Welcome to So’Ham –  

From the Indian Himalayas to the jungles of Brazil to everyday life in his hometown Oslo, Norway, Vasudev has studied with a variety of gurus, teachers and shamans. Since 1987 he has been singing mantras as part of his devotional practice, and being a musician he started sharing his love for devotional singing with friends and soon reached a wider audience.

Vasudev started meditating in 1987 at the age of 17. The following year he met his teacher
Swami Shyam. After finishing high school, he went to the ashram in the Himalayas to study
with him.

From 1998 onward he has been greatly influenced by Vigdis Garbarek, a Norwegian
housewife and wise woman. In 2002 he connected with an Osho inspired community and
retreat centre in Sweden, Ängsbacka. Vasudev also studied with Ramesh Balsekar in
Mumbai and is inspired by many teachers including Alan Watts, Eckart Tolle and
Nisargadatta Maharaj. From 2006 he sat in circle with Chandra Lacombe. Vasudev says, “I
am very grateful to all my teachers as I walk my own path”

Vasudev grew up in Oslo, Norway, but have since made the world his home — especially,
India, Sweden, Brazil and Bali, Indonesia. He shares kirtan (bhajans) — sacred song circles –
wherever he goes.

Since Vasudev moved to Bali in April 2012, he has been leading kirtans groups there. This year he also undertook a world tour that took him to India, Egypt, Grece, Finland, Sweden and Norway. Always playing and singing kirtans to help people connect to their hearts.

Now, Vasudev, who is considered one of the finest Kirtan singers in Bali will be joining us for the kirtan retreat at So’Ham retreat center.

Dont miss this opportunity to for one week sing your hearts out with Vasudev and his merry group. It will be an inner experience you  don’t want to miss.

Prema is co founder and lead teacher of So’Ham Retreat Center.

Prema is a 500 hr RYT, Yoga Alliance approved teacher & yoga teacher trainer. She’s been practicing and teaching for over 20 years.
All of her classes are gentle alignment-based hatha yoga classes with some dynamic movement and breath-work making her classes very calming and therapeutic. Her classes are for beginners to intermediate.

She studied many years with well-respected and international yoga teachers such as Darren Rhodes, Bruce Bowditch and Christina Sells.
She has deep knowledge of the body and movement from studying massage, lymphatic system and shiatsu, meditation and pranayama/breathwork that she integrates with yoga to support calming the nervous system.

Prema keeps her classes basic, clear and simple for students to be safe and to experience connection to their heart and body, and to calm the mind.
​
Check out Prema’s Youtube to learn more about her classes!
​

Prema began her yoga studies when she first traveled to Ganeshpuri India at the age of 17 and met her meditation teacher, she had the experience of love for no reason at all – unconditional love. After her first Hatha Yoga lesson she fell deeply in love with the physical and meditative aspects of yoga, and thus began her life’s journey of practicing and studying yoga, meditation and wellness.

Through a consistent practice of Hatha yoga she was relieved of her chronic pain from a fractured neck and scoliosis, giving her the desire and commitment to teach others to experience more freedom and less pain in their body.

She studied and lived in India for many years, practicing countless hours of yoga and meditation under the guidance of a meditation master and senior hatha yoga teachers.

After studying in India, she moved to New York City at the age of 20 and dived into the wellness world. She’s educated, certified and licensed in a number of holistic health care modalities. She personally studied with Ohashi, a shiatsu master, at the Ohashi Institute in New York. She is certified in Shiatsu, massage, holistic skincare and wellness, cranial sacral and anti-inflammatory lymphatic drainage.

Prema was trained in New York City by Susan Ciminelli, a world renowned holistic health, beauty and wellness guru to the stars. Using her holistic talents and experience she helped bring into existence one of New York’s top holistic wellness centers from 2001 – 2011, Sphatika International, where she developed holistic wellness protocols, individual yoga and detox programs for clients from New York to Los Angeles, many of which were celebrities.

In 2022 she suffered the sudden death of her 21 year old son, to accidental fentanyl poisoning, the tragedy shocked her body, nervous system and shattered her heart, leaving her numb, frozen and heart broken.

Her long time yoga path of 35 years, caught her shattered pieces and held her with the compassionate loving kindness of a dear old friend, accessing her inner resources from the seeds planted from her longtime practice. She practices and teaches yoga in honor of her beloved son, Lance. She is very grateful to experience and share yoga as a healing modality for grief.

Prema is deeply grateful to her long time meditation teacher and mentor for her loving guidance and wisdom on her life long journey through the heart.

Prema is grateful for the support of her husband, four adult children and two bonus children. She is grateful for the beautiful, peaceful, abundant nature and land that supports and surrounds So’Ham Retreat.

I made my way to India by hitchhiking from Sweden in 1977. Spirituality was not something I was interested in at all. It discovered me. I spend a few months in a music school in Dharamsala. I play mridung, tabla, cymbal and harmonium.  Towards the end of that journey, I came across a small yoga ashram in the center of Sri Lanka. For 3 months, I practiced intensive Hatha Yoga and experienced several amazing, earth-shattering experiences of my true self. Life took a turn.

After returning to Sweden, I was determined to find a path that would resonate with me. In January 1979, I stepped into a Siddha Yoga Meditation Center in Stockholm. I was home. The following years I visited the ashrams in upstate New York and in Ganeshpuri, India. 1983 I moved into the ashram in Ganeshpuri and remained there for 12 years (in between Ganeshpuri and upstate New York). Deeply involved in my sadhana and spiritual practices. A tremendous amount of spiritual growth and understanding took place during those year.

Time for next change, 1995, “Mats, its time for your to continue your sadhana outside the Ashram”. I found home in Los Angeles, where I stayed for 22 years. Very involved the spiritual community there. Participating and putting together retreats, workshops, kirtan sessions, etc. Had my children in LA and balanced young ones with sadhana. As my understanding grew, my spiritual concepts continued to dissipate. More growth.

Forward to 2017. Prema and I, along with five of our children, moved to a large property in the Swedish countryside. Far away for the hustle and bustle of LA. We opened a Holistic Cafe, a Yoga and Meditation Center and dove into a different kind of life.

2022 tragedy struck. We lost one of our children to fentanol poisining. We closed the Cafe and the Yoga studio and spent 6 months in healing Bali.

Now we are growing the So’Ham Retreat Center with the intention to giving back to the community for all which we have learned and received over the years.

I feel very fortunate and blessed for this life and for the growing understanding and experience of what I really am.

Born and raised in Verona, Italy. Started practicing SiddhaYoga Meditation in his teens.It is a that age that he picks up both guitar and Mrdang (Classic Devotional Indian Drum)and keeps honing his skills.

Complets a BA & MA in Oriental Languages and Philosophies and
is off to live in an ashram UpState NY for a few years. His career started working for UNDP in NYC and later as a consultant in the Energy & Renewables Industry. All the while he keepsplaying, jamming and meditating.

Finally in 2020 moves to Stockholm and continues to foster his passion for music and kirtan. He just published an album with Annika Schullerqvist and Jack Lidback available on Amazon, Apple, Spotify and Youtube.