Frolicking in Flowers & Meditating In Gardens In San Diego
Note: This post has been updated on May 10, 2022.
This past Saturday, my girlfriend and I traveled up to Carlsbad and Encinatas to spend one of my last Saturdays in Southern California, visiting some of the most beautiful hidden gems along the SoCal coastline. It was one of those much-needed peaceful days that remind you of how lucky you are to be on this Earth, as well as fortunate enough to live in a place that offers so much beauty.
Flower Fields
Our first stop was the Flower Fields in Carlsbad. If you're in the area, I highly suggest you go.
Per their website, for over sixty years, Mother Nature has transformed the rolling hills of North San Diego County into one of the most spectacular and coordinated displays of natural color and beauty anywhere in the world. The 55-acres of Giant Tecolote Ranunculus flowers that make up The Flower Fields at Carlsbad Ranch® in Carlsbad, California, are in bloom for approximately six to eight weeks each year – from early March through early May – literally bringing the famous fields back to life. This annual burst of color, which has become part of the area’s local heritage, also is one of nature’s official ways of announcing the arrival of spring here in Southern California.
Meditation Garden
Our second stop was to meditate in a place that is designed to provide a zen experience in an outdoor setting. Overlooking Swami's, the Self Realization Meditation Gardens offer a variety of areas to meditate in. Meditating there was such an amazing experience.
The History
Per their website, “The Encinitas Temple is a branch of Self-Realization Fellowship (SRF), an international religious organization founded in 1920 by Paramahansa Yogananda to disseminate the universal teachings of Kriya Yoga, a sacred spiritual science originating millenniums ago in India.
The Temple offers a full program of inspirational lecture services, meditations, scriptural reading and meditation services, kirtans (devotional chanting), Sunday School and Teen classes, and other activities to introduce truth seekers to the timeless teachings of Paramahansa Yogananda and help them deepen their spiritual practices.
The nearby Encinitas Ashram Center and Meditation Gardens were established by Paramahansa Yogananda during his lifetime, and have become a center of pilgrimage for thousands of people each year, who come from all parts of the globe to visit the site where this great world teacher lived, worked, and communed with God.”