Yoga Retreat in RISHIKESh, India

JANUARY 19 - 26, 2026

Led by Saraswati Clere, Steohanie Lopez and Carlos Pomeda

Step out of the momentum of daily life and enter a place where the yogic journey has been nurtured for millennia. Nestled at the foot of the Himalayas, along the crystalline waters of the sacred Ganges, Rishikesh has long been a valley of seekers—a sanctuary where countless practitioners have devoted their lives to sadhana, contemplation, and awakening. It is here, in this potent cradle of practice, that we gather for a week-long retreat designed to help you reconnect with the healing power of yoga in its purest and most transformative form.

This immersion is crafted for dedicated students, teachers, and spiritual seekers longing for depth, clarity, and renewal. Held at a peaceful yoga center just north of Rishikesh, surrounded by lush forest and sweeping Himalayan vistas, the retreat offers a supportive environment where practice becomes effortless, inquiry becomes natural, and inner shifts arise with grace.

Each of your guides—Saraswati, Stephanie, and Carlos—brings decades of teaching, retreat leadership, and scholarship. Together they create a spacious, grounded, and insightful experience that honors the full breadth of the yogic path: embodiment, breath, meditation, subtle anatomy, philosophy, and awakened awareness.

Why This Retreat Is Unique

Our shared intention is to offer a deeply supportive environment where you can experience yoga not merely as a set of techniques, but as a living path of healing, wholeness, and awakening. Practicing in a place where thousands of yogis have walked the path before you invites a profound inner opening. The atmosphere itself becomes part of your practice—quieting the mind, soothing the nervous system, and drawing your awareness inward.

This is more than a retreat. It is an opportunity to deepen your devotion, reconnect with your purpose, and immerse yourself in the subtle power that lives at the heart of yoga.

Your Daily Journey

Hatha Yoga & Pranayama with Saraswati Clere

Morning and afternoon practices rooted in classical hatha yoga, woven with pranayama, restorative relaxation, and functional alignment. Saraswati guides you into a steady, embodied relationship with breath, movement, and inner presence—cultivating vitality, stability, and a grounded sense of calm.

Meditation, Yoga Nidra & Self-Regulation with Stephanie Lopez

Experience meditation as a doorway to ease, clarity, and resilience. Drawing from nondual yoga, somatic awareness, and modern neuroscience, Stephanie guides you through body sensing, deep rest, self-inquiry, and heart-centered practices that support nervous system regulation and emotional well-being.

Spanda Kārikās Immersion with Carlos Pomeda (Online Daily Sessions)

Carlos leads a transformative study of the Spanda Kārikās, offering practical insight into the pulsation of consciousness—the subtle rhythm that animates body, mind, and heart. Through guided contemplation and accessible teachings, you’ll explore:
• How energy moves through thoughts, emotions & perception
• Doorways into the infinite woven into daily experience
• Aligning with the deeper rhythm behind challenge & change
• Transforming patterns by engaging their underlying energy
• The “still point” within movement—the fullness of the Self

Carlos brings rare clarity, warmth, and depth, making ancient wisdom immediately relevant and alive.

The Retreat Center

Situated along the banks of the Ganges, surrounded by Himalayan foothills and forest pathways, the retreat center is a sanctuary designed to support simplicity and spaciousness. Comfortable single and double cottages offer river views, quietude, and easy access to the yoga shala, meditation spaces, and nourishing vegetarian meals cooked with care.

This is an environment where practice comes alive and the heart naturally unfolds.

Schedule Overview

Monday: Arrival, check-in, gentle yoga practice, dinner
Tuesday–Sunday:
• Morning hatha yoga & pranayama
• Daily study sessions with Carlos
• Afternoon practice, meditation, and Yoga Nidra
• Excursions to sacred sites (scheduled between sessions)

Monday: Early practice, breakfast, departure

Meet Your Teachers

Saraswati Clere, ERYT-500

Saraswati is a San Francisco Bay Area–based yoga teacher, award-winning filmmaker, and founder of Yoga Kula. With more than two decades of teaching experience, she offers an approach to hatha yoga that is both deeply embodied and refreshingly accessible. Her teaching integrates functional alignment, mindful movement, and breath-centered awareness, supporting students in cultivating vitality, clarity, and inner steadiness. Saraswati’s dedication to the yogic path, her years of training, and her commitment to authentic practice infuse her classes with warmth, intelligence, and heart.

Stephanie Lopez, LISW, C-IAYT

Stephanie is the Senior Advisor of Philosophy & Learning and a Senior iRest Trainer for the iRest Institute. With more than 30 years steeped in the nondual teachings of yoga, she is recognized internationally for her skill in guiding meditation as a path to emotional resilience, nervous system regulation, and awakened presence. A Gestalt psychotherapist and certified yoga therapist, Stephanie has presented meditation at Google, Spotify, and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and serves as Chair of Certification for the International Association of Yoga Therapists (IAYT). Her teaching blends timeless yogic wisdom with modern psychology, offering a grounded, compassionate, and transformative approach to inner healing. She is a contributing author to Yoga Nidra Meditations.

Carlos Pomeda

Carlos brings more than 40 years of devoted study, practice, and teaching in the yoga tradition. Trained as a monk in the Saraswati order for 18 years, he immersed himself in the deep study of Indian philosophy and yogic practice. He holds master’s degrees in Sanskrit from the University of California, Berkeley, and in Religious Studies from UC Santa Barbara. Known for his ability to make profound teachings clear, engaging, and immediately applicable, Carlos draws on both his scholarly mastery and his lived experience of the tradition. His teachings illuminate the heart of yoga with precision, humor, and a rare depth of understanding.
Website: www.pomeda.com

A Return to the Source

To practice yoga in Rishikesh is to step into a living stream of wisdom that has flowed for centuries. This retreat is an invitation to reconnect with the essence of your practice, to listen deeply, and to rediscover the quiet fullness of your own being.

We welcome you to join us on this extraordinary journey into the heart of yoga—and into the heart of yourself.