Siddhayatan Tirth & Spiritual Retreat Center

Northeast of Dallas, on State Highway 56 in Windom, Texas, the land opens into rolling hills, and in the middle of them sits Siddhayatan Tirth. It is an ashram, monastery, pilgrimage site, meditation park and spiritual retreat center all at once. There are temples to walk among, trails through open country, and simple, clean rooms for those who stay.

Siddhayatan was founded in 2008 on the teachings of Acharya Shree Yogeesh, who has taught for more than 50 years. The center calls itself spiritual, not religious. It draws on what it describes as the hidden gems of ancient Samanic (Jain) and Hindu traditions, and its stated mission is to promote nonviolence, unity, health and well-being. Meals are vegetarian.

Silence is a working discipline here. In the Jain monk tradition at Siddhayatan, silence, or maun, means the conscious mastery of speech, thought and action. The 5-Day Silent Intensive runs four nights, with seven classes taught by Acharya Shree and the monks on silence, forgiveness, healing and karma. The Self-Guided Silent Retreat leaves each guest to decide how strict the silence will be. The Water Fasting Retreat adds monitoring and guidance from the monks, and ends with a yogic method of breaking the fast.

Other programs run two or three days: Awakening the Soul, the center's most popular retreat, developed by Acharya Shree and built around breathwork, Purnam Yoga® and concentration techniques. Discover Your Purpose, Deep Soul Meditation, Trauma and Stress Reduction and Chakra and Energy Activation follow the same format. During Paryushan, the eight-day Jain observance, the Soul Immersion Retreat runs nine nights with daily discourses by Acharya Shree. Mantra and meditation sessions are held Monday through Saturday, and a five-hour Day Retreat opens the temples and meditation park to visitors who do not stay overnight.