Love Is All There Is: Inside La Casa del Jardín

It’s a summer evening in Puerto Vallarta and the sun has dropped below the Pacific. Cool air drifts down from the mountains, stirring the leaves of the nanche, guayaba, and flor de mayo trees growing within the walls of La Casa del Jardín, where Alfredo Amitabha leads a small group in meditation. Shanti, Alfredo’s wife, strums a guitar and the group sings the mantra Baba nam kevalam again and again, alternating the rhythm with each repeated phrase and clapping softly to a slow, steady beat. The effect is profoundly tranquil—which is the whole point.

“Baba nam kevalam means ‘love is all there is’ in Sanskrit,” Alfredo explained after class. “It’s a universal mantra intended to clear negative thoughts and create inner peace. It’s simple, but it calms and recharges you spiritually, any moment, any time.”

The Path of Bliss: Self-Realization and Community Service

Alfredo and Shanti follow a tradition called Ananda Marga, or “the path of bliss.” The two met while working at an Ananda Marga retreat center in the United States, but it wasn’t exactly love at first sight: Alfredo was a monk, and Shanti was a volunteer. Still, as two Latinos far from home—Shanti is from México and Alfredo is from Colombia—the two bonded over their shared mother language and exuberant culture.

“At the retreats, we’d be eating at a table with other Latinos, talking, laughing, being very noisy,” Shanti remembered. “Non-Latinos would ask, ‘Who are those loud people?’ We were just happy Latinos.”

For nearly 15 years, Alfredo and Shanti crossed paths only at retreats, as friends, even as Shanti married and Alfredo continued his monastic life. Eventually, Alfredo felt called to leave monkhood and return to civilian life. Around the same time, Shanti’s marriage ended. The two reconnected, realized the depth of their feelings for each other, and got married.

Alfredo and Shanti opened La Casa del Jardín in 2020. Through the studio, they continue to live the Ananda Marga philosophy of self-realization and service to humanity.

“Meditation and Raja yoga—which I also teach—are the self-realization pillar of our practice,” Alfredo said. “These classes help practitioners calm their minds so that they can solve their problems.”

“Community service is the other pillar,” Shanti added. “Whenever we can, we try to help others. The meditation sessions are donation-based, and all donations go to community service organizations like animal shelters, orphanages, and environmental conservation groups. Basically, if we want inner peace, we have to help create peace in the world around us.”

A Practice for Every Body

In addition to meditation and Raja yoga, La Casa del Jardín offers Vinyasa yoga—which offers a more dynamic practice compared to Raja’s slower, more meditative approach—and TRX, a workout focused on bodyweight resistance exercises.

The studio also hosts special events and workshops like sound healing, cacao ceremonies, and the Inner Garden Experience by Veronika Starr, a monthly, guided, free-movement session in which participants dance through wireless headphones—no choreography or dance experience required.

“We like to say, ‘clases para todos,’ or, ‘classes for everyone.’” Alfredo said. “Whether you’re a beginner, intermediate, or advanced, everyone is included so that everyone can benefit.”