Landis Arboretum Meditation Garden Created by Vijaya Luxmi

Lily Pads and flowers floating in the Shanti-Vun pond

Shanti-Vun pond with bridge at Landis Arboretum

New birch tree circle garden

Vijaya (R) with friend Heidi Donohue at Shanti-Vun

Vijaya in the newly planted birch tree circle

Vijaya Luxmi and friend Heidi Donohue

Visitors to the Shanti-Vun meditation garden gather around the pond and pavilion

By Diane Dobry

COBLESKILL—Shanti-Vun, which translates to “Peace Forest,” is the beautiful meditation area in the Esperance-based Landis Arboretum, where a formerly overgrown and undeveloped section has been transformed into one of the “most popular hubs” on the property, according to Fred Breglia, Executive Director at Landis.

Seeking Peace and Birch Trees

The story behind the creation of this garden begins with Cobleskill resident, business woman, and store owner Vijaya Luxmi, whose shop, Vijaya’s Boutique, opened in 1979 in a small house near SUNY before moving to its current location at 577 Main Street (see Mountain Eagle story about her store in the May 2, 2025 issue).

Vijaya had several dreams of sitting under a birch tree, which gave her peace. But she wondered where the birch tree in the dream was. “Is it here, or is it in India?” she wondered, before discovering through research that there were no birches in India other than in the higher elevations, so it had to be here.

A resident of Cobleskill, she was looking for a place where she could garden, walk, and meditate to share with neighbors. And, she wanted it to have birch trees. Whenever customers stopped in to her store she asked if they had birch trees on their property. One day it paid off. A customer called saying she needed to have birch trees on her property removed or cut down, and she asked Vijaya if she wanted them.

A Home for the Birches

Vijaya found a place behind Back Street Music on Union Street that she thought “would be such a nice place to create a garden for the neighbors who don’t have any gardens,” she said. “They have children, they have grandchildren, and there is space near the parking lot that can be beautified.”

The garden would honor her parents, whom she describes as “very loving, giving, and caring people,” adding that they cooked food for others and helped out people back in India when disasters like floods, fires, or famine struck. Her father had been a successful manufacturer of pots and pans in America in the mid-1960s, so they gave back to their home country.

After seeking permission from three different mayors in Cobleskill, and getting their permission to do the project, Vijaya personally hired a professional to plant a total of 11 birch trees, along with lilies and a mulberry tree for the birds. She spent her evenings cleaning it and watering everything.

One day, noticing that some of the trees were missing, she found that the Village was dismantling the beautiful garden, and journalists wrote that she had been gardening on private property. In spite of her efforts to improve the area, no one came to her to say she could not do it, but ultimately the birch trees were cut down. “They destroyed everything I had created. It was so beautiful and now there are just weeds there,” Vijaya said, noting it was a very sad time for her.

A chance meeting at Price Chopper with retired SUNY teacher Anne Donnelly led to a call from Fred Breglia (aka “The Tree Man”) at the Landis Arboretum. Donnelly was staunch supporter of the Arboretum, a board member and one-time president of the Board of Trustees, as well as a much-loved volunteer and volunteer coordinator there. She went to the Arboretum board, recounting Vijaya’s story of looking to find a new place to create a garden that she wanted to give to the community as an honorary memorial to her loving parents.

In her first meeting with Breglia, she said she was as nervous as a young child when they asked what she wanted. She told him, “My dream is to be able to have a pavilion and water—a pond—a waterfall, and a labyrinth.” When they told her there was already a labyrinth on the property in an unused part of the Arboretum, that sealed the deal. Her confidence and optimism soared. “Put the pavilion right next to it,” she told them. And the dream began to evolve. Her friend, Heidi Donahue, has been a helpful supporter and sometimes assists in communicating her vision.

Designing it together with Breglia, Vijaya asked for a proposal and ideas. The Arboretum replaced the unutilized space of hedges, dead tree stumps, and invasive species of plants with the pond and bridge, and building the pavilion. But the labyrinth was there, not being used, so Vijaya, whom they call “Queen V,” worked with the Arboretum and Floyd Guernsey of Guernsey Nursery, who provided and planted the birch trees, to ultimately create a place for relaxation, for finding shade from the sun or shelter in a rainstorm, and a place to sit, talk, eat, learn, or meditate.

There are 42 birch trees there now, many of which were sponsored, with a tag hanging on each tree to give recognition to the donors. A walking path leads visitors through the grove. The pond is filled with lily pads, and the bridge over the pond overlooks a small waterfall feature that offers soothing sounds to the meditation garden. A plaque offers tribute to Vijaya’s parents close to an area where a circle of large blocks of limestone are oriented in each compass direction of North, South, East, and West. Smaller sitting stones are in the space, as well. Floyd Guernsey helped Vijaya find just the stones she had in mind—a task he was not sure would be possible. But the stars aligned, and he was able to install the stones she hoped for.

The sitting stone space has been used for drumming circles, weddings, and wedding photos-- the bridge by the lily pond is a favorite photo spot. A recent writer’s retreat was hosted in the Shanti-Vun pavilion. Drumming circles are held regularly (see landisarboretum.org for event schedules), with drums available for those who do not have their own. “It is very meditative,” Vijaya says. “It is sound therapy and connection. People need people.”

A New Birch Circle Space

Next steps have been the addition of seven new birch trees in a space situated near the dinosaur sculpture (aka Arborsaurus) close to the Shanti-Vun garden. The new trees are planted in a circle. A central surface of slow-growing grass will be planted there to provide an area soft and comfortable enough to lie down on, walk on, and do yoga on.

Read more about the Meditation Garden and the activities and events it offers at landisarboretum.org and on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/LandisArb.