Latest Newsletter
Spiritual Shortfilms:
Teachings, Inspirations, Motivations
by John David
Kommende Events:
Weekly Zoom Meetings
Start again in Autumn 2025
Public Live Satsang
Start again in Autumn 2025
New Book
about Self Realisation
Mantra Music
with the Open Sky Band
Darkness Retreat
An Ashram is a place of inner stillness, authentic connection, and spiritual practice — a home for deep self-inquiry and for all who truly want to know themselves.
An Ashram is a place of inner stillness, authentic connection, and spiritual practice — a home for deep self-inquiry and for all who truly want to know themselves.
The question *“What is an Ashram?”* is actually an invitation.
Because an Ashram is not just a place in India with sandals at the door and incense in the air.
It is a space. A living energy field.
A different way of living — present, connected, real. Just as the spiritual teacher John Davidhas been making it accessible for many years at Open Sky House.
An Ashram is not a withdrawal from life — but a dive into what really matters.
It is a place where you come to rest.
Where your masks can fall away.
Where you meet life directly — not from the mind, but from inner stillness.
The Open Sky House community began over 20 years ago, quite spontaneously, during a summer retreat with John David. Around 20 people decided not to live in the usual structures of the old world — shaped by career, image, and consumption — but to follow their inner call for truth.
What united them was the desire to grow together and live in inner freedom — with mutual support and the guidance of a living spiritual teacher. Thus, a vibrant community was born where spirituality and daily life are not separate.
People work together, cook together, play and care for the children. They sing mantras and sit together in silence. And above all: they meet each other — honestly, openly, vulnerably. Daily Life itself becomes spiritual practice.
John David spent many years in India, in the Ashram of his teacher Osho in Poona and with Papaji in Lucknow. He also spent a lot of time in Tiruvannamalai, at the holy mountain Arunachala — where Sri Ramana Maharshi lived. For 25 years now, he has held a retreat there every January, close to the Ramana Ashram. Sri Ramana Maharshi became his deepest inspiration and inner source.
An Ashram is not a place, but a field of consciousness.
When you’re in such a field, you stop seeking. You become still. You hear the inner call again. And suddenly you remember:
“Ah yes, I was at home all along.”
There is no performance in the Ashram. No spiritual achievements to check off. Just simple, honest practice: stillness, mindfulness, community.
Ashrams that are home to a living teacher or master have a special quality — not someone who is “more,” but someone who is simply clear. Like a mirror.
Life at Open Sky House follows a rhythm of meditation and Karma Yoga:
* People meditate together
* Do tasks together in the guest and seminar house, kitchen, garden, gallery, and publishing office
* There is Satsang — conversations about truth, in deep honesty
* Practices such as Self-Enquiry, Yoga, Mantra Singing, Tantra
* Creativity finds natural expression in Music, Art, Theatre
The key is: every moment is an opportunity to be present.
It’s not about achieving something.
It’s about letting life flow through you — and realising what you already are. That we are not separate. And that we do not control life, but are part of it.
The structure of an Ashram is not a rigid system. It exists to make your ego visible — and to gradually dissolve it.
In daily life with others, old patterns show up much faster. You can’t hide. Your masks begin to crack. And that’s exactly where true freedom begins.
An Ashram is like an alchemical laboratory for the soul:
You are challenged, triggered — and at the same time lovingly held in a space full of stillness, presence, and acceptance.
That’s how healing happens — all by itself.
Many think an Ashram can only exist in India. But John David has shown with Open Sky House that an Ashram is possible right in the heart of Germany — between Cologne and Düsseldorf, in an old 17th century mansion right on the banks of the Rhine in a small village.
Here lives a community of people who consciously shape their everyday life with true dedication to truth and the inner fire to be awake.
If you’re wondering what an Ashram is, maybe you’re already feeling something inside — a calling, a sense that there must be more than everyday routine.
An Ashram is a place where you can explore exactly that — not as theory, but as a living experience.
You don’t have to leave everything behind. You can simply come for a Satsang, a Weekend Workshop, a Transformation week, or a Retreat.
Meditation, stillness, honest sharing — and the chance to meet yourself more deeply and truly.
“Life is much simpler than we think — if we are willing to become still.”
– John David
An Ashram is not a place.
An Ashram is a mirror.
A fire.
A space where you can rediscover your True Self — beyond thoughts, roles, and expectations.
Whether in India at Arunachala or in Europe at Open Sky House — the invitation is the same:
Wake up. Be still. Be what you are.
Find out how you can Transform your Life into Peace and Harmony.
