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Ananda Meditation Retreat

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Nevada City, CA
Ananda Meditation Retreat

The Ananda Meditation Retreat in Nevada City, California is a place of deep beauty and quiet, where souls come for Peace.

The Ananda Meditation retreat was founded in the 1960’s by Swami Kriyananda, a close disciple of the great meditation master, Paramahansa Yogananda. We are the first home of “Ananda”, an intentional spiritual community established for the purposes of living life based on Yogananda’s teachings, following the highest spiritual principles. A considerable time prior to Kriyananda’s purchase, Native Americans gathered on the land to practice their sacred rituals, thereby sanctifying our site as a place for deep spirituality and attunement with the Divine. For the past 44 years, spiritual seekers from many different paths have embraced the retreat, coming here for various periods of silence and seclusion as a way to connect with the Divine. The magnetic energy of the Retreat has intensified and expanded over the years, owing to the devotional quality of individuals who have graced this land. Their pure intentions and deep commitment to spiritual practices have also given rise to the profound sense of peace and stillness that pervades the site. The beauty and presence of the Divine is tangibly felt by our visitors. The Ananda Meditation Retreat in Nevada City, California is an intimate spiritual center located on 80 pristine acres of forested land. It lies adjacent to the Inimim Forest along the San Juan Ridge in the Sierra Foothills of Northern California. The Retreat is located 25 miles northeast of downtown Nevada City where prospectors converged from all corners of the world during one of the most pivotal moments in American History, the California Gold Rush of 1849. Sacramento is two hours to the southwest and Lake Tahoe is 90 minutes to the east. The Retreat sits on a hilltop that was known as sacred ground for the indigenous people of the Sierras, the Maidu Indians. The Retreat has been in operation for more than 44 years as a hermitage and during the early 1960’s, was the original site of the Ananda Community, which has grown to be one of the largest and best known intentional spiritual communities in the world. The Ananda Worldwide Brotherhood Community of Nevada City is now located 5 miles south of the Retreat. The Retreat resonates with the legacy of the Ananda Community and continues to attract spiritual seekers, honoring their journeys no matter what religion or paths they follow. What You Will Find Here:

A facility open year-round that provides an optimal setting for individuals or groups coming for retreat, seclusion, educational, or special programs. Nevada City is one of the few counties in California that have all four seasons. We have mountain weather with a warm fall, wet spring, and occasional winter snowfall. Comfortable, rustic bungalows, dormitories, and deluxe cabins with accommodations for 2-4 people per unit. A large dining hall where three (3) delicious vegetarian meals are served daily that include organic produce and eggs; homemade baked breads and locally sold favorites — Orange Almond and Cashew Date Granola. We also accommodate gluten-free and vegan diets. Ponds and sitting areas, groomed paths, and universal shrines throughout beautiful gardens with plants and trees ranging from native Manzanita, Black Oak, and Ponderosa Pine to a variety of flowers and botanicals including Peonies, Roses, Lavender, and Clary Sage. Several miles of wilderness trails just outside the parameters of the Retreat where the old and new growth forest is home to fox, raccoon, mule deer, and black-tailed hare. For bird lovers, there are Humming Birds en route from Mexico, Western Tannengers, Orioles, and more. Some trails provide access to the south and middle forks of the Yuba River. A beautiful domed ‘Temple of All Religions’ for meditation, special programs, services, and concerts. An art room is available for classes, group activities, or independent projects.

