Impressions of India

20 Sept - 2 Oct 2026

Journey Overview

‘Impressions of India’

 A Journey into the Sacred Rhythm of Nature, Art, and Self

Dates: 20 Sept - 2 Oct 2026 (12 nights/ 13 days)

Location: Tamil Nadu, India

Facilitator: Jan Carey, Director - Centre for Mindful Education. Author – Wild Stillness: A Journey into Mindfulness, Creativity, and the Sacred Wisdom of Nature

Journey: Impressions of India is an invitation to meet India through the quiet language of mark making, printing, colour, and texture — a journey shaped not only by the places you visit, but by how those places imprint themselves upon you. You’ll explore the spirit of South India through printmaking, story, creative play, and the art of deep noticing.

Guided by the Wild Stillness approach, you’ll learn to pause, observe, and gather the subtle details that often go unseen: the pattern of a carved stone, the rhythm of a market street, the curve of a shoreline, the warmth of red earth, the colours breathed by ancient temples, and the quiet spaces in between.

More than a sightseeing tour, Impressions of India is a soulful creative journey — a chance to slow down, reconnect with yourself, and let the essence of India leave its quiet, unforgettable imprint on your inner landscape. It is a chance to reconnect with your creative spirit, ground yourself in the sensory beauty of India, and discover how the act of making — gently, slowly, without pressure — becomes a pathway into deeper awareness of self and the world around you.

Journey Part 1

The first 6 days are a travelling creative journey through the artistic heart of Tamil Nadu, exploring the rich cultural traditions that have shaped this land for centuries. Across six days we will wander from Chennai to Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry, Auroville, and Tiruvannamalai, meeting the region through its colours, textures, and stories.

Each day invites you into a new mindful -art experience. Learn the rhythmic flow of block printing, feel the cool weight of stone beneath your palms, walk among ancient temples that breathe sculpture and mythology, and create with artisans who carry generations of skill in their fingertips. From block printing to paper marbling, from coastal sketches to French-inspired quiet streets, this journey awakens your senses and reconnects you with the joy of making. Some of our activities include:

Immersive Experiences (21 Sept -26 Sept)

Block Printing Workshop

In the quiet sanctuary of the Kalakshetra Craft Centre in Chennai, we will explore the ancient world of wood block printing — a practice shaped by patient hands and patterns passed down through generations.

Mahabalipuram Market Lane

The handicrafts lane near the Mahabalipuram beach is a lively stretch filled with colour and creativity. As we wander through this bustling little street, you’ll have time to explore the eclectic mix of local artistry and everyday treasures. A sensory delight of colour!

Ancient Shore Temple

As evening arrives, we will visit the Shore Temple — one of India’s oldest stone temples standing quietly against the shore. Its weathered forms speak of time, endurance, and the beauty of contrast. A time to sit, reflect and attune.

Arjuna’s Penance Carving

Stepping into the ancient heart of Mahabalipuram, we are greeted by carvings that feel almost alive — narratives shaped in stone more than thirteen centuries ago. The most striking is the monumental rock relief often known as Arjuna’s Penance. Time to explore these ancient stone stories.

Pondicherry Seaside Town

Pondicherry’s French influences blend with Tamil culture to create a town humming with charm and contrast. As evening arrives, we will walk along the seaside promenade, taking in the pastel buildings, gentle sea breeze, and slower rhythm of this coastal enclave.

Auroville Matrimandir

We visit Auroville — a township dedicated to human unity and conscious living. The landscape shifts as we enter its calm, tree-lined pathways, leading us toward the Matrimandir and the great Banyan tree. (Optional immersive experience for meditation time inside)

Paper Marbling Workshop

We visit the Auroville Paper Craft studio for a paper marbling workshop. Here, you’ll play with movement, dyes, and flowing forms — watching colour swirl and settle in ways that mirror the rhythms of your own inner world.

Arunachala Mountain

Arunachala Mountain (which translates to "Hill of Wisdom") is considered one of the holiest sites associated with Lord Shiva. It is a holy pilgrimage site particularly on the full moon. Our visit coincides with this spectacular occasion. A rare opportunity for all.

Tiruvannamalai Handicrafts

Shopping in Tiruvannamalai is more than just buying souvenirs; it’s an immersive experience into the town’s rich cultural and artistic heritage. From the spiritual resonance of temple crafts to the lush natural beauty captured in its textiles and jewellery.

Accommodation for Part 1 Journey :

Trident Hotel - Chennai
Meals - Welcome lunch (day 1) and breakfast (2 nights)

Madras Chronicle Bay Resort - Mahabalipuram
Meals - breakfast (1 night)

Le Dupleix - Pondicherry
Meals - breakfast (2 nights)

Sara Happy Stay - Tiruvannamalai
Meals - breakfast (1 night)

Journey Part 2 - (26 Sept - 2 Oct)

Part 2 is a gentle, grounded immersion held entirely within the peaceful landscape of Sri Narayani Peedam (a temple town), where nature, creativity, stillness, and holistic wellbeing come together. Over six unhurried days, you’ll settle into a single sacred environment and explore the quiet relationship between art, the earth, and your inner world.

