It’s been nearly two weeks since I booked into Yoga Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, I looooove this place! This is where the Beatles came in 1968 to meet the Maharishi, apparently Ringo thought it was “just like Butlins” but I really don’t know why.
Yoga Nikitan is slightly up the hill looking down on the Ganges which flows turquoise through the centre of the ashrams and ghats and is literally full of the most huge trout which gather under the two suspension bridges waiting to be fed - some must be at least 4ft long.
It is really beautiful, the start of the Himalayas means there are steep hills, dense with trees, waterfalls and lovely walks along the white sands. I’ve been hanging out with Kitty & Kristian from Iceland and Karol from Sweden. So far I am the only person from the UK, 90% of the visitors seem to be from Japan and Korea.
Our ashram is excellent, has gardens and the rooms are spacious and clean with en-suite bathrooms. Just as well as the daily time table is:
4.30am wake up bell
5am 1h in the meditation hall
6.30am 1h yoga
8am breakfast
12 noon lunch
3.15pm lecture
4pm tea
5pm 1h yoga
6.30pm 1h in meditation hall
8pm dinner = and you have to be back on the ashram at 10pm if you go out
Our ashram is excellent, has gardens and the rooms are spacious and clean with en-suite bathrooms. Just as well as the daily time table is:
4.30am wake up bell
5am 1h in the meditation hall
6.30am 1h yoga
8am breakfast
12 noon lunch
3.15pm lecture
4pm tea
5pm 1h yoga
6.30pm 1h in meditation hall
8pm dinner = and you have to be back on the ashram at 10pm if you go out
The monkey troops in Rishikesh are frightful, they hang out on the bridges watching for anyone with a plastic bag and swoop down to grab raid. I was in the ashram with a plastic bag with 4 small fruit juice cartons in it and was chatting to Kitty when I heard a sound, and looked just in time to see a hand came up and swiped the bag off the seat next to me and run off to the waiting troop. When they aren’t doing that they are just hanging around, raiding bins, eating the flowers or switching water taps on.
Last weekend was Easter, but here it was just ‘Holy Day’… Saturday was the Colour Festival which meant if you went out you got smeared with coloured paint, and wished ’Happy Holy’. I got off lightly compared to some, although I still have some pink streaks in my hair from the red dye.