02/24/2026

Will you be joining us for Easter? 🐣 ✝️ 🐰 🕉️

What Awaits You During This Retreat:
✨Reconnect with Your True Self
Feeling overwhelmed by a world that never stops? Through daily guided meditations and uplifting teachings, you’ll learn how to quiet your mind and listen within—to the wisdom of your own soul. Find clarity, calm, and reconnection with your deepest truth.
✨Sacred Space for Reflection and Renewal
This retreat includes ample time for personal reflection—journaling by the lake, resting in quiet outdoor spaces, or simply sitting with a cup of tea and letting your thoughts settle. These are the moments when insights emerge, and inner peace begins to return.
✨Uplift Your Spirit with Sacred Celebration
A highlight of the weekend is the Friday night performance of the Christ Lives Oratorio—a profound and prayerful musical experience that traces the life of Christ. More than a concert, this soul-stirring oratorio brings divine love to life in your heart and invites you to rise, inwardly, into joy.
✨Step into the Stillness of Nature
Let spring’s renewal mirror your own. Surrounded by forests, trails, and the peaceful waters of Lotus Lake, you’ll rediscover how nature soothes the nervous system and opens the heart. Each moment in stillness becomes an invitation to realign with your spirit.
✨Find Belonging in Spiritual Community
Longing for deeper connection? At Ananda, you’ll find a community of seekers walking the path of inner growth together. Share moments of inspiration, quiet companionship, and authentic connection with like-hearted souls.
✨Receive Teachings to Guide Your Path
Rooted in the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda and inspired by Christ’s message of resurrection and inner transformation, the weekend’s classes will help you expand your awareness and align your life with higher purpose.
✨Move Energy with Gentle Ananda Yoga
Each day begins and ends with gentle, spiritually-centered Ananda Yoga. These sessions are designed to release tension, harmonize body and mind, and deepen your awareness—not just as exercise, but as a sacred practice.

02/17/2026

A peaceful snowy day at the Seclusion retreat!

What better weather to bring us deep inside?!

We are sending blessings and prayers for this world from our quiet forest hermitage in the

02/11/2026

Who doesn’t love pizza night?

*vegan/gf options available!

01/30/2026

Happy karma yogis enjoying the sunshine on their hiking Satsung to bald mountain 🌞 🕉️ 🌲

Our karma yoga program is dynamic and filled with so many great souls seeking truth, divine friendship, and a deeper inner experience!

Based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, the Ananda Karma Yoga Ashram Program provides a balance of meditation and joyful service within spiritual community. We offer inspirational classes to help you establish new habits, attitudes, and ways of living a joyful, victorious life.

Interested? apply today!
⬇️⬇️⬇️
https://meditationretreat.org/yoga-and-meditation-retreats/karma-yoga-ashram-program/

01/26/2026

Take a moment to pause and breathe at Sri Yukteshwar share at

The world is pretty crazy these days. How do you manage the restlessness?

Each one of us that takes time to pause and breathe and go inside can be a beacon of peace and radiated out to the world around us

01/17/2026

01/12/2026

One Retreat, Two Campuses

✨ A New Chapter Begins ✨

We’re happy to share that the Seclusion Retreat and Expanding Light Retreat are coming together as one unified offering:
🌿 Ananda Meditation Retreats 🌿

Rooted in the same inspiration and guided by the same timeless teachings, this new name reflects a shared vision—supporting deep meditation, inner renewal, and spiritual growth in a peaceful sanctuary.

Whether you’re drawn to solitude, guided retreats, or a longer immersion, all our programs are now united in one place.

Visit us at www.meditationretreat.org to explore upcoming retreats and learn more.

🙏 We look forward to welcoming you 🙏

12/22/2025

From our hearts to yours, we wish you a Merry Christmas season! 🎄 ✝️ ✨

We pray for increasing peace in this world , among our fellow brothers in every nation end of every faith

We had a blessed eight hour meditation here at the seclusion retreat yesterday , and the vibrations are continuing to permeate the field as we move closer to the sacred Day of the Christ birth on earth.

May you and those you hold, dear remember to call on Christ in the joy and celebration as well as in any challenges this season .

“If we would truly receive Christ, we must cross the bridge over the chasm that separates our egos from divine consciousness. To “receive” Christ means to absorb him into ourselves, and to allow him to transform us into himself.” -from receiving the Christ consciousness article https://www.ananda.org/meditation/meditation-support/articles/receiving-christ-consciousness/

12/02/2025

Meditation is not a trance or passive, but a dynamic process of returning to your own center. 🧘🌟

It is learning to relate to life, your environment, the people around you from who you are, not from the way other people try to define you.

11/30/2025

Another blissfully quiet evening at Ananda Meditation Retreat

11/24/2025

Can you feel the stillness?

Energizing in the silence of the morning here at Ananda Meditation Retreat, soon to be The Seclusion Retreat, you can really feel the presence of the divine and life, force energy charging up the body battery

“The Energization Exercises (also known as the Yogoda Exercises) are Paramhansa Yogananda’s unique contribution to the science of yoga.

