आरंभ
Ārambha
A new beginning

3-day Residential Retreat Program:
7th August to 10th August 2025
Thursday 4:00pm to Sunday
11:00am IST
Venue: Arulville, the Hermitage,
near Chennai – Pondicherry

This retreat beautifully unfolded this weekend. Sharing here:

1. Summary of retreat experience

2. Next retreat dates

3. Some photographs

4. Some sharing of participants captured

5. Original brochure for reference

1. Summary of retreat experience

With deep joy the Divine Body project completed a 3 day residential retreat today with Shweta Rajurkar as facilitator.  We looked at different forms of body perfection – yoga asanas, Kalari and Tai Chi. Through it all we explored conscious movements, connecting to vastness, surrender and deeper body work. We had the Havan,  a sacred flame process, as a conscious way to practice the inner process of harmony. We went out to the back waters one of the days to connect to vastness and open ourselves more.

There was memory work. Lots of breath work was there. We had both normal food and very healthy food prepared like sathu mavu kanji, soup, kitchedi and the like.

Body opened up more. We learnt to open to higher consciousness all done in a simple, well interwoven way.

There was simply chanting. Some offered their singing and flute as a new way of re-beginning their habits. 

The retreat was a blend of some structured sessions and some organic- natural- spontaneous- intuitive sessions. Keeping the body as the central point – the anchor – we tried to connect the other parts of our being like mental, emotional, psychological and spiritual. We explored vastness, mantras and Divine Qualities for a better vision of the future.

The venue was Arulville, the Hermitage, a wellbeing retreat centre in Cheyyur Village.

2. Next retreat dates

The next residential retreat offered by Shweta Rajurkar is fixed for 23rd to 26th January 2026. Same venue

3. Some photographs

4. Some sharing of participants captured

“Ārambha
The 4 day experience was a mosaic being created in real time and unfolding itself in an emergent here and now. Our sensei, Shweta has travelled far and wide and collected seeds that now are shared with us. Her foundation has been with the Body ever since she became a yoga practitioner. And then comes her metamorphosis into bringing the Divine into Body consciousness. The typical day comprising of pranayama, jala neti, yoga, agnihotra, kalari, conscious bodywork and music give us pathways to new worlds awaiting us. The meal times were special, offerings of so many natural and sattvik foods were offered to us as prasad. All gathered, cooked and served with love. Tremendous behind the scene preparations was evident without any proclamations. The invitation has been extended, the volition is in place and each one of us will create our own unique mix of what is best suited to our mind-body- consciousness matrix.

For me, this year is the year of the Body. My tarot card was : Perseverance : and it was the divine Mothers Grace to receive this offering. I am so humbled to introspect on how my body has allowed me to follow my aspirations, supporting me for the past 60 years, never asking any gratification. I seek forgiveness from my body for neglecting her. Now the time has come for giving back. The body has not aged, it is the Mind that has. Breaking free from the biases of gender, age, legacy is my challenge. But the workshop has given me just that nudge to walk the new paths. I must seize the moment before the fire burns out.

I am filled with gratitude for being a part of the cohort and my pranam to our Sensei Shweta. 🙏🏼

Joy”

“Dear Team,
Thank you for the three wonderful days with you all. I have learned so much and will cherish the good memories and lifelong friendships we’ve built.
I am currently practicing Mudra Yoga for half an hour each day and plan to extend it to include pranayama and physical exercises.
A special thanks to Sanjay for introducing me to the workshop…”
 Azha

5. Original brochure for reference

Are you caught in a state of “How do I begin?”
Then this retreat is that starting point for you where you get a simple, gentle, and genuine hand holding to be steadfast on a profound and lifelong journey towards a more healthy, Beautiful and integrated ‘Self’.

This residential rejuvenation retreat is being offered by Shweta Rajurkar. She is collaborating with Rajvardhan, to bring the Kalari and Yantra elements in.

The aspiration of this retreat is to give you a deeper experience and greater capacity to utilise a few tools for your Sadhana, physical culture, inner work, daily conscious living and transformation.

The activities we shall explore are:
* Yoga – Asana, Pranayama, Mudra, Bandha & Cleansing practices
* Deeper body meditations
* Kalaripayattu
* Yantra (Sankalpa)
* Yoga Nidra
* Cultivating habits consciously
* Bonding unconditionally with Flowers
* Havan
* Bhakti Yoga
* ⁠Mouna

The aspiration is to take the cream and the best of these ancient tools, and raise it to a new frequency in the light of Integral Yoga of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

Retreat venue is Arulville, the Hermitage set in nature with aesthetic and indigenous architecture.

Do find complete details in enclosed brochure. Click here to open brochure.

Feel free to pass it on to all interested.

TO REGISTER

Contact: maadivinebody@gmail.com