Address
215 K St
Encinitas, CA 92024
Experience Type
Wellness & Mindfulness
Operator Type
Nonprofit
EXPERIENCE DESCRIPTION
The blufftop gardens above the Pacific are free and open to the public most days, with lotus ponds, koi, tropical plantings, and an unobstructed view from the cliff edge that extends south along the coast. The grounds are quiet in a way that takes hold quickly, unhurried, genuinely affecting, and unlike most things you can do in Southern California for free. The ocean light at midafternoon, falling across the pond and the palms, is one of the better versions of it on the coast.
OPERATOR STORY
The Self-Realization Fellowship was founded by Paramahansa Yogananda, who established this blufftop hermitage and meditation garden in Encinitas in 1937, making it one of the oldest yoga and contemplative institutions in the Western world. The Fellowship continues to manage the gardens as a free public space open to visitors of all backgrounds. Encinitas has been a center of yoga and contemplative practice in the Western world since Yogananda's arrival in 1937, giving the gardens a resonance that extends well beyond the grounds.