In these exercises Yogananda teaches us how to recharge the body battery and gain control over our subtle energy (prana) by using will, with awareness of energy, to consciously draw cosmic energy into the body and direct it to specific body parts.

When you can control your energy you can also control your thoughts, helping you develop radiant wellbeing and positive habits and attitudes, find fulfillment in the present, and achieve success in any endeavor.

Most importantly, you will be able to direct your energy to your spiritual eye, helping you achieve Self-realization. Energization is an essential and foundational technique on the Path of Kriya Yoga.“
- from Ananda.org

11/12/2025

Sunny, quiet fall days are the retreat are so refreshing!

We love how this weather reminds us to slow down and go deeper inside . What is your favourite thing about fall?

Address

18443 MACNAB CYPRESS Road
Nevada City, CA
95959

Opening Hours

Monday	10am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm
Saturday	9am - 5pm

Telephone

+15304787557

Website

https://meditationretreat.org/

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Our Story

The Ananda meditation retreat was founded in the 1960’s by Swami Kriyananda, a close disciple of the great meditation master, Paramahansa Yogananda. We are the first home of “Ananda”, an intentional spiritual community established for the purposes of living life based on Yogananda’s teachings, following the highest spiritual principles. A considerable time prior to Kriyananda’s purchase, Native Americans gathered on the land to practice their sacred rituals, thereby sanctifying our site as a place for deep spirituality and attunement with the Divine. For the past 44 years, spiritual seekers from many different paths have embraced the retreat, coming here for various periods of silence and seclusion as a way to connect with the Divine. The magnetic energy of the Retreat has intensified and expanded over the years, owing to the devotional quality of individuals who have graced this land. Their pure intentions and deep commitment to spiritual practices have also given rise to the profound sense of peace and stillness that pervades the site. The beauty and presence of the Divine is tangibly felt by our visitors. The Ananda Meditation Retreat in Nevada City, California is an intimate spiritual center located on 80 pristine acres of forested land. It lies adjacent to the Inimim Forest along the San Juan Ridge in the Sierra Foothills of Northern California. The Retreat is located 25 miles northeast of downtown Nevada City where prospectors converged from all corners of the world during one of the most pivotal moments in American History, the California Gold Rush of 1849. Sacramento is two hours to the southwest and Lake Tahoe is 90 minutes to the east. The Retreat sits on a hilltop that was known as sacred ground for the indigenous people of the Sierras, the Maidu Indians. The Retreat has been in operation for more than 44 years as a hermitage and during the early 1960’s, was the original site of the Ananda Community, which has grown to be one of the largest and best known intentional spiritual communities in the world. The Ananda Worldwide Brotherhood Community of Nevada City is now located 5 miles south of the Retreat. The Retreat resonates with the legacy of the Ananda Community and continues to attract spiritual seekers, honoring their journeys no matter what religion or paths they follow. What You Will Find Here: A facility open year-round that provides an optimal setting for individuals or groups coming for retreat, seclusion, educational, or special programs. Nevada City is one of the few counties in California that have all four seasons. We have mountain weather with a warm fall, wet spring, and occasional winter snowfall. Comfortable, rustic bungalows, dormitories, and deluxe cabins with accommodations for 2-5 people per unit. A large dining hall where three (3) delicious vegetarian meals are served daily that include organic produce and eggs; homemade baked breads and locally sold favorites — Orange Almond and Cashew Date Granola. We also accommodate gluten free and vegan diets. Ponds and sitting areas, groomed paths and universal shrines throughout beautiful gardens with plants and trees ranging from native Manzanita, Black Oak and Ponderosa Pine to a variety of flowers and botanicals including Peonies, Roses, Lavender, and Clary Sage. Several miles of wilderness trails just outside the parameters of the Retreat where the old and new growth forest is home to fox, raccoon, mule deer, and black-tailed hare. For bird lovers, there are Humming Birds in route from Mexico, Western Tannengers, Orioles, and more. Some trails provide access to the south and middle forks of the Yuba River. A beautiful domed ‘Temple of All Religions’ for meditation, special programs, services and concerts. An art room available for classes, group activities or independent projects.