Drop into silence, awaken joy within.
5D4N BHAKTI SILENT RETREAT
in Chiang Mai, Thailand
11 to 15 October 2026
Drop into silence, awaken joy within.
Our Main Explorations:
🧘🏻♀️ Yoga Asana & Pranayama
📿 Guided Meditations
🤫 Sacred Silence
📝 Lectures & Teachings
🎵 Music, Mantras & Heart Songs
💚 Storytelling & Connection in Sangha
After a beautiful retreat last year, Shao Hao and I are excited to be offering the Bhakti Silent Retreat again this October 2026 in Chiang Mai. Come join us for peace, rest and connection in a sanctuary nestled in the hills of Chiang Mai 🍃
In our half-silent retreat, we gently embark on a transformative and nourishing yoga journey, guided by yogic teachings through the themes of mauna (inner silence) and bhakti (love & devotion).
For 5 days and 4 nights, from morning to 3pm, we’ll stow away our devices, honour the gentle power of silence, and tune inward. This is the practice of ‘mauna’, sanskrit word for inner silence.
From 3pm onwards, we shall re-surface to connect with retreat friends, nature, workshops, mantras, and journaling. We will gather together, sing, share reflections and celebrate life in our cosy like-hearted community.
This retreat is for you if you are:
- seeking rest and quietude
- looking to deepen your yoga practice beyond asana
- curious about silent retreats but prefer a soft landing (this is a sweet alternative to the 10-day vipassana)
- open to exploring mantra and song in spiritual practice
- or needing some space & time to recalibrate, recenter and reconnect
Our intention is to make this experience accessible, fun, and meaningful for you. It is our invitation to you to come home to yourself, through inner wisdom and love.
We hope that you can join us ❤️
With love,
Shena & Shao Hao
Where we will stay
Tucked away in the lush hills of Chiang Mai, our retreat will be held at Amrita Ashram located about 45 minutes away from the city. Being in a serene and peaceful environment, as compared to busy urban settings that most of us are familiar with, provides us with a conducive space for fully embracing the practice of silence, giving us a rare opportunity to experience its bliss.
Complete with modern facilities such as a swimming pool (a midday swim was a delightful routine for some participants last year), air-conditioned yoga hall, dining room in nature, and comfortable accommodation options, we get to go deeper into our spiritual practice and personal journeys in comfort, all while being held in the lap of Mother Nature.
Mauna
‘Mauna’ is a beautiful sanskrit word for the practice inner silence. Revered in many yogic traditions as a gateway to inner stillness and truth, mauna at its core is practiced as the restraint of speech in order to cultivate a sense of inner quietude and peace, promote self-inquiry and experience the Self directly, beyond concepts or words.
Abstract as it is to put into words, mauna can only be truly experienced by the practitioner alone. In our modern lives that are filled with noise – from work, society, social media, etc. – mauna is a sacred space for our Spirit, within which we can find stillness, our hearts can open, and inner wisdom can be heard in its native tongue: silence.
Bhakti
Bhakti is one of the four classical paths of yoga, alongside Karma, Jnana and Raja yoga. It is the yoga of devotion, and focuses on bringing us into deeper connection with our hearts. In Bhakti yoga, love is seen not only as an emotion, but as a transformational force that sparks creativity, compassion, joy and wisdom.
In this retreat, we explore heart songs and mantra singing as our paths to love and connection. This provides us with what we feel is a good compliment to the practice of silence, for it offers us a gentle yet genuine way of connecting with others from our hearts with love, after we have connected with ourselves deeply.
Types of rooms available
Please note that all rooms must be reserved in their entirety. That means that if you’re travelling solo, please select the Single options. If you prefer to share a Double room, please join with a friend (:
Standard Room
Single: S$1270
Double: S$2440 for 2 persons
1 queen bed or 2 single beds with AC, private ensuite toilet and hot water shower. Towels provided.
