Discover the Bliss of Asheville via Body, Mind and Spirit!

"Like wanderers to a Promised Land, spiritually-minded people are being drawn inexplicably to the breeze- swept city of Asheville. For many, it invokes a sense of coming home." Virato

Stories about Asheville being a New Age vortex began circulating sometime in the 1980's, reaching almost mythic proportions when Virato, publisher of New Frontier magazine started writing about Asheville, as in this interview with Gordon-Michael Scallion in the May 1995 issue. :

This time, I began to see moving pictures in my peripheral vision. Usually, they were scenes of people doing things. Many of the scenes were ancient places, such as Grecian temples. Other times I would see visions of communities in rural settings. I would see glass, glittering domes scattered throughout the countryside. It appeared like they were located in the Carolinas.

NF: I heard that they were located around the mountain areas, right around Asheville, North Carolina, is that correct?

GMS: Yes, that's correct. I saw this area as one of the areas of new thought, and an educational center for the country. It's also an area that was the mining center when they were building the temples now outside of Bimini. Those stones that were used to make the temples came from quarries in the Asheville area.

Asheville is a hub of spiritual activity. Having reached something of a 'critical mass' a decade or two ago with an abundance of spiritual healers, practitioners and community activities, Asheville becomes more and more of a 'spiritual magnet' with every passing day.

Spiritual Healers and Spiritual Healing Centers and Communities

Crystal Visions
"... is a metaphysical center dedicated to conscious living and spiritual growth.  In this sacred, uplifting setting you may experience spiritual and metaphysical teachings, guidance, meditation, sharing, laughter, music and camaraderie. This is a safe haven for you to reflect upon and voice your thoughts about your Earth journey. Our capable and loving staff reflects a broad spiritual background that serves to enhance your experience here. We honor and welcome all paths..."

Futureway
Margarite Batease, founder. "Soul is eternal, All life is sacred"

Jubilee Community
"...is a vital and creative community of faith that welcomes all people. We offer an inclusive, joyful, loving, and supportive environment for all those who choose to join us...." See their Affirmations for a more complete explanation of what they are about.

Mystical Journeys
Page Bryant. Meditations. Spiritual Cinema events. Indigo Children. Arcturian events. See Events Calendar for dates.

Yoga Centers

Blissful Rituals
Workshops and events... including hatha yoga classes, cosmic zen workshops, pregnancy massage workshop....

EllieYoga.com
"... Ellie empowers you with the tools of how to heal yourself.  As you begin to overcome many conditions that have existed for years, your lifestyle program will need to change.  You will never be bored as you will never be doing the same thing all the time.  The Earth is changing daily and so are we.   You will understand and have the knowledge to adapt to your specific changes."

Namaste Yoga and Healing Center
Numerous workshops and retreats in various forms and aspects of yoga.

Sangita Devi
Music of the Divine Mother Kirtan in Asheville. "... Kirtan is bhakti yoga, the path of devotion, the path of the heart. It is a tradition and spiritual practice which can bring us to a deep place of tranquility and ecstatic bliss through chanting the divine names. Most people think of yoga as hatha yoga, postures and exercises for the body. But yoga is an ancient system designed to exercise all aspects of the human being and ultimately bring us to a more enlightened state of awareness and living.... " Listen to streaming Sangita Devi

Click on each of the dozens of categories to the left to uncover what makes the Asheville area so vital, so intriguing and so, well, UTTERLY BLISSFUL!

From Rolf Potts' Vagabonding blog:

I've never been one of those uptight literary types who thinks that you have to have actually read a book in order to recommend it to others. So I feel no trepidation in suggesting Eric Weiner's new travelogue-slash-memoir The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World The premise of the book is simple but intriguing-- here is Amazon's description:

Part foreign affairs discourse, part humor, and part twisted self-help guide, The Geography of Bliss takes the reader from America to Iceland to India in search of happiness, or, in the crabby author's case, moments of "un-unhappiness." The book uses a beguiling mixture of travel, psychology, science and humor to investigate not what happiness is, but where it is. Are people in Switzerland happier because it is the most democratic country in the world? Do citizens of Singapore benefit psychologically by having their options limited by the government? Is the King of Bhutan a visionary for his initiative to calculate Gross National Happiness? Why is Asheville, North Carolina so damn happy? With engaging wit and surprising insights, Eric Weiner answers those questions and many others, offering travelers of all moods some interesting new ideas for sunnier destinations and dispositions.

In the imaginary Netflix queue of books-that-I'm-planning-to-read, this one has just jumped to the top. By the way, why has no one started a Netflix for books? This question, and many more, I'll leave for another day.