I spent a week enjoying ashram life in Rishikesh. What is an ashram, you ask? It is a place where people live and partake in an Indian cultural activity – usually yoga or religious study. After doing research on the internet, I chose to spend my week at Anand Prakash Ashram. Anand Prakash is located in the outskirts of Rishikesh in the Tapovan neighborhood.
It had a great reputation for a more rigorous and faster-paced yoga style than the traditional Hatha yoga found in most Indian ashrams. Many people visit Rishikesh for a spiritual experience, however my main goal was a week of intense fitness and healthy eating. One of the benefits of staying in an ashram is that meals are usually included. There is a fixed menu that is usually hearty and healthy. The food at Anand Prakash was great – loaded with veggies and second helpings always available.
Dinners were all communal, and we all pitched in to serve each other:
Every meal started with a blessing in Sanskrit:
My schedule at the ashram was as follows:
4:45 am – Wake up
5:15 am – 30-45 minute run
6:00 am – 2 hour yoga and meditation session
8:00 am – breakfast
12:30 pm – lunch
2:30 pm – private sessions with Anand, the yoga teacher (two days only)
4:00 pm – 2 hour yoga and meditation session
6:00 pm – dinner
9:30 pm – bedtime
The ashram was a great place, with a revolving family of residents. It was very easy to meet people and to form bonds very quickly. The ashram had everyone from a 2 year old boy and his family to solo female travelers to couples doing yoga teacher training. Some people were spending more than a month at the ashram!
The yoga hall: 
Our fearless leader, Anand:
Anand runs a yoga studio in New York City, but is doing a six month sabattical in India as the guru of the Ashram spends the hot months of March to September in Canada. This was pretty much the luckiest thing that could have happened for me, because he was an amazing yoga teacher!
When I wasn’t working out or eating, I had a little time to explore Rishikesh and relax. Luckily – or unluckily – there isn’t much to do in Rishikesh, so I had lots of time to read and catch up on my blogging!
Thanks to the help of my amazing yoga teacher, Anand Saurabh, my yoga practice improved tremendously throughout the week. He had a very rigorous teaching style and wasn’t afraid to contort my body into advanced versions of the yoga poses! I also did a private pilates session with him, which left my ab muscles burning for days.
The cost of staying at the Ashram is relatively affordable, costing $13 per day for three meals, two yoga classes and accommodations! It’s good to note that this is considered midrange for Rishikesh – some places are half that price, or even donation-based.
After just one week in the ashram, I can notice huge changes in my body. Everything is more toned and slim – it’s amazing! I just wish I could keep up the five hours of workouts per day when I get home….
Visiting Rishikesh and looking for an ashram? I highly recommend Anand Prakash, especially if you are looking for more rigorous yoga practice and a little lighter on the meditation.
Hey Julia – I was definitely an oddball as a runner in Rishikesh! I ran before class in the morning because it was cooler and also because there were less people to gawk at my shorts and shortsleeve running gear. This meant 4:30am runs, but it was completely worth it! I ran the same route every day because the road I found had gentle rolling hills and little traffic. Be sure to carry a few stones with you because there are some obnoxious dogs and lots of monkeys. The monkeys never gave me trouble, but I’ve taken care of tourists with monkey bites so it does happen. I will try to describe the road I ran on:
1. Go up the dirt road from Anand Prakash to the main road and turn left.
2. Run until the road starts to go to that sharp downhill right past the taxi stand.
3. There is a road that forks off and goes uphill instead of downhill a few football fields past the stand – that is the best road I found for running. It goes for several miles with gentle slopes and then about 2-3 miles in goes sharply uphill – I ran this hill once and that was enough for me!
On Google Maps it looks like it’s called Dehradun Bypass Rd.
Good luck!
Great thanks!! Hopefully i will get up the nerve to try running here–you are brave!:)
Really enjoyed your post! I am going to be staying at this ashram in a few days… May i ask: where did you go for your morning runs in Rishikesh? My sense is that there are not many joggers here…
its wonderful . may i know the ashram website ? i can contact them for yoga classes .
indians too are allowed in the ashram ?
Hey Patrick – The website is at the end of the post in italics. Indians are allowed in the ashram as well.
I by no means mean to criticize you. I mean only to opine. You can only have a skewed experience of Indian ascetic life if you go to such an ashram. You were given a “guided tour” that’s all. But it is NOT representative of actual indian ascetism, that’s all. 🙂
I wholeheartedly agree. I had an amazing experience at Anand Prakash, but it definitely isn’t for everyone.
Rishikul Yogshala is also a well known yoga ashram in Rishikesh India, for yoga and Meditation courses like hatha yoga, ashtanga vinyasa, pranayam, kundalini yoga, meditation.
Hi Rishikul – Thanks for spamming my post!
xo,
Kelly