Self-Realization Fellowship Meditation Gardens

The cliffside meditation gardens at the Encinitas ashram overlook Swami's surf break from a bluff Paramahansa Yogananda began visiting in the 1920s, before he took up residence in the hermitage here and wrote his Autobiography of a Yogi. Open to the public Tuesday through Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the grounds hold koi ponds, ocean-facing meditation nooks and a Golden Lotus Tower dedicated in 1948, after erosion forced the removal of an earlier temple on the same bluff.