After taking just one kundalini yoga class in Bali in April, I totally fell in love and knew I would have to spend some more time learning about this type of yoga in the future. I took more classes while I was traveling, mostly in Chiang Mai, and decided to just dive into a YTT once I got to India. I also loved studying yogic philosophy in Bali at the Yoga Barn, so I was really looking forward to learning more of that during the course.
My fellow Kundalini classmates and one of our favorite teachers.
It was super hard to pick a school because there seems to be hundreds in Rishikesh. The good news is, at least wanting kundalini narrowed it down to about 12. After months of research, and having way too many tabs open on my computer, I finally crossed my fingers and settled on Adi Yogpeeth school. And I couldn’t be happier with my choice! It was a fantastic experience, and I feel so rich with new knowledge that I need a serious break from studying in order to practice everything I’ve learned.
Getting some much needed assistance into locust pose.
The schedule was pretty tough – classes from 5:40am all the way until 6:20pm. This was 6 classes each day: kundalini asanas, pranayama, Indian philosophy, anatomy, kundalini theory, and meditation. We had a short break for breakfast and a 2 hour 45 minute break in the middle of the day for lunch and whatever errands we needed to do, but that break always went by super fast. I often napped. By 6:30 I was ready for dinner, and by 8pm I was showered and in bed every night. It tried to stay up until 10pm each night just so I would sleep well. But often went to be at 9pm.
The school is in a really nice location away from the center of the city. It has wonderful rooftop spaces and is surrounded by mountains. My course was in October and the weather was perfect, cool in the morning/evening and warm during the day. There’s wonderful organic provision stores around with lots of great and healthy food, and plenty of cafes with only vegetarian and vegan options. You won’t find any meat in this town! The big juicy pictures of burgers you’ll see in the restaurants in town are veggie ones.
Speaking of food, I was really blown away by the food that Adi Yogpeeth served us 3 times a day as part of our tuition. The cooks are really nice and you can tell they enjoy what they do, and it translates to the delicious food. I was really happy with every meal they provided, and only went out for fun or to try some desserts.
Gorgeous sunrise view from our rooftop in Rishikesh.
The school also set up lots of nice extras for us. We had free henna one day (pictured below), outings to swim in a river (pictured below), an Ayurvedic massage, beach yoga, sound healing, and more. And they let us have our very own full moon ceremony on the roof using there pillows, mats, and fire pit (pictured below). My friend and I co-hosted it, and it was so fun. It was my first time hosting an event like that, after attending many like in during my travels in SE Asia.
The main yoga hall.
Adi Yogpeeth does nice opening and graduation ceremonies with traditional rituals and great music. They seem to take the testing seriously unlike some other schools in the area I heard about. Of course, everyone passes but it’s nice to know that they care about the quality of teachers they are putting out in the world. I received the award for best student which is suchhhh a lofty title lol, but what is really means is I got the highest grade on the written exam. We also had to design and perform a 5 practical exams.
The kundalini itself was different than what I expected. Turns out the kundalini classes I had been taking were based off a modified version of kundalini that Yogi Bhajan took to the West. It’s really funky and weird, generally not physically taxing, and it leaves you feeling kind of high if you have a good teacher. But this was not exactly what we learned. At first I was a little disappointed, but in the end I was happy to learn the traditional and foundational principles and theory of ancient kundalini yoga, not the modified/western version. And I think this will be the case for pretty much any kundalini course in India. If you want to learn the Yogi Bhajan version, you’ll probably need to be taught in western countries.
To the right is a drawing of the Swadhisthana chakra I did during our kundalini theory class. It was an interesting way to get in touch with these invisible centers in our body. Speaking of chakras, yogic philosophy will definitely have you learning some things that might seem a bit out there if you aren’t used to it, like chakras and reincarnation and psychic powers, but I enjoy diving into the learning with an open mind, and taking what works for me practically.
For people who don’t know, yoga is a vast and ancient philosophy and way of life, that has broken down into many branches over the centuries. The physical postures that people are used to doing as exercise in the West are only a tiny tiny part of yoga as a whole. The goal of yoga, and the meaning of the word is “union.” You might say union with God, or union of the dualities or opposites inherent in life. As with any way of life or religion (although yoga isn’t a religion), practitioners can be dogmatic about the principles and philosophy, especially concepts like dharma and karma. But I found my teachers to be very receptive to questioning and teaching the material in an open way, not a pushy way. And we all definitely asked a lot of questions. And yoga also has a lot of really practical and basic life principles that I think most people would agree with like non-violence, non-stealing, truth, contentment, self-study, discipline, and surrender.
Graduation pic!
Of course, nothing is totally perfect, and I did have some very minor annoyances, but overall I am super happy with this school and highly recommend it. The director, Monika, is so sweet and runs everything so well. I don’t know how she stays so calm and organized with all these students and schedules and trying to meet everyones’ needs.
Another plus is the school has a cat or two that hang around here all the time. Naturally we became fast friends. The area the school is in also has a bunch of pretty well taken care of street dogs. There was a group of 5 puppies that we loved going to visit.
If you are considering Adi Yogpeeth as a school, or Rishikesh as a place to learn, and have any questions, let me know!
The cat on the very cozy, fluffy blankets you get to survive the cold nights.
One of the 5 puppies we loved to visit.