What’s Included:
- Accomodation for 5 days 4 nights
- All meals (day 1 begins with dinner, and day 5 ends with an early lunch)
Please note: all meals are vegetarian. No coffee is provided at the ashram. There are tea bags and hot water provided daily. - Daily morning yoga
- Daily morning mindful activities
- Daily afternoon lectures by ashram
- Daily evening bhakti workshops
- Mantra song circles
- 2-way transfers to and fro Chiang Mai airport
Not included:
- Your flight/train tickets to arrive at and depart from Chiang Mai
- Travel insurance
- Any extension to travel plan outside of the retreat itinerary
Recommended Flights
We recommend taking these flights if your plan is to come to Chiang Mai from Singapore only for the retreat. Scoot has a daily direct flight which is around a 3-hour journey.
If you plan to lengthen your stay, please feel free to explore other flight options and drop us a text to align transport and itinerary 🙂
Curious? Drop us a question and your contact details so we can reach out to you 🙂
Kind words by last year’s retreatees:
“Mauna allowed my mind to rest within my heart space.”
The Bhakti Silent Retreat was like an easeful sigh. Our days were sprinkled with mindful yoga practices, lectures and Bhakti song circles. The period of mauna allowed my mind to rest within my heart space, and my breath to be graceful and spacious. I left the retreat feeling light, joyful and rejuvenated. Thank you Shena and Shao Hao for holding space and inviting us to the practice of mauna.
— Estelle
“Silence felt natural and comforting.”
Such a peaceful and grounding experience. The space created really allowed us to slow down and connect within. The activities were perfectly balanced, and the silence felt natural and comforting. The organisers were so kind and welcoming, and I was also deeply touched by the kirtan — it was my first experience, and it was just so full of love and compassion. Something you wouldn’t want to miss. I’ll definitely be back again next year!
— June
“It allows rest, inward reflection and choice.”
The retreat provided a glimpse of how a silent retreat is, emphasising on basics of the yoga practice more on the spiritual than physical aspect. It allows rest, inward reflection and choice to share with your new friends. Trainers and the group are supportive as you hear your own voice in the silence.
— Valerie L.
In 2017, working at a friend’s yoga studio in New Zealand, I met a stranger who introduced me to the 10-day Vipassana. He said his daughter was attending vipassana every year, and that “she goes each year and comes back different.” I was curious.
So I signed up, was put on the waitlist, got a spot. The Vipassana experience deeply shifted my relationship with myself. I wanted to continue diving in deep, but didn’t know how, so I released my grip on it.
By the invitation of a friend, I joined two 10-day retreats in India in 2019 and 2020, during which our teacher Anouk held space for experiencing inner silence (‘mauna’ in sanskrit, as I first learned it then) for only the mornings. I felt I was guided back onto the path home—accessible and welcoming.
Mauna is now my way of mornings, to the best that I can. Living in Singapore means it’s not an everyday thing. But having dipped my toes in inner silence has had a profound impact on me. I wish not to further expound on it here, but to invite you to experience it your way in our Bhakti Silent Retreat 2026.
Love, Shena
Living in Chiang Mai for the past 4 years has been extremely healing for me, and I have a strong desire to share the beauty of this place with fellow friends from Singapore. Here, Mother Nature blesses us with tranquility, time and simplicity, giving us the space to pause, breathe and simply be.
Bhakti Yoga, or the yoga of devotion, holds a special place in my heart for it bridges a physical yoga asana practice with love and connection to one’s own heartspace. While music and mantra singing traditionally constitute a big part of a Bhakti Yoga practice, devotion in my view, extends far beyond a singing circle, and encompasses all aspects of our lives. We could even say that at the core of a Bhakti Yoga practice is essentially to cultivate loving devotion for Life itself – despite its ups and downs, pains and joys, through its myriad colours and flavours, to consciously find loving devotion for every moment of this miracle that is Our Life.
Being on this path has led me to many beautiful discoveries and realisations, and it is from this place of love and deep personal healing that I wish to share this retreat together with you.
Nourish Hearts, the vehicle through which my work pours forth, is birthed from these very intentions, to share, support and uplift. Together with Shena, we’re very excited to be sharing this experience with you!
With lots of love,
Shao Hao
If you have any questions, need more information or would simply like to speak to either of us, please feel free to reach out to us at
Shena: @shenayoga
Shao Hao: @nourish.hearts
or simply fill in the form above 🙂
SHENAYOGA 