India goddess pilgrimage

Includes: A 4 month pre-retreat training, all retreat activities, all local transportation, food and shared accommodation

Travel advertisement for India, showcasing dates January 15-28, 2026, with an image of a traditional Indian goddess with jewelry, makeup, and a red tongue.
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“She who has descended has earned the right to rise.”
— Anonymous, Temple Texts of Inanna

  • This year the focus will be on the Devī - the Divine Feminine in her many forms.

    India is the birthplace of yoga, the land of incredible mystery with thousands of years of sacred heritage. For seekers on the path of sadhana, the path of liberation, it has been a place of pilgrimage for millennia. Our India Sacred Pilgrimage Retreat is designed to offer seekers an intensive experience of India and Indian culture along with a profoundly deep spiritual practice immersion.

Harshada and Adriana have led numerous trips to India. Harshada has been traveling to India since 1997 and has been leading group retreats there since 2005. He has a vast network of connections there and an outstanding local team assisting with the pilgrimage. They have brought hundreds of seekers over the course of nearly 30 years and have honed the retreat into an extraordinary, one-of-a-kind offering.

This is not a tourist trip.

 We travel in a small, deeply oriented group - usually less than 10 people - and we avoid typical tourist destinations. Adriana and Harshada provide plenty of in-depth cultural orientation and an in-depth training for all participants so everyone knows how to be in synch with Indian culture and experience the “real India”, instead of the India that is put together for tourists. Typically, once we leave Mumbai, we don’t even see any other Westerners until we return to Mumbai.

It's a trip, but it's also a retreat.

Every day, we follow a retreat schedule, rising early in the morning for tea and meditation, then engaging in the daily activities of visiting temples, practicing in traditional “power spots”, and immersing ourselves in the sacred culture of India. We don’t do shopping, or site seeing, or go on any “tours”. We’re there on pilgrimage, on retreat, with silent mornings and evenings and a LOT of practice. We meditate every day, we do a lot of namasankirtana (chanting) practice, and are with the retreat teachers the whole time learning, asking questions, and going deep into our process of awakening. This year, Adriana and Harshada will be joined by Dr. Varsha Choudhari.

“The community of seekers they attract has given me a sustained sense that I belong within a community. I left the retreat full with the blessing and Love of each tender hearted human that courageously shared their being. Its a beautiful sight to look around a room full of seekers brought together to drink from the well of grace. The beauty of those souls I wont forget. It left me feeling more love more joy and a pure knowing that I was put here on this earth to Love.”

Our journey to India, in Sanskrit is called a yatra, meaning the spiritual practice of sacred pilgrimage.

Hindu deities decorated with flowers, jewelry, and colorful garments, placed on an ornate altar.

Unlike tourism, where the purpose of a trip is pleasure or entertainment, people go on yatra for the sake of spiritual goals. The yatrika, or pilgrim, journeys to a sacred place to practice in a particular energy field, or to have the darshana, or sacred viewing, of a holy place or deity or holy person. Yatra is an important practice for the faithful of nearly every religion.

In the Indian mystical tradition of yatra, comfort is not the main concern.

Sometimes, there are deliberate austerities included. A yatrika might observe vows during the yatra such as fasting, celibacy, or silence. They might choose particularly austere forms of travel such as walking without shoes or even crawling on hands and knees to the sacred destination. These added austerities often times help to prepare the yatrika's mind and body to receive the blessing or insight or transformation they are seeking through the yatra.

A group of children lying on the ground with their arms extended, participating in a group activity outdoors.
Older man performing a religious ceremony with candles and offerings, surrounded by four women and a young girl, all sitting on the floor in a room with dark red and black walls.

In the spirit of India, we offer back what truth we have — not because it is owed, but because it is the only thing truly ours to give. The spirits of the land receive beauty. It feeds them.

We participate in the ecology of feeding — of art, of beauty, of stories.
An ancestral intelligence guides this. A culture of offering emerges.
This is activism through devotion.
This is oracular training.

And it is not enough to channel. We must also study.
Be in reverent relationship with the cultures the wisdom comes from.
Not as tourists, but as lineage bearers.
Oracular knowledge arises from emptiness and from deep practice.
Both are holy. Both are necessary.

We listen. We open.
We take responsibility.
We become the vessel.

learn more + apply
A large pink Ganesha idol during a festival, surrounded by a crowd with many people holding umbrellas.

We stay at a variety of Indian style hotels, retreat sites, and dharmashallas (pilgrim guest accommodations) with a range of western-standard comfort levels.

We begin and end the trip in Mumbai at a comfortable 4 star hotel, but also stay in very simple accommodations in some places. Everywhere we go has electricity, running water, and hot water on demand. Everywhere we stay has western, commode-style toilets.

