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  • Outdoors
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    • Forestry + wildfire (my day job)
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Welcome to my ashram in the Himalayas of northern India! A week into my 300-hour Yoga Teacher Training at Rishikesh Yogpeeth’s Abhayaranya

October 22, 2024 January 20, 2025 Randi2 comments1494 views

Namaste friends!

I can’t believe it’s already been a week since I arrived at my ashram in India’s Uttarakhand state.

I’m situated up in the Himalayan foothills, just outside of Rishikesh at Rishikesh Yogpeeth’s Abhayaranya ashram.

It’s such a gorgeous and spiritual and amazing place, and I’m so lucky I get to spend the next several weeks living and studying here as I work to obtain my 300-hour Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) certification.

Another disclaimer: This post is full of low-quality photos (but high-quality experiences) because our WiFi here is not the best, but honestly, I really don’t care because I have better things to do than fret about it.

I love it here.

I left Rishikesh’s Laxman Jhula area, where I’d been staying during my first few days here in India, and made my way to my ashram on Wednesday of last week. A taxi took me to a trailhead, and from there I hiked about three-quarters of a mile and 650 feet up into the mountains to get to the ashram.

About halfway up the trail.

It wasn’t a bad hike at all and it was honestly so nice to move my legs since I know I won’t do much (if any) running while I’m here, and very little hiking.

The view that greets you at the end of your hike up to the ashram.

From there, I checked in, filled out paperwork and was led to my room, where I unpacked and showered.

My bed in a shared room.

Side story: As it turns out, the ashram is expanding a bit, so my dorm is brand new. So new, in fact, that it was quite literally painted that morning, and it doesn’t have a lot of the amenities that other dormitories have — like a shower curtain, decor or even a room number.

Also… when my room was put together, my mattress was placed on my bed upside down. I spent two nights sleeping on a mattress that really felt like a sheet of cardboard placed over a wooden floor, and after laying on a friend’s mattress on day 3, realizing there was something terribly wrong with my mattress. I had the idea to flip my mattress over and… it was like night and day. Comfortable mattress!

Anyway, back to my arrival.

We did a few more check-in tasks. We met with teachers to talk about injuries and contraindications, and then all gathered in the dining hall for dinner.

My first dinner at the ashram.

We eat our meals sitting down at low tables along the floor. In theory, we’re supposed to be quiet during meal times (we get three a day) so our body can focus the energy on the food…

…but in practice it works quite a bit differently.

One of my favorite parts about yoga is the community and connection — and it seems like a lot of other students here feel similarly to me! — so I have yet to experience a quiet meal.

The inside of our dining hall, where I eat my breakfast, lunch and dinner every day.

Our first day, Thursday, started at 8 a.m. with a welcome ceremony, which was a Vedic fire ceremony. We all wore white while reciting mantras, and tossing offerings of dried herbs into the fire.

After the welcome ceremony!

I didn’t take any photos because I was too busy participating — I’m sorry!

Our 300-hour YTT group – I’m almost all the way to the right side standing up. We took this photo after our welcome ceremony.

After our welcome ceremonies, we all went to lunch, and then we hopped right into our scheduled classes for the day.

Here’s a quick photo I took of our daily schedule.

While we skipped our morning sessions — shatkarma, mantra, pranayama, asana, breakfast, alignment and adjustment, and philosophy — on day one, our days usually start with a 5:30 a.m. bell.

A literal bell, yes.

We begin with a jalneti cleansing before sunrise, and then move on to mantra chanting, breath work and physical asana (yoga pose) practice before breakfast.

My neti pot.

Most of our classes are held in a dedicated yogshala (basically a large classroom), which is where we crowd around a dry erase board for lessons on philosophy, spread our our mats for physical asana practice, and cluster into small groups to practice assists and adjustments.

Assists in class.

If it’s nice outside, we’ll gather for class outside.

Outdoor philosophy class.

We conclude our days with more asana and meditation before dinner.

Asana practice in our classroom with ALL THE PROPS (prop haters).

We have three solid hours of physical yoga practice every day, and it’s always Hatha yoga — which means we’re holding poses for a looooong period of time!

At least, a lot longer than I typically would in the vinyasa classes I usually take.

We get one half-hour break in the morning, which I usually use to journal, or do laundry (we hand wash everything here, and hang it outside our rooms to dry), or hang out with other students.

I can’t get over how beautiful this place is.
Stunning, stunning.

We also get an hour of “self-study,” which I usually spend in the ashram’s cafe. You can order teas and small snacks, and it’s a great place to gather and study with other students.

It’s a beautiful time of year here.

I usually end up going to bed immediately after dinner since days are long and busy, and 5:30 a.m. comes early!

As you can see from the schedule I posted, pretty much every minute of our day is accounted for. So it’s been a very, very busy past week.

But, today is our day off (we get Wednesday off every week), and so instead of evening asana practice last night, we played group games, like musical chairs and tug-of-war, and I got to stay up a little later than my usual hard-and-fast 9 p.m. bedtime.

One of my ashram friends and I were really quick to make plans to hike down the mountain, taxi into Rishikesh, and get deep tissue massages on our off-day, so that’s where we’ll be today.

I’ll check back in in a bit. I’m still trying as hard as I can to savor every single minute here.

Not that it’s hard. It’s SUCH a gorgeous place.

So lucky to call this home for a month.

Namaste, friends.

Related:

Indiarishikesh
RandiOctober 22, 2024
previous story

The last few days here in Rishikesh, India

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Check-in from India! Halfway through my 300-hour Yoga Teacher Training program at House of Om’s Rishikesh Yogpeeth (Abhayaranya Ashram)

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2 Comments

  1. Arjun Agarwal says:
    October 23, 2024 at 2:02 pm

    Very well described, I’m also planning for 200yt just not decided the school, but this looks good. Post stories like this would love to read

    Reply
    1. Randi says:
      October 31, 2024 at 3:19 am

      Thank you! I’m still in my program and have terrible cell service and WiFi, so I will definitely write more after my program ends when I have time and better connection! You can subscribe for updates if you’d like to make sure you don’t miss anything. 🙂

      Reply

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Randi with an i

Randi M. Shaffer

Hi! I'm Randi. I spend my days working in forestry and wildfire, my nights instructing yoga and my weekends exploring northern Arizona (and beyond). I'm a former journalist, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and a Midwest native. Welcome!

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