On a quiet backcountry road in Brooks, there is a small farmhouse containing something perhaps improbable – the Rolling Meadows Farm Retreat, co-run by Patricia Brown and Surya Chandra Das.

In this quiet landscape, East has come West.

Rolling Meadows is a nondenominational yoga and meditation retreat open to beginner and “expert” alike.

According to Surya, yoga is “cessation of the mind.”

I wonder, inwardly, what a mind that has “ceased” might be like.

As we talk over a fresh cup of ginger tea, both Surya and Patricia explain their abiding interest in the spiritual practices of the East.

Their cat, Metta, which means “loving kindness,” eyeballs me warily.

Surya was a lawyer in Vermont. In his 30s he found his way, serendipitously, to a vipassana retreat where the quietude and silence awakened a new life for him. (Vipassana means insight or seeing things as they really are.)

Patricia, also in her 30s, had developed high blood pressure and began to combat her stress through yoga and meditation.

In their teaching, they emphasize the importance of following the path closest to one’s heart rather than mimicking the strange goals and desires often implanted in us by society.

To deepen his understanding of yoga, Surya made two trips to India. In India, he studied with T.K.V. Desikachar and Ramesh Balsakar.

He says the trips were profound experiences.

“I was in a place where the primary focus for people was to understand their spiritual nature,” he says.

Surya indicates that American culture is often “material” and thus presents a problem for those who are inclined toward spiritual practice.

Patricia and Surya’s teaching combines elements of traditional yoga, breathing exercises and asana (posture and movement.)

Patricia says that for her, “Yoga is about seeing that there is really no separation between us and the world.” For Patricia, yoga is about slowing the mind down enough to see the intricate connection between the “individual” and the wider world.

It’s a tricky lesson to learn, but Surya assures me his training in the law makes it a lot easier – both to understand and to communicate to new students.

The idea for Rolling Meadows Retreat was born in the clouds somewhere between Costa Rica and the United States. Surya was returning with Patricia on an airplane from a yoga retreat. They both knew that Surya had a cancer diagnosis, and Patricia turned to him and asked, “What do you really want to do with your life?”

Surya elaborates: “I didn’t want to be rushing around anymore. I wanted to be quiet and seek quietude, and so Rolling Meadows was part of my healing.”

The focus of the program at Rolling Meadows Retreat is an extension of this desire for calm and peace in a chaotic world. Surya and Patricia bring a combined 40 years of teaching experience to the enterprise.

The facility offers a distinctive environment for what Patricia calls the “journey inward.”

First, in the ever-burgeoning world of yoga retreats, Rolling Meadows is small. (The farm has accommodations for 8 to 10 participants.) For some people, this is important because it helps foster an intimate learning space.

Second, Rolling Meadows has combined the practical and spiritual components of yoga and meditation, which, according to Surya, can be “a powerful combination.”

Because of his time in India, Surya brings additional insight and wisdom to the program. “Yoga is actually quite multidimensional in India,” he says. “Very often, the tradition talks about service and devotion. … There are endless different yogas out there. I think in the West sometimes we forget about this and tend to focus primarily on posture.”

There are a few things a beginner should know before signing up for a retreat.

“I think that if people are even thinking of going on retreat, there is something calling them inside,” Surya says. “And … even if they don’t end up coming to a Rolling Meadows retreat, they should still respect the voice calling them. Our retreat might not be right for everybody, but the individual should respect the urge for silence.

“Sometimes people are confused about what a silent retreat means. It’s not about a vow of silence and absolutely no talking. The reason for silence is that it tends to eliminate the distractions that we have in life and causes us to make that turn inward. We do engage in limited talk. You can ask us questions. You can learn from us.”

As I chew the fresh ginger grounds in my mouth – a real delight if you’ve never done this – I feel more relaxed.

Out the window, I can see the rolling fields run away in the distance.

Perhaps you really can stop the mind.

Metta, the cat, winks at me.