We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Ricardo Gonzalez-Jurado. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Ricardo below.

Ricardo, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

I always wanted to live in the country and I found this amazing property that I immediately connected with. Then I wanted to always help others and I thought I can do it through yoga. The three philosophies that drive me come from the Ubuntu philosophy of central Africa, “I am because we are”, From Dr. Maya Angelou, “If you get give, if you learn teach”, and the Confucious philosophy, “If your plan is for one year, plant rice, for 10 years plant trees, and for 100 years, educate children.” My goal is for 200 years, so under the pyramid is already a space for a time capsule. Within this time capsule, there will be a letter written by the students of the first graduating class of Samadhi School, sharing their thoughts with children of the future. My desire is to share with all children that they are magical, amazing, beautiful, super powerful creatures that need to learn how to control their powers so that they won’t hurt themselves or others. If children grew up listening to this statement every single day, they will end up believing it. Once I decided that I wanted to create a yoga retreat and school, I needed a studio. My garage was not big enough for that purpose, so I came up with the plan to build one. Many years ago I read that a pyramid is the strongest structure architected by humans. That intrigued me so much that I designed a house in the shape of a pyramid, but I encountered many functional problems for human habitation, so I put the plans to rest in my drawer. I felt that the opportunity arose again since I needed to build a specific building to practice yoga. I was intrigued by the fact later that pyramids are designed by nature, not by humans, because I discovered that crystals could grow in the shape of pyramids. In the original design of my home, the bottom of the pyramid was designed to have a stream running through it. I decided to do the same thing in my studio, so that is why the pyramid has a cave with water features beneath. Being a pragmatic person, I did not follow numerology or sacred geometry, I just decided to point the entrance to the north and the vertical angle was determined by how comfortable I was standing next to the wall. I then rounded up to 52 degrees. I didn’t know at that time that the Giza pyramids were constructed at 51.17 degrees, nor did I know that water ran underneath. I also didn’t know that the Samadhi Pyramid was being built at the same latitude as the Giza pyramids, both at 29.9 degrees.

Ricardo, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I was working 16 hours a day on my tire shop in Houston because I was building my biz and that is what it takes, a lot of work. At one point after 16 years, I decided to move to the countryside and gave my biz to my employees, so they manage, pay their own salaries and share with me the profits. My family and friends were upset with my decision but it ended up being the best one I ever made in my life. My tire shop grew more under their care than it may have under mine. And as we speak, it is still running after 36 years in the same location. This is what I am most proud of, making that hard decision, to leave my business in someone else’s hands, trusting that they will appreciate it. What happened after that intention and with Samadhi Yoga Retreat, more than proud I am humbled, full of gratitude because I can not explain how this grew up into such an amazing healing place. When I took the action to move to the country to live my dream, I understood that dreaming is not enough, you have to grab the shovel and work toward your goals, start digging in that direction.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

Word of mouth is our primary avenue of growing clientele. We appreciate the organic growth we’ve experienced through other’s human experience when they visit Samadhi Yoga Retreat.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

The Yoga Sutras.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.samadhiyogareatreat.com
• Instagram: @samadhiyogaretreat
• Facebook: @samadhiyogaretreat