Join Me In India & Nepal Spring 2026
So you ask me to tell of India, but one doesn't "tell" of India . . . India wraps itself around the core of the Soul. As it slowly unwinds, your perspective, speech and habit subtly change. The transformation is the tale. -- Layne Neville
This quote is how I began a blog that I wrote just after my very first trip to India. Layne was a new friend made on that trip.
New friends who love to adventure is just one more gift you receive from traveling to India.
I have the enormous blessing of spiritual sisters all over the place, and one of those sisters owned a yoga studio in Minnesota. On my first trip to India, I tagged along with her group of yogis and non-yogis, meeting up with the fearless and fabulous Uschi Gibson. We quickly became soul sisters. Her authenticity, deep inner work and knowledge of the history of yoga and the true path of the Divine Feminine is inspiring.
Be sure to check out her travel website https://www.luckylalita.com. This offers you just a glimpse of her work in the World, which includes her women's empowerment line of fair-trade clothing (link here: http://www.luckyuschi.com).
She has such wisdom from years of study as someone who has lived, loved and worked in India for 17 years.
My first trip to India was life-changing. I came home with a deep appreciation for things I had taken from granted. Being able to feed my children so well. My home felt enormous!
I came back with a strong sense of wanting to spend my time wisely; to make more time to meditate, to pray. To take my troubles to the Goddess instead of talking them to death. And to spend more time with the people that I love.
I felt more responsibility as a privileged woman with a large amount of freedom to make wise choices for my sisters in other places.
There was also so much joy in India -- children flying simple kites of newspaper, life spilling out everywhere. People and animals, markets and mess, life and death and everything in between.
Nothing is hidden in Mother India.
Subsequent trips to India involved new locations, new companions, new adventures. My students and friends always returned spiritually nourished and deeply changed.
We took so much about travel for granted back then. Post pandemic, it is a different World. And it is more important than ever to have authentic experiences. To make personal connections. To understand things from your own lived experience. Not just watching YouTube videos or documentaries or podcasts. Not just looking at other people’s posts and pictures. Not just observing life, but living life.
I am beyond excited to visit some new-to-me places. Have some ayurvedic spa and beach time in Kerala. Connect to bhakti (devotional) practices in Vrindavan. Visit a new country and embrace the World culture of Kathmandu, Nepal.
And return to Agra (because you cannot miss the Taj Mahal). And my favorite, Varanasi; the ancient city of Kashi, where the tantric Goddess temples, Hanuman Temple and Mother Ganga always make me feel so inspired.
Our group of intrepid travelers is forming; we would love for you to join us.
Shanti,
Jill
