Wisdom, Meditation & Spiritual Guidance

Purpose isn't usually something someone else can hand you.

Sometimes we simply need the tools, teachings and guidance that help us hear our own inner wisdom more clearly.

Our spiritual school brings together teachings influenced by both Eastern and Western mystical traditions, with yoga, Sufism, meditation and the study of universal spiritual principles at its foundation.

Through study circles, meditation instruction, spiritual guidance, teacher training, workshops and our Yoga of Mystics® teachings, students are invited to explore the larger questions of human life without requiring them to abandon their own faith, beliefs or traditions.

We aren't interested in telling people what to believe.

We are interested in helping people become more conscious of how they live.

Retreat: A Space for Something Deeper

Sometimes a few hours isn't enough.

Our retreats create the conditions to step away from ordinary routines and immerse more fully in practice, reflection, nature and community.

At our retreat center in the mountains of Northwest Montana—and through select destination retreats—we bring together yoga, meditation, spiritual study, nourishing food, meaningful conversation, time outdoors, rest and other healing modalities.

Nature is an important part of that experience.

Mountains. Forest. Lakes. Gardens. Silence. Weather. Dirt under your feet. In your hands.

There is something powerful about remembering that we are part of the natural world rather than simply observers of it.

Our retreats are intentionally designed to leave room for that remembering.

Not every moment needs to be scheduled.

Sometimes transformation happens during the teaching.

Sometimes it happens walking in the forest.

Making This Work More Accessible

A mission centered on human potential cannot belong only to people who can comfortably afford it.

In 2025, with the generosity of donors who specifically wanted to help remove financial barriers, Samaa Living began a scholarship initiative.

Today, scholarship support helps make ongoing yoga practice and retreat experiences available to people who may otherwise be unable to participate.

Our vision is to continue growing these programs—creating more opportunities for individuals and groups carrying significant stress, responsibility or service to others to experience rest, practice, connection and renewal regardless of financial position.

If you would like to be supported through one of our programs...

Apply for a Yoga Scholarship

Apply for a Retreat Scholarship

Or if you are in a position to help someone else participate, donations made to our Scholarship Fund directly support this work.

Support the Scholarship Fund

Growing More Than Food

Our mission also asks us to consider the community and land immediately around us.

At our Montana retreat property, we are continuing to expand our gardens, greenhouse and medicinal plant projects.

These spaces allow us to grow food that nourishes our staff, community, and retreat guests, deepen our relationship with the land, teach traditional and practical plant knowledge, and create meaningful local employment connected to the care of the property.

The garden becomes another classroom.

Through classes and workshops in herbs and plant medicine, we can reconnect people with knowledge that humans carried for generations: how to grow, observe, harvest and work respectfully with the plants around us.

Creating Community

Transformation rarely happens in isolation.

Throughout the year, Samaa Living creates opportunities for people to gather beyond the walls of a traditional yoga class.

Sacred circles. Community practices. Meditation. Spiritual study. Herbal medicine workshops. Shared meals. Volunteer days. Retreats. Conversations that go somewhere deeper than small talk.

Some people come to Samaa looking for yoga.

Some are looking for community.

Some need rest.

Some are searching spiritually.

Some simply know that the way they've been living no longer feels quite right.

They don't need to arrive with the answer.

Finding it is part of the work.

Rooted in a Lifetime of Study

Samaa Living was founded by Naader Shagagi, whose study and practice of yoga and meditation began more than four decades ago.

A student of the teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda and Sufi mystic Pir Inayat Khan, Naader's path brought together Eastern and Western approaches to spirituality and eventually became the foundation of Yoga of Mystics® and the school that would become Samaa Living.

At the heart of that work is a belief that truth is not the possession of any single religion, philosophy or culture—and that beneath our differences lies something shared.

Our original mission speaks of Unity: moving beyond the divisions created by belief, nationality and identity and toward greater love, wisdom and recognition of our common humanity.

That ideal continues to guide everything we do.

The Mission in Practice

Our work will continue to evolve.

It may look like a yoga class on a Tuesday morning.

A meditation shared with someone learning how to quiet their mind.

A scholarship that allows a student to practice consistently for the first time.

A week in the mountains for someone who desperately needs space to reset.

A spiritual conversation that changes the direction of a life.

A greenhouse full of food.

A medicinal garden.

A local job.

A circle of people sitting together and telling the truth.

A teacher helping someone discover that the wisdom they have been searching for isn't entirely outside of them.

These things may appear unrelated.

To us, they are all part of the same work.

Helping people become more conscious, more connected and more fully themselves—so they can discover their purpose and bring that purpose into the world.

That is why Samaa Living exists.

Come practice. Come study. Come retreat. Come curious.

You don't have to know exactly what you're looking for.

Sometimes the first step is simply creating enough space to find out.