My Daily Life in Rishikesh, India

Hello, everyone!

We're nearing the end of week 3 of training and I haven't updated at all! Today that changes. Today I will let know you know what I've been up.

So as you may know, I'm taking a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training course at Rishikesh Yog Peeth in northern India. Rishikesh is in the northern state of India called Uttarakhand. It's considered the "world capital of yoga" and also the "gateway to the Himalayas" according to popular sources.

That red dot there? That's Rishikesh.

Rishikesh Yog Peeth is on the south side of the river. I'm a 5 minute walk from the Ganges river, which on a sunny day is quite beautiful and blue. I like to study on the rocks by the river. In Hindi the river is known as Ganga [gun-guh].

The beautiful Ganges river. I went whitewater rafting in it!

Rishikesh Yog Peeth - Main area (Krishna Cottage)

My Yoga Schedule

Our daily routine is the same Monday-Friday. It consists of the following:

5:30am – Wake Up

This is easy enough. I've became quite used to waking up early and like it. I usually get up around 6am. We're trained to not use our alarm clocks, but I use mine just in case.

My room. Queen-size bed, two blankets, and a nice bathroom.

It's often windy and ominous in the morning before sunrise.

6:30am – Tea and Jala Neti (nasal cleansing)

It's brisk in the morning and we're up before the sun. Grab a hot ayurvedic tea at the cafeteria to warm your hands and stomach, then it's off to do jala neti. We each have a little plastic neti pot and pour a small amount of saline solution through each nostril to clean our sinuses. I'm usually congested in the mornings but it helps clear them. I've come to really enjoy jala neti practice.

Nasal cleansing...approved.

7-9am – Morning asana (yoga) practice

Two hours of yoga. Usually this involves mantra chanting in the beginning and some hands-on work on individual poses and how to make adjustments in them. You don't notice your hunger too much, surprisingly.

Yoga Hall 1 - the main hall. All of my practices and classes are here.

9:30am – Breakfast

Glorious breakfast. Our entire diet here is satvic and vegetarian. We usually have fruit and chickpeas for breakfast. Sometimes it's a rice mix, or noodles, or porridge which is really delicious. Breakfast is always wonderful.

This is also the time to do your laundry. I really enjoy washing my own clothes - provides a good 15-minutes to relax my mind and an excuse to visit the rooftop.

Me and my laundry. Yes, those are my pants.

This is also the time the Rhesus monkeys are most active. They will push on doors or find an open one and steal food out of your room. They are quite greedy, these monkeys.


I've been almost attacked three times now because they were eating on the staircase to the rooftop. I keep a small supply of "monkey diversion" bananas in my room if this happens now.



10:30-1pm –  Anatomy and/or Philosophy class

Roshan, our main instructor, teaches us about the physiology of yoga and its relationship to the body and also to yoga philosophy. There is a LOT of philosophy behind yoga that doesn't get explained in the West except on a very surface level.

It's amazing how much there is to learn. Learning anatomy has been quite fun, too, and the scientist nerd in me is excited to learn about Bohr effect and other things in class.


1:30pm – Lunch

Delicious lunchtime! Many people sit in the courtyard and take their meal in the sunlight. It's quite nice. Lunch usually consists of rice, steamed and fresh vegetables, and a soup with daal (lentils) or beans of some kind.

2-4:15pm – Self-Study Time

This is our own time for personal growth. I usually study Sanskrit at the nearby cafe, but I'm also taking tabla lessons a few times each week. It's a beautiful time to be out and about.

An awesome cafe right by our place. Great vibe and cheap tea.

4:30-6:30pm – Afternoon asana (yoga) practice

Afternoon practice is usually more intense than morning, but lately both have been physically and mentally challenging. We usually begin and end in Shavasana (corpose pose) but the first two weeks we ended with 20 minutes of seated meditation practice. It's quite challenging but rewarding.

6:45pm – Dinner

We're usually pretty hungry for dinner after asana practice. Dinner is pretty variable but always has chapatti, which is like the Indian version of tortilla. One dining is designated for silence. I've eaten dinner in silence twice and enjoyed the experience to really focus on my mind and food. Talking is nice, though, too. There are a lot of interesting and eclectic people here.

Tea, chapatti, chickpeas, and a delicious porridge dessert with coconut pieces, almonds, and cashews.

9:30pm – Sleep time

I'm usually out by 9:30pm. Some nights I'm out by 8:30pm. In the time before I shower, journal about my day, and play my kalimba sometimes. I'm a morning person so going to bed early has been a nice habit to get back into.

So...that's my daily activity! I'm learning a lot about yoga poses and the science and philosophy of yoga. The 40+ other trainees here are fantastic and I'm very grateful to have such an open-minded, friendly, and responsible group

I'll update about my weekend trips soon. Namaste, and talk to you later!


Tyler