Sometimes a person feels a longing to go beyond what is commonly known in everyday life, to turn away from the business of life for a while and to enter into a greater dimension of being. The purpose of the retreat is to develop greater self-understanding, to nourish, renew the spirit, to rekindle a sense of deep meaningfulness, to rededicate oneself and find ways to better manifest our highest ideals in life.

The spiritual retreat is a contemplative experience, a break from one’s daily routine for a number of days of guided reflection. It is a sacred journey within to the source of one’s own being, and offers self-discovery and transformation. It begins by dissolving old, unhelpful patterns and concepts of our personal identity and follows by discovering our deeper selves and interconnectedness with all dimensions of being. Then we consciously integrate the realizations of our highest ideals into the fabric of our personality with a new vision of ourselves and our purpose.

The process is healing and rejuvenating to one’s body, mind and spirit.
No two retreats are alike, for the dynamic interplay among the facets of our being creates a myriad of possibilities for healing, awakening, understanding, connecting and becoming. The retreat may include
music, meditation, practices with breath, sound and light, prayer, and the contemplation of spiritual themes. Retreats are recommended for anyone seeking a beneficial change in their life.

Retreat Guides

Yaqin Joseph Aubert 
Yaqin has been studying in Sufism for more than 40 years. He is the Vice President of the Inayatiyya, a mystical and ecumenical fellowship rooted in the visionary legacy of Hazrat Inayat Khan; in which he is a senior teacher and a Cherag/Minister in the Universal Worship, which honors all the world’s faith traditions. He has been a retreat guide for more than 40 years. He studied extensively with Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan and now studies with Pir Zia Inayat Khan. Yaqin is a founding member and former director of the Abode, a spiritual center in upstate NY founded by Pir Vilayat, where he is currently the Director of the Pir Vilayat Center for Meditation & Retreats. He has attended and taught in the Suluk Academy, a school of contemplative study with branches in the United States and Europe.

Yaqin has extensive retreat experience through personal and group retreats of varying lengths. He is a storyteller, and leads individual and group retreats, and seminars in North America. Yaqin takes a universal approach to spiritual unfoldment, understanding that each retreat is unique in guiding a person toward their fullest awakening. He offers retreats on zoom or in person.

Atayna Diane Austen
I am grateful for the opportunities to offer support and guidance through presence, teaching and individual retreats. There is little else I love more than to see the light of illumination dawn in a person’s eyes, or to see something heavy a person has been carrying in their heart vanish like morning mist. My own journey has taken me deeply into studies and practices from both Eastern and Western traditions. I have been fortunate to have attended numerous retreats pertaining to Sufi, Buddhist, and Hindu (Bhakti and Vedantic) paths. Through the Inayati Order, I have been trained as a spiritual as well as a retreat guide, and as a representative of the Inner School. Having graduated from the Inayati Order’s amazing Suluk Academy, I am currently enrolled in its graduate program. I have a masters in Social Work and have worked in the mental health field as educator and program administrator. Currently, I have a holistic coaching practice that supports well being through mindfulness based approaches and dreamwork. I welcome working with you to customize a retreat that addresses your needs and aspirations on the spiritual path. To paraphrase Hazrat Inayat Khan, the source of the realization of truth is within each of us, we are the objects of our realization.

Gayatri Hull
Gayatri has been a certified spiritual and healing retreat guide for more than 22 years. Gayatri’s work combines the retreat process with healing as a tuning of body, heart, mind and soul; awakens one to the deeper nature of one’s inner being; increases balance, self-care, restoration, rejuvenation, vitality, and an overall sense of wellbeing; and invites those seeking solitude to ask: what is it I want to do with my one wild and precious life? Gayatri has a healing and retreat center in a beautiful nature setting in New Lebanon, NY, which reopened in March 2022 for individual healing retreats/sessions both in person and virtually.  www.GayatriHull.com