This journey unfolds through traditional Indian arts and nature-based creative practices shaped by the land itself: pulli kolam made with rice flour, hand-shaped clay lamps, natural pigments from turmeric, flowers, and soil, rangoli-inspired painting, slow wandering in the forest, and mindful journaling beneath the trees. These practices are accessible, sensory, and deeply restorative—inviting you to create not through effort, but through presence.

There is time for rest, reflection, and unstructured creative exploration. Rather than moving from place to place, part 2 invites you to fully arrive—to let the land, the light, and the atmosphere of this sacred place hold you.

Immersive Experiences

Relax in the Medicinal Forest

The medicinal forest that surrounds the Holistic Centre is more than thirty acres of lush, living green. As we wander its winding paths, or sit beneath the an ancient banyan tree, the forest invites a softening of attention. Here, nature is not only something to observe but something to feel with the heart.

Flower Garland Making

Flower garland making invites you into a sensory ritual of colour, texture, and devotion, as each bloom is threaded with care and intention. The garlands you create may be offered to a deity or gifted from the heart, turning a simple act of making into a quiet offering of beauty and gratitude.

Pulli Kollam workshop

Pulli Kollam is a meditative art form where fine sand or rice flour is gently released from your fingers, guided by the slow, conscious movement of your hand. As geometric patterns emerge on the earth, your attention settles into rhythm, texture, and presence, creating beauty through simplicity and flow.

Natural Dye Experimentation

Using plants gathered from the surrounding medicinal forest, natural dye making becomes a slow exploration of colour, earth, and alchemy. With turmeric and other natural spices, you witness how leaves, roots, and bark release their hues, reminding you of nature’s generosity and ancient wisdom held in the land.

Clay Diya Making

Creating a clay diya is a slow, grounding practice that invites presence through touch and form. As you shape the lamp with your hands, you connect with an ancient tradition of light, intention, and offering, crafting something simple that holds both beauty and meaning.

Support the Green Sakthi Club

Joining the local students at the Green Sakthi Club offers a hands-on way to give back to the land that holds us. Through simple acts like tree planting and tending young plants, this service becomes a practice of connection, responsibility, and reverence for the living earth.

Ayurvedic Treatment (1 included)

Immerse yourself in the deeply nurturing world of Ayurveda as you receive a personalised treatment, such as a massage or gentle foot reflexology, using warm, herb-infused oils. This is an invitation to slow right down, let your body be held in care, and absorb the quiet wisdom of ancient healing traditions.

Sripuram Golden Temple

Visiting the Sripuram Golden Temple is a journey of quiet beauty and reflection, guided by the Star Path Walk that gently invites you to slow your pace and turn inward. Whether approached as a sacred pilgrimage or a contemplative walk, this luminous space offers stillness, intention, and grace that meets you exactly where you are.

Attending Temple Ceremonies

Sri Narayani Peedam is home to many temples, each dedicated to a different deity and alive with daily sacred ceremonies. You are welcome to observe or participate in pujas and rituals to deepen your awareness or meditation practice through presence, and quiet listening.

Accommodation for Part 2

During your stay, you will be accommodated at the Sri Narayani Holistic Centre, which adds a rich layer of nourishment to the experience. Participants will enjoy a traditional Ayurvedic massage or panchakarma treatment as part of the retreat, with the option to continue additional therapies throughout the week. These treatments offer a gentle way to care for the body while the creative and contemplative practices nurture the mind and spirit.

Sri Narayani Holistic Centre
(6 nights)

Room accomodation

All meals provided - Ayurvedic
(3 meals per day + snacks)

Quiet location surrounded by 36 acres of forest

About Sri Narayani Peedam

Sri Narayani Peedam is a living temple complex and spiritual sanctuary created as a space for devotion, service, and inner transformation. Set within a growing landscape of temples, gardens, and sacred paths, Peedam is designed to support both spiritual practice and community upliftment, weaving together prayer, nature, education, and care for the land. It is a place where ancient wisdom meets everyday life, inviting people from all walks of life to slow down, reflect, and reconnect with what truly matters.

About Sri Sakthi Amma Narayani

Sri Sakthi Narayani Amma, lovingly known as Amma, is a respected spiritual leader in India whose teachings centre on love, wisdom, and selfless service. Amma guides people to understand that serving others is not separate from spiritual life, but a direct path to inner peace, harmony, and awakened awareness.

In 1992, at the age of sixteen, Sri Sakthi Amma left the family home in Vellore and moved to the nearby rural village of Thirumalaikodi in Tamil Nadu. At the foothills of the Kailash Giri Mountains, Amma established Sri Narayani Peedam, laying the foundation for a mission rooted in devotion, service, and the upliftment of humanity—where spiritual practice and compassionate action naturally unfold together.

