We are heading to the Bihar School of Yoga, a famous and well known source of excellent yoga teachers. Train tickets to Bihar are very difficult to get – we could only get 3 separate non AC sleeper seats in 2nd class. This time we cross fingers that our Farakka Express train no. 13484 will…
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2nd day at BHU, Vanarasi
Freshly arrived to Varanasi on the early morning train, Coni joined us for a second day at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). We were allowed to take photographs of the morning yoga class (asanas) for international students. Another 4-month yoga course, called diploma course, is offered at BHU – this one is more theoretical. Although…
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Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
With a couple of hours delay we (Heide and Otto) reached Varanasi. After a fast check-in, we headed to the famous Banaras Hindu University (BHU), one of India’s largest campuses. Professor K.K. Sharma (Sankhyayoga Darshan and Vyakarana, Indian Philosophy) welcomed us and invited us to watch an asana class for Indian students of the 4-week…
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Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, Delhi
Today we visited the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY), the only national institute of yoga, and a place in the heart of India’s capital where you can get a very complete postgraduate degree in yoga studies. Before the asana class started, we could see and learn how proper nose and stomach cleaning are performed. A…
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Sivananda Yoga Vendanta Nataraja Center, South Delhi
From today Heide, a very experienced journalist from Germany, will join us on our journey for about 2 weeks. We will for sure benefit a lot from her professional experience. Our first center visit together is the local Sivananda Yoga Vendanta Nataraja Center in South Delhi. At the beginning of our trip, we had visited another Sivananda ashram at Neyyar Dam…
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On the train back to Delhi
The train ride back to Delhi, which we booked the evening before departure, was a whopping 127 rupees (about 2 EUR) per person for a distance of 250 km! 🙂 We got some of the last seats – those in the very first wagon. These tickets sell last as they are next to the locomotive, which means having to…
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Yog-Ganga Center for Yoga Studies, Dehradun
Today we left Rishikesh after a week along the banks of the Ganges river. Our next destination: The Yog-Ganga Center for Yoga Studies in Dehradun. Swati and Rajiv Chanchani teach Iyengar yoga, with an approach different from everything we had seen before. According to their strict philosophy, they don’t want to promote themselves, thus they only allowed…
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Luxury yoga at the Ananda
The Ananda was on today’s agenda. It was quite an ascent into the hills, 18 km away from Rishikesh. The Ananda is an old palace turned into one of the world’s best wellness resorts, spread over 100 acres. Sushant, the head of the yoga department, welcomed us with a freshly brewed coffee and introduced us to the philosophy…
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Parmath Niketan, Rishikesh
It was a rainy morning for a change, and luckily we had no early appointment. Our next meeting was at 2:30pm with Bhagvati at the Parmarth Niketan where no programme was running at the moment due to the upcoming yoga festival. Still, we could visit the facilities and see some of the 150 boys who study there, performing asanas near…
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Phool Chatti Ashram, Rishikesh
Our new day in the Phool Chatti Ashram started with a photo session of this wonderful place. Initially Lalita was not very fond of letting us go around the compound taking photographs and interacting with students, but the feeling got more relaxed after a short while. Coni ended up taking group pictures with all the yoga students, first with his…
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Complete yoga in Rishikesh: pranayama, asanas, meditation, philosophy, group chanting
We accepted Swami Veda’s invitation and stayed in the ashram for the night. It was a spontaneous decision, and we had to buy some toothbrushes on the spot. It was a great idea, we could see the full morning programme, which started at 5am with pranayama, asanas and meditation. After breakfast we visited the research center where we…
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