As the organizers of this amazing event had hoped, there is a great deal of cross-pollination occurring between those who have come here specifically to study with Swmai Veda and Ranch guests who have come for all the usual reasons – relaxation, inspiration, and rejuvenation. At every meal, you can hear people comparing notes on the morning meditation or having spirited debates about topics that have been raised in lectures: What is the nature of karma and can we change our own? Can English translations really do justice to Sanskrit concepts? It is rich mind-food that accompanies our chili rellenos and dark chocolate flan.

A number of guests have expressed delight at the serendipity that brought them here at exactly the same time as Swami Veda. Maybe, they say, it was meant to be…

Meanwhile, ashram students are reveling in the Ranch environment – at least as much as their busy schedule allows. Take, for example, Seval Ashtoy, who came from Istanbul to participate. “Words can’t express what it’s like here,” she says. “If heaven exists it must be like this. The mountain has an energy that is powerful, but also light – not a shaking energy, a subtle one.”

Seval, who has never been to North America before, is rooming with and getting to know, roommates from London, the Netherlands, and the U.S. She is quite at home with the Ranch cuisine, which draws so much from her familiar Mediterranean diet. As for her yoga training itself, “It is a joy how it has all been put together. The program is so scientific and systematic, but with an equal emphasis on feeling and experiencing,”

Seval’s goal is to take what she is learning here and help people all over the world. I suspect she will be a success.