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.