiences with you.

Love always, blessings and namaste,

Shanti Gowans

TIMELESS NORTH INDIA: 10 - 24 November 2026
View travel itinerary and details here.

KERALA UNVEILED: 12 - 27 January 2027
View travel itinerary and details here.

As we transition to a new email system to better serve our community, you may notice a slight change in how you receive our updates. If you are receiving this in error, please use the unsubscribe link below. We kindly ask that you do not mark this email as spam, as any delivery issues are due to this system migration.

For any questions, please email support@shantiyoga.com.au

Health Institute Australasia Pty Ltd L 1 18 Rawlins St Southport, QLD 4215 Australia

11/03/2026

Celebrating Kristy's birthday after a Shanti Yoga class.

We wish Kristy a wonderful year.

Kristy is on an international student visa from the Czech Republic, studying to be a yoga teacher at HIA. based on the Gold Coast.

Thank you Glee for the lovely photo and Sonja for the cake.

10/03/2026

WITH LOVE FROM SHANTI YOGA
March 2026

Tap into miracle energy today.

Calm the storms by projecting your inner stillness, harmony, and peace - the kind that calms your mind, restores your spirit, and brings real inner peace.

The sacred lies in the ordinary.

Perfect in its imperfections.

You do not need to transcend this moment, nor do you even need to understand it.
You just need the courage to feel it and to be here now.

The dream, the darkness and the moonlight are also guides along your path. Know that this moment is the portal to divine grace.

Yoga is stilling the movement in the mind.

Midlife often shifts the conversation, bringing confusion about the aging process. When mornings feel heavier, joints feel less elastic, and recovery takes longer—despite healthy eating and staying active—pushing harder is rarely the answer. This is not a lack of effort; it is your physiology. As connective tissues change and hormones shift, the nervous system can carry significant background tension after decades of "holding it all together.

When the body is subtly braced, adding intensity does not restore fluidity; it can actually reinforce stiffness. If you are experiencing this, I invite you to explore a different approach.

The body is more than muscle and bone; it is memory, energy, and lived experience. Shanti Yoga asanas are a conscious practice of deep rest and renewed energy. By breathing deeply and moving with awareness, you begin to release old patterns held in your tissue, creating space for clarity and a new alignment with your Spirit.

If this season of life requires a new strategy, Shanti Yoga is a beautiful place to begin. Please join us for our real-time classes focusing on breath, gentle movement, and nervous system regulation.

Please find the timetable on the website
shanti_yoga_au

We also have
Drama and Public Speaking with Louise Hall
Tuesdays: March 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM | $150 for five sessions
18 Rawlins Street, Southport
BOOK ONLINE

Key Concepts from the Yoga Sutras
Tuesday, March 3 & 17
2:30 PM – 3:25 PM | By donation
18 Rawlins Street, Southport
RSVP

05/03/2026

Research supports a week long meditation Retreat can rewire the brain. Come to our Easter Retreat Nirvana Wellbeing Retreat to experience a Silent Retreat that will change you. To book ring 07 5531 0511 or book via the website nirvanawellbeingretreat.com.au.

We look forward to seeing you there.

A one-week mind-body retreat led to consistent changes in the brain and at the molecular level that were associated with greater resilience, reduced pain, and improved recovery from stress. Researchers at the University of California, San Diego report that a short, intensive retreat combining sev

05/03/2026

Nirvana Wellbeing Retreat Easter Time Programs:

Mindul Living, Mindful Being (10 days, 9 nights)

Radical eace (5 days, 4 nights)

The Healing of Consciousness (7 days, 6 nights)

We are participants in our own expression, not victims of our genes. While we arrive with the raw material for our lives, what we make of it is up to us; our beliefs, perceptions and consciousness play a profound role in shaping our biology and our reality.

During this retreat, we will explore heart-brain coherence and emotional resilience using practical tools from deep wisdom traditions. We will bridge science and spirituality in a grounded, empowering, and immediately usable way. This is not a series of lectures, but a shared experi ence — a space for open-hearted people ready to explore what it truly means to be human. If you feel called to deepen your understanding of your own potential, join us as we reclaim a level of power that changes everything.

Radical Peace - Silent Meditation Retreat 2-6 April 2026

Calm your mind.
Slow down
and find a moment for inward reflection.

Remove yourself from the external pressure of productivity,
and allow yourself to just be.

Just sitting,
doing nothing at all.
Nothing to fix.
Nowhere to go.
Just walking.
Just eating.
Just being.

The word “just” points to the nature of your undivided attention.

This methodless method
is practiced without doing,
and without the meticulous, repeated letting go
of thoughts that obscure your clarity.

Meditation is not about zoning out.
It asks you to be present.
You don't need to transcend this moment.
Thoughts and emotions will rise to the surface.
Over time, your capacity to respond wisely,
rather than lash out, shut down or distract yourself, increases.
Serenity does not need to be performed.
Steadiness builds in your system.
More than “just sitting”,
as thought and movement are stilled,
awakening takes place.
Shantiji