The first few times I did yoga, I remember thinking, “well this is kinda lame.”
Coming from a background of more “intense” sports like full-contact martial arts, wrestling, and breakdancing, I struggled to see the point of the practice. Doing asanas seemed like the white belt stance training in kung fu, and advanced inversions and balance poses seemed like beginner breakdance freezes.
But as time went on, I started to realize that there was more to yoga than meets the eye. Years later when I had gone deeper into internal energy practices like qigong, reiki, and alchemy, I became curious about the more subtle aspects of yoga.
Left: me doing Scorpion Pose, an advanced yoga asana; Right: a photo I captured in China of a Forearm Freeze, a beginner breakdance move
At home in the US, yoga is all about asanas, or postures. People want to get some light exercise, stretch, get a nice toned body, etc. But in India the art means much more than that — it’s a complete system of mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing.
With this in mind, I decided to travel to India to learn about yoga in the place where it originated. After doing some research online, I came across Rishikul Yogshala Rishikesh. I liked the look of their website and their training program, so I decided to give it a go, and I’m so glad I did.
These are some thoughts on the experience as a whole, a Rishikul Yogshala Rishikesh review, if you will.
Asanas
Asanas are the postures that we commonly identify as yoga in the West. At Rishikul Yogshala, the two main styles taught are Hatha and Ashtanga.
Hatha yoga is an older, more traditional form of yoga. The word “Hatha” is a combination of “ha” meaning sun and “tha” meaning moon. The word “yoga” itself means union, and Hatha yoga is an effort to unify the sun and moon, or yin and yang, within an individual.
Ashtanga yoga is relatively new. Created by K. Pattabhi Jois in the 19th century, the style is recognized by individual poses linked together into flowing movements. Ashtanga vinyasa flow is one of the most influential and popular forms of yoga as exercise worldwide.
As someone who went into the program with only basic exposure to yoga, I found the classes in hatha and ashtanga yoga to be very informative and thorough.
The teachers know what they’re doing, and are experts in instructing you through the movements. However, it is more of a “training session” than a deeply instructional class. The teachers are both men of few words, and the focus is on leading you through an intense training session, not on Q&A.
The hardest part for me was getting up in the morning and going straight into intense asana exercises at 6:30am — my body felt like it was still asleep!
I got a lot from these basic lessons, but if you’re an experienced yogi, you might want to opt for the more advanced 300-hour or 500-hour training. Since the focus is on leading you through the exercises, don’t expect in-depth instruction in the details of each movement. For that, you’ll need…
Adjustment and Alignment
Adjustment and Alignment class was one place where I got a lot of value. These were taught by the head instructor and founder of Rishikul Yogshala Bipin Baloni, and that experience shines through.
Bipin is amazing. He had a great air about him of experience and seriousness blended with humor and understanding. It never felt like he was “above” the class, but rather teaching from right there at eye-level.
Adjustment and Alignment was the class where we delved into each individual motion, learning how the movements should feel as you perform them. If you’re doing a forward bend wrong, or falling out of alignment during a twisting posture, Bipin will point it out and show you how to correct it.
Seriously, Bipin is a great teacher and I felt lucky to have him offering nuggets of physical wisdom in this hands-on class.
Pranayama
This is one of the subjects I was most interested in studying, and one of the main reasons I enrolled in the course.
“Prana” means vital life force, and is comparable to the Chinese concept of qi, while “yama” means to gain control. Pranayama aims to work with the body’s natural energy flows through specific techniques of breath control.
This stuff was really fascinating. Our teacher Monika was excellent, and had a very distinguished and refined air about her. You could tell she really practices this stuff.
We learned breath control techniques like nadi shodhan (alternate nostril breathing), bhastrika (the bellows breath), and bhramari (humming bee breath), among others. By the end, I felt like I had a new toolkit of techniques to affect the more subtle flows in my body.
With something this esoteric, it was really helpful to have a teacher there answering my questions every step of the way, instead of learning from YouTube videos or Wikipedia.
Mantra
Mantra classes were also taught by Monika. These classes were pretty straightforward — first we learned each mantra, then we practiced reciting them individually and in groups.
