Ananda’s main guest facility, the Expanding Light Retreat, houses what has been Ananda’s foremost temple for the past 48 years. Inside the retreat is a large sanctuary, long used for meditations, yoga classes, Sunday worship, events, and community meetings. The Expanding Light Temple began to be built in 1977 by Arjuna Lucki and Ananda Construction.
Right before Christmas, Ananda members celebrate the inner meaning of Christ’s birth with the community’s annual eight-hour Christmas meditation. The circular temple is decorated with seasonal altars. Stained glass windows open onto the natural beauty of the Sierra foothills. Thousands of hatha yoga and meditation students throughout the years have received their training in this temple. Long before yoga and meditation were popular, The Expanding Light Retreat was one of the largest training centers in the U.S.
Today, the Expanding Light Temple is still used for guests on retreat and students training at the Ananda School of Yoga and Meditation. Guests on retreat have the option of meditating in the temple in the morning before breakfast, at noon, and in the evening before dinner. Musical and dramatic events are also held in this temple, as well as initiations into the sacred science of Kriya Yoga.
