Sacred Cites Yoga Tour
The Team
Ann Hunt
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Certified Yoga Instructor & Master Trainer
Ann Hunt, E-RYT 500, YACEP, is a highly experienced and compassionate yoga practitioner, instructor, and teacher of teachers. She is the founder and director of Evolve Yoga + Wellness in Southern Maryland and was a senior faculty member of the Nosara Yoga Institute of Costa Rica. For over twenty-six years, Ann has studied and taught yoga throughout the US, Central America and India. She has directed and facilitated over fifty training programs. Ann’s interdisciplinary and integrative approach to teaching includes Iyengar, Kripalu, Ashtanga, Self-Awakening, and Yin yoga. She has studied and practices Massage Therapy, Reiki, Pranassage and Thai Yoga Massage, and is certified as “Let Your Yoga Dance” instructor. She also has advanced degrees in Psychology and Dance from American University.
Professor of Indian Studies,
Practicing Psychotherapist
Daniel Meckel, Ph.D., is a college professor in the fields of South Asian Studies and Psychology of Religion at St. Mary’s College of Maryland (a public honors college). He is also a practicing psychotherapist, author/editor, and public speaker. Dan has been teaching, carrying out field research in India, and writing on Indian spirituality and psychology for over twenty years, during which time he has organized and guided eleven student and adult tours of Northern India. He lives in St. Mary’s City, Maryland, with his partner Betul and son Derya, as well as three cats and a golden retriever named Dougall. He travels widely and spends time in India and Turkey every year.
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Dan has a deep fascination and love for the practice of psychological healing in the West, and the spiritual healing traditions of India. As his knowledge and experience of India developed over decades, and as he guided students and adults through India, Dan witnessed the profound potential of immersive travel for personal growth and life change. He and his great friend and co-leader, Scott Sater, became passionately dedicated to enabling others to tap into that same potential. The result is Transformative Journeys India.
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On the Sacred Rivers Yoga Tour, Dan offers mini-lectures on the broad significance of yoga in Indian culture and history, focusing on the devotional traditions (bhaktiyoga), the yogic quest for mystical knowledge (jnanayoga), and the traditions of service to others (karmayoga). He arranges local speakers on temple architecture, rituals of worship, pilgrimage and ashram life; and he organizes local programs such as walking tours, culinary experiences, Vedic chant, and an audience with renowned Pujya Swami Cidanand Saraswatiji. Dan’s experience as a psychotherapist enhances one of the central aims of the tour: to invite and enable you, to whatever extent you wish, to bring your own self and experience -- your “inner journey” -- to this remarkable immersion in India.
Daniel Meckel
Scott Sater
Transformative Journeys India Co-Leader &
Trip Photographer
Scott Sater is a photographer, music educator, and avid trekker of the Indian Himalayas. He is co-founder and co-director of Transformative Journeys India. His passion for mountains, photography, and music weave together in a joyful trio, while co-leading groups along the Sacred River in Northern India. His imagery captures the vibrant blend of Indian culture and topography, as well as our personal encounters in a book to be shared following the trip.
He enjoys life with Lisa, their three dogs, one cat, and thirty-two hobby farm chickens in the Northern Woods of Minnesota. Re-Creating Life after decades as a professional music educator, Scott is now developing a career in portrait and travel photography, mindful tours to India, and enjoying ongoing music teaching.
Scott brings a love of people, a joy of travel, and expertise of music & photography to our tours. He has been to India seven times since 1994, and has co-led eight tours in the Indian Himalayas with Daniel Meckel. His Masters Degrees in Music & Education inform his deep appreciation for the classical music of India. His teaching experience guides his insights into engaging group dynamics. And his photography delivers memorable images to tour participants to cherish for a lifetime.