To be honest, I still have questions about mantras. This terrain in yoga becomes difficult to understand from a western perspective, as it really is intrinsically tied to the Hindu way of life. We didn’t dwell on mantras too long since there was much more ground to be covered, but I was glad to have that practice and exposure nonetheless.
Yoga Philosophy
The material in this class was super interesting. It was a great opportunity for me to finally learn about all the aspects that lie beneath the tip of the yoga iceberg.
We studied things like the history of yoga, the four categories of mental function, and the eight limbs of yoga. Asana, which many people think is the entirety of yoga, is just one of those limbs, while other limbs branch into topics like morality and ethics.
This class was taught by Krishna, who is clearly very passionate about these teachings. It was great to come back after lunch and rest our bodies while stretching our minds with this stuff.
Ayurveda
This was almost like a bonus add-on. We only had three sessions of Ayurveda study, but it was valuable nonetheless to be exposed to this alternative holistic view of diet and medicine.
To me, the most interesting thing we covered in Ayurveda was the concept of the doshas. This was a really new concept, and I encourage you to check out the quiz below and find out about your own doshas!
Meditation and Yoga Nidra
These classes were awesome. I’ve done a lot of meditation, but the yoga nidra was quite new.
Yoga nidra means “sleep yoga.” In it, you relax into a yogic state of near-sleep (admittedly for me, there were a few times where this slipped into regular sleep…).
The idea is that you lie down, and essentially enter a state of “body asleep, mind awake.” Krishna was the teacher of this class, and he was really excellent at guiding you into the state, in what other experts would likely call a hypnotic induction.
Aspects of this practiced bordered on “manifesting”, where you would enter this state of connection with your unconscious mind, and affirm a resolution or change to make in your life. I really enjoyed getting to experiment with yoga nidra, in addition to more standard meditation.
Beyond that, we even got to learn the practice of trataka, a meditation that involves gazing at a single point such as one’s fingertip or the flame of a candle, which is said to aid the development of psychic abilities. All in all, this class was awesome.
Left: students step out onto the balcony to take a break from class; Right: my humble room shortly after setting my things down
Accomodation and Facilities
Moving away from the classes themselves, let’s talk about other aspects of the course, like the accomodation and facilities in general.
As far as I was concerned, these were all high quality. I’m no stranger to travel in Asia, and I had a comfortable stay in my room without any problems.
Now I will mention that this is not a five-star yoga resort. You’re in a rural city in a developing country, so don’t expect everything to be perfect. Some rooms have just a fan instead of air conditioning and hot water in the shower is not always a guarantee. The shower and bathroom are one, un-separated unit. This is the norm in India, but expect everything in the bathroom to be wet all the time.
Like I said, I had a very comfortable stay, but someone with more luxurious habits might be in for a bit of a shock. I’ll also mention that the staff were very helpful and understanding in accommodating students’ requests — I showed up late and got stuck with a room on the top floor where I could hardly connect to the WiFi, and Krishna was awesome about getting me set up in a new room as soon as one was available.
Food
Sheesh, this was a battle for me.
I generally eat a lot of meat. I’m a hamburger kind of guy. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Indian food — but don’t expect the Indian food you know and love here.
This food is all vegetarian, and it’s much more sattvic, a classification of food in India that is good for those following a yogic path. Basically it was very bland, not spicy, not flavorful. Several varieties of green and brown mush. I mean we’re really pushing chickpeas to the absolute brink of what’s possible.
By being bland, the food is said to help you maintain a balanced mental and physical state. That may be true, but for the first week my mental/physical state was anything but balanced. I was fighting against the reality of this food.
Before this course, going one day of eating vegetarian was a challenge for me. Hell, going one meal of eating vegetarian was a challenge. I signed up for this knowing it would be hard for me, but I was ready to take on the personal challenge. Indeed it was hard — my body was craving the comfort and strength of meat, and I immediately lost seven or eight pounds in the first couple weeks. Without meat, my body felt lighter; my face and fingers even slimmed down, to the point that my favorite ring would no longer stay on.
