Exclusive to the students at the California College of Ayurveda (CCA)
September 24th – October 15th
Designed to enhance the practice and personal life of the Ayurvedic practitioner, the ORGANIC INDIA Immersion Program takes you on a life changing journey. With all accommodations, transportation and food managed by a highly skilled and attentive team you will travel to the Mother land of India to deepen your connection to Ayurveda and its sister sciences. Both your personal and clinical experience will be enhanced deeply as you are guided by renowned Ayurvedic Vaidya’s Prashanti De Jager – Ethnopharmacologist, Ayurveda Clinician for 20 years, Author, Teacher, Scholar, and Yogi. Prashanti’s courses have empowered gatherings from Mayo Clinic Doctors to Prague Yoga Teacher Trainings. Guest teachers TBA. This is an exciting opportunity. While it is an ORGANIC INDIA program, it is offered exclusively to CCA students at this time.
Being immersed in the rich culture of India and the knowledge of Ayurveda you will…

- ✦ Experience hands on medicine making while harvesting herbs sourced right on site at the ORGANIC INDIA research and training farm in Lucknow. With over 20 acres of herbs and trees, all aspects of biodynamic farming preparations, animals and multiple temples to ignite your spirit. You will be instructed in a variety of medicines from Avelahas (herbal jams) to Aristas (medicated wine) and medicated ghees prepared in a variety of methods.
- ✦ Begin each morning on the farm with Agni Hotra, a sacred fire ceremony to seal and protect the energy of the farm.
- ✦ Following the morning puja deepen your dinacharya with group practices in yoga, pranayama and meditation.
- ✦ Spend time each day learning amongst acres of medicinal plants. Walking through fields of herbs such as Rose, Jasmine, Tulsi and Brahmi while observing and learning the principles of biodynamic cultivation.
- ✦ Enjoy the well appointed Kamal Guest house where you will stay while studying at the ORGANIC INDIA farm.
- ✦ You will be nourished by the food of top Indian chefs as they prepare your meals with freshly sourced, organic ingredients. Meals will be vegetarian and all eggs and dairy sourced directly from the OI farm. There will be opportunity to learn preparation techniques of some favorite Indian dishes.
- ✦ Field trips will include visits to the nearby National Botanical Research Institute (NBRI) and the Central Institute for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) which are both world class herb research centers, where you will have opportunity to see dozens of medicinal plants in their natural environment.
- ✦ Through story and lecture learn more about the key herbs within Vedic astrology. Learn your Nagshatra and the specific tree and plant associated to you.
- ✦ Deepen your spiritual connection to the plants through guided meditations along with learning the practice of specific mantras traditionally sung in conjunction with cultivation, harvesting and the preparation of medicines.
- ✦ Travel as group to the city of Varanasi, rich with history and spiritual shakti. Here you will spend time visiting temples, shopin the open air markets and with the powerful energy of the Ganga river. You will have the opportunity to experience the morning and evening pujas performed by local Vedic priests as they honor and bless the sacred river.
Requirements:
Students should have a foundation in understanding clinical pathology and/or foundational Ayurvedic herbalism, including the Dravya Guna of herbs and medicinal preparations. Special considerations for additional training in these areas completed outside of CCA may be considered toward a student’s qualifications but will not guarantee acceptance. A copy of the student’s current transcript is required to be submitted with the application.
Faculty
Guided by Prashanti de Jager, a world renowned expert in these herbs, in Ayurveda as well as other Vedic Sciences including Jyotisha and Vastu Shastra, and who has lived in Lucknow for 7 years. He holds degrees in the fields of Math, Physics, AeroSpace Engineering, Biophysics, and Emergency Medicine, with minors in Dance and Philosophy, and has studied numerous adjunct healing modalities. Prashanti is involved in ongoing projects to maintain Traditional Knowledge and Healing Modalities, and protect precious Himalyan alpine ecosystems. He constantly is writing for magazines as well as his own books; he created The Pacific Center of Ayurveda as a Clinic, Apothecary, Library, School, Guild and Engine dedicated to increasing personal and Global Sustainability via Sattva and the perennial knowledge of Yoga, Ayurveda, and other Vedic Sciences. He is involved in concurrent projects, like the Dunagiri Foundation Trust, to instill sustainable herbal wildcrafting amongst thousands of tribals in central India and also in the fragile ecosystems of the High Himalyas.
Guest teachers TBA
