Finding the practice
Days 1–2
Ayurvedic consultation, an assessment of where your practice actually is, and a schedule built from both.
- Ayurvedic consultation
- Practice assessment
- Twice-daily schedule set
YogaAnanda in the Himalayas · Rishikesh, India
The Himalayan yoga week, 7 nights
Hatha and Vedanta on the estate above Rishikesh, without the ashram’s five-thirty start.
From · sharingUS$2,480
From · singleUS$2,980
Per person. Sole occupancy is not half a double, and we would rather you saw both now.
- Length
- 7 nights
- Group
- Max 12
- Intensity
- gentle
- Lengths
- 7 · 14 nights
- Discipline
- Yoga
What this actually is
The programme
Twice-daily practice, pranayama and Vedanta taught rather than sprinkled, with an Ayurvedic consultation on arrival that shapes the week. It is the gentlest introduction to the valley we sell.
For anyone considering a full training in Rishikesh later, this is the honest way to find out whether four weeks in an unheated hall at half past five is really what you want.
Intensity: Gentle — nothing dramatic. Every programme here carries this line, because "restorative" and "demanding" are sold with the same photographs.
Read this part twice
Who this is for, and who it is wrong for
Read the right-hand column as carefully as the left. It is the half that decides whether this is a good fortnight or a wasted one, and it is published before the price for that reason.
✓Book this if
- A first yoga retreat
- Anyone curious about Rishikesh who is not ready for an ashram
- Guests who want the practice with a comfortable bed at the end of it
✗Do not book this if
- Experienced practitioners wanting an intensive — take the Rishikesh training instead
- May to August, when the valley is too hot and the monsoon closes the hill roads
The shape of it
Day by day
Days shift according to how you respond — that is the point of a daily review. This is the structure, not a timetable.
The week
Days 3–6
Morning hatha, evening restorative and pranayama, Vedanta twice, and one Ayurvedic treatment daily.
- Twice-daily practice
- Vedanta sessions
- Daily Ayurvedic treatment
A practice to keep
Day 7
A thirty-minute home sequence you build and then teach back, which is the only part that survives the airport.
- Personal sequence built
- Written home practice
A day, hour by hour
What a Tuesday actually looks like
Four hours are fixed across two practice blocks; afternoons are open.
- Wake
- Morning hathaNinety minutes in the pavilion above the valley.
- Breakfast
- Ayurvedic treatmentOne daily, chosen at the arrival consultation.
- Lunch
- FreeWalk to the temple, swim, or sleep.
- VedantaTaught, not sprinkled. Twice in the week.
- Restorative practice and pranayama
- Dinner
Where you stay
Ananda in the Himalayas
India’s first destination spa, on the Maharaja of Tehri Garhwal’s palace estate above the Ganga valley — and for twenty years the most decorated wellness address in Asia.
Ananda in the HimalayasNarendra Nagar, Tehri Garhwal · India
It is a luxury hotel that does wellness extremely well, not a clinic. If you want a medically austere Panchakarma with nothing else in it, Palakkad is the more honest answer and costs a good deal less. What Ananda gives you that Palakkad cannot is comfort, a view and a properly run spa — and for many people that is what makes a three-week programme survivable.
The full profile →Who looks after you
Supervision, by qualification and number
You will not find a physician's name on this site. Staff move, and a page that names one is a page that quietly goes out of date — worse, it invites you to book a person no house can promise will be on shift. Assignment is made on arrival, from your examination, at every serious property here.
- Clinical supervision
- Yoga and Vedanta teachers, with an Ayurvedic physician for the opening consultation and any prescribed therapy.
- The team around you
- Personal sessions are one to one throughout. The group timetable runs alongside and is optional.
- Consultations
- One Ayurvedic consultation at the start and a closing session with your teacher.
Your consultation is with our clinical desk, not a salesperson. The free call before you book is about whether this programme is right for you at all — and often enough it ends with a recommendation to go shorter, later, or somewhere we do not sell.
Counted, so you can compare
What is actually in it
Most of this industry publishes inclusions as a bulleted list, which cannot be compared between two programmes at two prices. These can.
- 7hours of personal practice
One to one, an hour a day, with the sequence built around what the first session finds.
- 14hours of group programme
Asana, pranayama, meditation and the Vedanta talks.
- 4hours of therapy
Ayurvedic treatments chosen at the opening consultation rather than from a menu.
- 1opening consultation
With an Ayurvedic physician, which is what separates this from a yoga holiday.
The money
Prices, by season and occupancy
Both occupancies in every band, before you enquire rather than after. Sole occupancy is not half a double and never has been — publishing only the sharing rate quotes the minority of this market and surprises the rest.
A complete introduction, and the length most people can actually take.
| Season | Sharing | Single |
|---|---|---|
| Low seasonMay, June, July and August | US$2,480 | US$2,980 |
| ShoulderDecember, January and September | US$2,810 | US$3,380 |
| High seasonFebruary to April, October and November | US$3,270 | US$3,940 |
- Low season. Too hot for a full schedule in May and June; landslide season in the hills in July and August. We sell these months only to people who ask for them.
- Shoulder. Cold clear mornings and unheated halls in midwinter; September is still emptying out after the monsoon.
- High season. Warm days, cold nights, and a river running green. The months to come, and priced accordingly.
What the price is. Per person for seven nights in a valley-view room, including all meals, the daily group programme, the personal sessions listed below, one Ayurvedic consultation and return transfers from Dehradun. Flights quoted separately.
Illustrative, and held for seven days once we have quoted you in writing. Nothing on this site costs more for booking it through us.
The detail
What the price covers
Included
- Seven nights
- Twice-daily practice and all teaching
- Ayurvedic consultation and one treatment daily
- All meals
- Transfers from Dehradun
Not included
- Flights, visa and insurance — flights quoted separately
- Additional spa treatments
Cancellation. Free to 30 days before arrival. Half between 30 and 14 days. Inside 14 days we hold the full amount as a credit for twelve months rather than keeping it — a cancelled treatment is usually a health reason.
Questions
The ones we are actually asked
Is a week long enough to be worth it?
For a first retreat, yes — long enough for the practice to change and short enough that you will actually take the time off. For anything therapeutic, no, and we will say so.