I thought I would eat vegetarian in the course, and then sneak out into Rishikesh every once in a while for some meat, fried chicken, or a hamburger. No. Wrong. The ENTIRE CITY of Rishikesh is meat-free, and alcohol-free as well. As someone who considered themselves an experienced Asia traveler, this was a culture shock. And to go through it while also being stuck with relatively bland, flavorless Indian food, was difficult to say the least.
Okay, now that I’ve finished my rant, I can be honest and say it was an eye-opening experience. I signed up for this knowing it would be a difficult trial for my own development, and that’s exactly what it was. I would get to the end of my meal and ask myself, do I feel full? I honestly couldn’t tell.
After eating plates and plates of food, I still didn’t feel satisfied. I realized that my craving was not for more food, but for the dopamine that comes from eating something delicious. Like I said, it was eye-opening.
This was my first experience going days at a time without eating anything that tasted good, and my body and mind both started to revolt. But once I got into the swing of it, I had learned a lot about myself and about those cravings.
By the end of the course, the kitchen had loosened up, offering some items with a bit more flavor, like a simple pasta or one dish that actually had some spice. Besides that, I had found some local cafes nearby and had started eating out a lot more frequently (still vegetarian, but at least it tasted satisfying).
When all was said and done, I’m super glad I did it. I even continued being vegetarian purely as a matter of personal choice for a whole month after the course ended. I just felt so much lighter, more focused, etc. It was a huge learning experience that I’d recommend to anyone, especially Americans.
Community and Activities
What can I say about the community at Rishikesh Yogshala? In a word, it was heartwarming.
Traveling across the world on your own to embrace a new challenge will put you out of your comfort zone. So when I showed up on my first day and was warmly welcomed by a room full of smiling faces, it was a huge lift to my spirits.
I encountered some travel difficulties on my way to India, and as a result, I showed up a couple days late. I was worried that the class of students would have bonded without me, or would be way ahead in the curriculum and leave me in the dust. Instead, it felt like a family right from the get-go! We all clicked immediately and spent the day in classes, then afterwards we adventured out for some masala chai, and finally all went back to hang out in one of the rooms late into the night.
Having found this training online through an international website, I half expected the other students to be experienced yoga babes from LA, decked out in fancy designer yoga outfits. I was pleased to find out that the class was almost entirely Indian, speckled with a smattering of French, Russian, and Chilean students. This was great because there was always somebody there to elaborate on the points of yoga that are unique to Indian culture, and folks were eager to share! In line with the trends of modern yoga, the class was almost entirely women, although there were a few men present as well.
If you have preconceived notions about the students at an international yoga training (as I did), drop them. There were people of all skill levels, body types, and age groups. But in the end we all bonded like one little yoga family. I really miss them!
As for activities, the school led some excursions to places like the Beatles Ashram, or the Ganga Aarti ritual performance on the banks of the Ganges River. Our training was during the month of Sawan, so the streets were filled with orange-clad travelers from across India who had come to celebrate the god Shiva. For this reason there were fewer official outings than usual (although still a healthy dose). Even so, we supplemented official outings with exploratory trips of our own. I really felt like I had the chance to experience the city of Rishikesh, even while completing full days of heavy training.
The curriculum and training at Rishikul Yogshala were the main ingredients of this yogic meal, but the friendships formed along the way were the spices that made the (non-sattvic) dish!
Final Thoughts
When I signed up for the 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training at Rishikul Yogshala Rishikesh, I didn’t know what to expect. I hadn’t really done much yoga, and I’d certainly never been to India.
I went because I wanted a holistic, wide-reaching but in-depth introduction to yoga that was both authentic and practical — and that’s exactly what I got.
I’m so glad I made the leap to do this training. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and it equipped me with skills and awarenesses that I know will benefit me for the rest of this incarnation, so to speak.
If you’re in a position to invest in yourself but still on the fence about this training, all I can say is go for it. This is one of the best Yoga Teacher Trainings out there, and it’s no wonder they have such a high rate of returning students. Enter with an open mind, lean into the experience, and you won’t be disappointed!
And when you go, tell them Adan sent you. And that he says what up.
Until next time, Rishikul!
This post is produced in partnership with Rishikul Yogshala. Rishikul Yogshala had no editorial input, and all opinions are my own.