But, understand, this is not a "tour" or a "tourist" experience.

We will provide unlimited bottled drinking water and food of the highest quality and hygienic standards. We eat pure vegetarian (delicious) Indian food the whole time, breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is no meat, alcohol, or smoking for the entire retreat. You’ll have to sacrifice iced drinks and fancy coffees too, but in return you’ll get unlimited delicious fresh chai and the best Indian food you’ve every tasted. Every time we go people love the food as much as they do the spiritual dimension of the trip.

Along with the cultural orientation, Harshada will also provide an in-depth health orientation created by a tropical disease specialist that will teach you how to avoid falling ill from food-borne illness or other unique tropical ailments like typhoid or malaria. We also recommend inoculations against typhoid and hepatitis and also that participants take anti-malarial medication. 

Being there….

* We have a no-cancelation policy.

** We recommend getting travel insurance.

A group of people participating in a traditional fire ceremony indoors, sitting on mats near a central fire pit, with some wearing traditional Indian attire.
A decorated ox with blue painted horns and a floral garland around its neck, standing outdoors in an urban setting.
A street scene with six people walking, and a cow in the middle of a narrow alley. The people are dressed in colorful clothes, and there are old buildings with peeling paint and wire fences around.
A man with gray hair and beard sitting cross-legged on a woven outdoor bed in a forest, wearing a dark shirt, orange pants, and a brown shawl, with trees and greenery in the background.
An elderly man squats on a patterned tiled floor, wearing beige clothes and a white cap, holding a cup to his mouth with one hand and raising the other hand. Next to him are a pair of sandals, an orange and blue bag, a pink cushion, a drum, and a wal
A group of people sitting on stone steps outside a building, some dressed in traditional Indian attire, appearing to observe or participate in a religious or cultural event.

How to Join

The first step is to fill out and submit our application. *Note: You may have to access the application on a computer, the phone version of this site doesn't work on all operating systems. The team will look at your application and arrange a time to speak on Zoom to finalize application approval. 

 

After your application is accepted, you'll be required to make a non-refundable deposit to hold your space. 

Early rate (book before Sept 7th) $7500 (USD, Paid in Full)

Payment Plans available - $870 over 9 months.

This includes pre-retreat training, all retreat activities, all local transportation, food and shared accommodation.

Semi-private rooms in some locations are available for additional fees. 

Learn more + apply
Group of women and children standing outdoors during sunset, some with headscarves, in a desert landscape with mountains in the background.
Smiling man and woman sitting outdoors on green turf, with vehicles and a fence in the background, both wearing traditional South Asian attire and red forehead markings.
A group of diverse people sitting around a long black table in a restaurant, enjoying drinks and smiling for the photo.
A woman carrying a child and a striped bag walking through a market under pink umbrellas.
Group of people participating in a yoga or meditation session indoors under a wooden, open-structured ceiling, with some standing and others sitting or stretching.
A smiling man with grey hair, beard, and mustache wearing a beige beanie, a brown scarf, and a maroon jacket. He is standing at a counter with a large silver container labeled 'BE LOVE' and holding a cup, with a bright outdoor background visible.
A woman with tattoos and piercings, wearing a white robe, holding a large red flower against her face, sitting in front of a large tree with sprawling roots in a forest.

your guides

Adriana Rizzolo

As the founder of Body Temple, spiritual mentor, sex educator for women, trans* and non binary folks, speaker, grief and aliveness doula, Tantric meditation, energy healing and embodied movement facilitator.

Adriana helps people heal trauma and patterns of helplessness, awaken their power and feel at home in their bodies to start living life in alignment with their soul’s offerings and cultivating sexy, secure relationships.

A man with long gray hair and a beard stands outdoors in front of trees and bushes, wearing a loose white shirt with sleeves rolled up, smiling at the camera.

Harshada Wagner

Harshada David Wagner is a master meditation instructor, author, artist, dad, and wisdom teacher with more than 25 years of teaching experience.

Classically trained in the wisdom traditions of Yoga, Bhakti, Vedanta, and Tantra, his teachings come from his decades of working with people helping them learn to live more fulfilling, soul-centered, purpose driven lives. The Sanskrit name Harshada was given to him by Gurumayi Chidvilasananda in 1996,  meaning "the bringer of joy, laughter, and delight".

A woman smiling, wearing traditional Indian attire, sitting indoors with furniture and decorations in the background.

DR Varsha Choudary

Varsha is a homoeopathic doctor, psychologist, meditation teacher, poet, mother of two beautiful daughters, owner of a counseling center, Awakened Living, and lives in Pune, India.

She is classically trained in Eastern Nondual philosophy. She uses practical aspects and wisdom of both eastern philosophy as well as modern western psychology to help her clients to come out of depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction and have wonderful relationship in worldly life.