Find out more about Sri Shakti Amma and Sripuram on Youtube at https://youtu.be/c3FW_4TxRwg

About Your Journey Guide

Jan Carey is a highly experienced educator with over 30 years of teaching and school leadership. Her long interest in mindfulness has steadily deepened into advanced international training in contemplative and awareness-based practices. Shaped by her own life - living on her 46-acre bushland property in the Adelaide Hills and her long-term immersion in India - her retreats blend mindfulness, creativity, and connection with place.

Jan has spent many years living, working, and volunteering in India, particularly throughout Tamil Nadu. Her long-term connection with the region has given her a deep understanding of its culture, communities, and educational landscape. Jan has led retreats and trainings across Australia as well as internationally in Bali and India.

Inclusions

  • All hotels and resorts are listed above. 12 nights in total. Part A in twin share. (Single supplement is available) Part B is single occupancy.

    This includes a room on 20 Sept arrival night in Chennai. Most flights arrive around 10 or 11pm at night. So arrive and rest - we meet together at about 11.30am the next day (21 Sept) for our meet and greet.

  • These meals are included.

    • Breakfast daily

    • Welcome lunch (on day 2)

    • All lunch and dinners while staying at the Sri Narayani Holistic Centre (6 nights)

    • Block Printing Workshop in Chennai

    • Entry to the Mahabalipuram Historic Shore Temple

    • Paper Marbling Workshop at Auroville

    • Entry inside the Matrimandir Meditation Centre

    • Ayurvedic Treatment (massage or Foot Reflexolofy)

    • Flower Garland Workshop

    • Diya Clay Making

    • Rangoli Sand Art Workshop

    • Natural Dye Making

  • Transport - 6 days travel via Chennai -Pondicherry - Auroville - Tiruvannamalai - Sri Narayani Peedam in airconditioned traveller bus.

    Transport return can be arrange to Chennai Airport in airconditioned cars approx $70

  • The entire journey and all activities are guided by expert facilitators. You are in safe hands x

Cost

All inclusive package for 12 nights / 13 days = $2700 AUD (twin share)

#Please note that it is also possible to participate in either Part 1 or Part 2 separately if you prefer.

Part 1 (traveling) : 20 Sept - 26 Sept: (6 nights) = $1690 AUD

Part 2 (Peedam) : 26 Sept - 2 Oct (6 nights) = $1130 AUD

Single Supplement is available

Part A = $590 AUD additional cost

Part B = All rooms at Sri Naryani Holistic Centre will be single occupancy (unless twin requested)

Group Size

We prefer to keep the India Journeys group size to a maximum of 12 people.

Please note in the past our retreats have sold out. We cannot hold places without full payment.

Bookings will be taken as first bookings only.

Not Included

  • Flights To Chennai are frequent. Plan to arrive on evening 20 Sept.

    Departure flight - you may want to extend your trip and stay a few days!

  • You will require an Indian Tourist e-visa. Easily done online. More information will be provided on this after booking.

  • This is essential.

    Life happen and plans can change. I have used Covermore many times and have found them excellent value and support.

  • We are out and about a lot, and I’ve always found it easiest to allow participants to eat when and where they prefer. Great suggestions on places to eat will be offered!

  • You may like to travel back to Chennai Airport on the 2 Oct, or travel onwards to other destinations. india has a lot to offer. We will help you arrange transport to wherever you need to go. Cars to Chennai are approx $70 per vehicle.

An Invitation to Join the Journey

If something in this journey has stirred your heart, you are warmly invited to join us for Impressions of India. This is an experience shaped by presence, creativity, service, and deep connection—an unfolding that asks not for certainty, but for openness and a simple yes from within.

Places are confirmed through full payment. To keep the cost of the tour as accessible as possible, payment is made via direct bank transfer, with details provided below. If you would prefer to use PayPal or another payment option, please feel free to contact me and we can explore an alternative together.

With joyful gratitude and wild stillness

Jan Carey

Please complete the attached Booking Form and email to centreformindfuleducation@gmail.com

A detailed itinerary plus additional information about what to expect will be sent upon booking.

An online zoom ‘Meet the group’ session will be offered 3 weeks prior to departure date, so we can connect, talk about what to bring and answer any other questions.

Payment Details

Account: Centre for Mindful Education Pty Ltd
BSB: 015 237
Account Number: 304 285 869

To Book

Cancellation & Transfer Policy

Because Impressions of India is offered as a small group experience, all bookings are confirmed through full payment and are non-refundable. Once your place is secured, that space is reserved especially for you.

If you are unable to attend, you are very welcome to transfer your booking to another person of your choosing, subject to suitability and final confirmation. This approach helps keep the journey fair, sustainable, and accessible for everyone involved, while honouring the care and commitment required to hold a small-group experience.

We strongly suggest that you arrange travel insurance as soon as your flights and journey are booked.

If you have any questions or concerns before booking, I warmly encourage you to reach out so we can explore whether this journey feels like the right fit for you at this time.