Rishikesh is a spirituality sweet shop, with enough ashrams, yoga schools, white-water rafting companies and vegan restaurants to satisfy all tastes. Melanie Vella followed in the footsteps of The Beatles, who stayed in Rishikesh in the 1960s to study meditation and yoga.
I came to the remote town of Rishikesh, India – the unofficial yoga capital of the world – with a vision of deep silence, green hills and all-white-wearing yogis.
As I walked down the steps overlooking the Laxman Jhula suspension bridge that sways high above the silvery flow of the holy Ganges River, I saw hooves and bare feet sharing the same path.
A rhesus monkey was hanging from steel cables, studying the pedestrians, looking for an opportunity to snatch food or shiny objects, as I dodged a motorcycle.
No, the madness of old-town India does not cease here either.
Peeling back these layers is the trick to discover Rishikesh: a haven rife with adventure activities to keep mind, body and spirit entertained.
After hunting around for a budget-friendly place to stay, I settled for a less-than-satisfying room in Shree Sant Sewa Ashram, as it was peak season and accommodation was limited.
This was not the ‘ashram’ experience I had hoped for. The rooms and bathrooms looked like they hadn’t been scrubbed down since the yoga studio opened its doors.
The staff members were unpleasant and didn’t care for their guests. It only seemed worth the 400 rupees (€4.85) per room for two people because of the ashram’s location, with balconies overlooking the banks of the Ganges.
This made me realise that despite its reputation, yoga is still a business here for some locals and it made me keep my eyes peeled for questionable teachers and ashrams.
My quest for the ‘right’ yoga school began the next day. Plenty of flyers were stuck on cafe billboards, street lamps and walls. It seemed slightly overwhelming.
Could I commit to a seven-day retreat with a 14-hour-a-day schedule where I did not leave the ashram and basically ate, slept and breathed yoga?
Could I commit to a seven-day retreat with a 14-hour-a-day schedule where I did not leave the ashram and basically ate, slept and breathed yoga? Or did I want single classes? Did I want Hatha or Ashtanga yoga, AcroYoga, Vinyasa flow or Bikram yoga? I wanted to try them all.
My main credential was to only go to classes where the teacher was Yoga Alliance-certified, meaning they achieved their training from an internationally reputed school.
I opted to take my time and scout around for different styles and teachers. I was suffering from kid-in-a-candy-store syndrome!
In Malta I had attended my fair share of yoga classes, but frankly they were more of a weight-loss workout than a focused yoga session.
I woke up at 7am for a beginner Hatha yoga class, the classic Indian yoga, which offered an extended morning stretch, basic sun salutations and a few minutes of meditation – not much of a sweat.
I met up with fellow yogis at Pumpernickle German Bakery for a healthy breakfast and settled into the rhythm of Rishikesh’s abundant spiritual bookshops, cafes and discussion meetings.
The evening classes on offer were mostly Ashtanga yoga, which is a rigorous adaptation of Hatha.
The most unusual treat was a Sunday morning Hatha yoga class with Swami Yogananda Maharaj Ji, an allegedly 105-year-old yoga master, at Om Shanti Om yoga centre in Laxman Jhula.
Though the classes were mild enough to allow a giggle, the ‘Great Himalayan Yogi’ could wrap his arms and legs around himself in unimaginable directions.
This may not have added to my yoga repertoire, but it was definitely worth a tick on my bucket list: practise yoga with a centenarian teacher in India? Check.
Rishikesh is also filled with adventure sports including bungee jumping and white water rafting.
The river’s banks are lined with camps that mainly attract Indian tourists. I got my adrenaline fix by jumping into a rubber dinghy with a bunch of other Maltese backpackers to paddle, splash and roar our way down the rapids. The Ganges offers medium to rough rapids, rated class 3 and class 4.
No visit to Rishikesh is complete without a stop at the Maharishi Mahesh Ashram, better known to travellers as the ‘Beatles’ Ashram’
No visit to Rishikesh is complete without a stop at the Maharishi Mahesh Ashram, better known to travellers as the “Beatles’ Ashram”.
It was here that most of the songs from the White Album were written in 1968, after the band adopted Maharishi Mahesh Yogi as their guru and spent hours meditating and practising yoga there.
Maharishi later ran into tax problems and the land was eventually claimed by the Indian government.
Technically, the decaying ashram is closed to visitors but a group of us who were determined to explore the grounds convinced the guard to let us in, for a nominal fee of 100 rupees (€1.22) each. Normally, I try to shake off anyone who plays guard, but here it was well worth the expense.
The old yoga centre is one of the most visually arresting buildings in the complex. The walls were brightly painted with pictures of inspiring spiritual leaders like the Dalai Lama and splashed with infamous Beatles lyrics.
We decided to paint our own tribute to the inspiring band, while others sat around, guitars in hand, singing Beatles songs – Strawberry Fields, Dear Prudence – the internationally renowned tunes flowed out from people hailing anywhere from Italy to New Zealand.
After two weeks of almost daily yoga, I now know I love Ashtanga more than Hatha yoga, I can touch my toes and even sit cross-legged through a meal.
And yet, after all this, I still feel like there was so much more of Rishikesh I still haven’t experienced!