Low cost/free retreats or spiritual progressive communities in India/South America?

Hi all,

This is a bit of a shot in the dark but I am hoping someone may see this who can help me.

I'm in *dire* need of an escape from my current circumstances for various reasons and am looking at various options. Unfortunately my savings are tied up for potentially the next 6 months and the funds Im likely to have available for this exit strategy are extremely limited. I'm interested in any communities or low cost spiritual retreats as I would dearly like to use this as an opportunity for reflection and healing. I would also like to avoid any scams, cults, etc. Due to my limited funds Im looking primarily at India, South East Asia and South America. If anyone knows anything I would love your input.

I met some Hare Krishnas 6 months ago. they were about the most amazing people you could hope to meet on the street. Dancing and playing fierce drums, they made their chanting sounds like techno. They were from a city in India which hosts the biggest Krishna temple... can't remember the name of it off hand, but some googling might get it.

The ones I talked to were joyful but grounded. I can't remember the exact price of the temple retreats, but it was low. 5 or 10 pounds a day, room and board included, IIRC. Some people go there forever.

Im out here in Taiwan. You need 1000-1500USD a month to stay here.

Oh thankyou that sounds great except I am keen to avoid city or large towns. I am currently looking at this place in vilcabamba http://mindfulnessmeditationinecuador.org/rooms/

Vilcabamba is quite expensive, especially the food, don't expect a cheap life over there.
Have you considered work and travel? Besides traveling you will have very little cost because room and board is provided.
Most hosts expect ~25 hours/week of work so you will have time for reflection and meditation.

You should definitely check out Thailand because it’s super cheap. I am actually going there next month to spend a few months there . I found a 1 bedroom apartment for around $300 USD and food is also cheap as well. Plus they have a lot of temples if you want to explore that too.

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Posted by Daozen

I met some Hare Krishnas 6 months ago. they were about the most amazing people you could hope to meet on the street. Dancing and playing fierce drums, they made their chanting sounds like techno. They were from a city in India which hosts the biggest Krishna temple... can't remember the name of it off hand, but some googling might get it.

The ones I talked to were joyful but grounded. I can't remember the exact price of the temple retreats, but it was low. 5 or 10 pounds a day, room and board included, IIRC. Some people go there forever.

Im out here in Taiwan. You need 1000-1500USD a month to stay here.

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I think what you are mentioning is ISKCON. There are so many temples of them here. www.iskcon.org

Last to last year one member here came to India for short stay. I came to know that Thailand is costlier than I presumed. And India is the most cheapest except some African countries that are never listed in PPP indexes.

In his 800$ pension he was a MIG-1 category income person here i.e. almost 55000 rupees per month. And his expenses were like 4500/- rent 3000-5000/- food, and very high-speed internet for 1500/- rupees, that's all.

Many foreigners come and live at auroville www.auroville.org too. But maybe its expensive or is restricted to foreigners only.

There can be many more options which can be cheaper than ISKCON.

[https://www.ic.org/directory] I googled Intentional Communities for this address. Also the Rainbow Family of Living Light holds annual festivals that are free of charge.

Yes after you posted this I found a few places wanting volunteers. I am waiting to hear from a place an hour south of Cuenca. I am heeding your warning about costly Vilcabamba and thinking of spending less time there. Thinking a month volunteering, then a 2 week ayahuasca retreat in Cuenca, then a few weeks in Vilcabamba perhaps. I hope I can stay safe, this is my only concern.

Thank you everybody the links provided have been food for thought. I hope to spend a great deal of the rest of my life travelling in one way or another so this will be very useful in the future too.

Oh, I think there isn't much difference in food prices between Cuenca and Vilcabamba, Vilcabamba is expensive because of all the foreigners but that affected mostly the property prices so rent might be higher, never been to Cuenca so I can't compare. Maybe I should have said Ecuador in general is expensive (especially if you consider the low income) and not single out Vilcabamba. The site I use is https://www.helpx.net/index.asp it's worldwide (I am currently staying at a helpx host).

Oh thank you for your concern but I have researched and it is not too expensive for me at all. I know India is cheaper but in reflection I would feel safer travelling alone in a country I have already been to and which I have an adequate knowledge of the language to communicate well. India is still on my list but maybe with a companion

You are giving me wanderlust with this thread Jenya, I am salivating at the thought of the kind of travel and places you intend to stay.

You may already be way ahead of me here, but I noticed your mention of an "Ayahuasca" retreat. If you want to stay safe, you will need to be very careful about doing this. Apart from ingesting potentially dangerous plant materials in a foreign country where you don't know how your body will react to the chemical components on a physical level, while having an experience where you will not be in a mental state to monitor your own physical and mental wellbeing, ayahuasca opens up a doorway that not only allows you to explore some pretty trippy consciousness journeys, but opens a doorway to very negative beings in the astral coming through and attaching to you. Apparently, there are those Shamans who are well versed on the dangers of this and how to handle it, but there will be those who do not. I expect you don't want any extra baggage in terms of spirit attachments on your person, to cause havoc and ill mental and physical ill health, so I hope you check that out thoroughly as that would be a major potential for harm.

Thank you for the ayahuasca advice. Natural hallucinogens tend to agree with me, and I am quite well versed in dealing with negative entities, I also have at least some protection in that area. However I don't want to take unnecessary risks so I may ask some extra questions before deciding to do this at a particular venue.

I have spent most of my life fighting wanderlust and it has been of no benefit at all. So from now on I am not fighting it anymore!

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Posted by findingneo

You are giving me wanderlust with this thread Jenya, I am salivating at the thought of the kind of travel and places you intend to stay.

You may already be way ahead of me here, but I noticed your mention of an "Ayahuasca" retreat. If you want to stay safe, you will need to be very careful about doing this. Apart from ingesting potentially dangerous plant materials in a foreign country where you don't know how your body will react to the chemical components on a physical level, while having an experience where you will not be in a mental state to monitor your own physical and mental wellbeing, ayahuasca opens up a doorway that not only allows you to explore some pretty trippy consciousness journeys, but opens a doorway to very negative beings in the astral coming through and attaching to you. Apparently, there are those Shamans who are well versed on the dangers of this and how to handle it, but there will be those who do not. I expect you don't want any extra baggage in terms of spirit attachments on your person, to cause havoc and ill mental and physical ill health, so I hope you check that out thoroughly as that would be a major potential for harm.

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Do you have any plans to acquiesce to your wanderlust?

Check out Auroville. It's a thriving community of thousands about 12km from pondicherry in the south east of India, about thee hours (by train) south of Chennai.

Thanks Im seriously considering seeing if i can do SA and either India or Bali. Its scary to me to go somewhere that I dont know the language at all but I guess there is no better way to learn? I used to know a pretty good level of spanish and hoping it will come back to me quickly. Id love to leave ecuador with a decent level of conversational spanish.

India , is the place... many enlightened souls abide there ...

I once visited spiritual place, they call it amma-bhagvan. I was astonished to see that people offering prayers and even they say they have got things done.
As the guru gave some chanting, the followers felt happy by his blessings.
My aunt forced me to join the prayer and I also felt some divinity in the healing given to me by the guru.

There are also spiritual centers like seminar houses where you could stay for free in exchange for some work.

Thank you. I considered this but feel that right now I need to just rest, once I am rested I will look into working for board. I am hoping this way I can extend the trip significantly. I wish I could leave now but have to sell my stuff to fund it first!