From the beginning, I thought the Yoga Festival in Rishikesh wasn’t for me. All those spiritual stuff, people singing all those mantras, meditation alone, and being so positive. I’ve just thought that crazy people or maniacs could be all the time happy, and for someone who grew up surrounded by negative thoughts, it was inconceivable.

Many Yoga People are exercising outside in the Parmath Nikethan's garden.
A beautiful moment when all people are colorfully peacefully, exercising outside in the Parmath Nikethan’s garden!

So, I started digging deeper to discover what kind of magical power is behind. Before you continue reading this article, check a video below from Rishikesh’s Yoga Festival. You might get the answer faster then you think!

Video of International Yoga Festival 2019 – India, Rishikesh

Why you should start your Yoga path at the International Yoga Festival in India

If you have a lack of positive people around you and you would like to change it. This Yoga festival is definitely for you! There are mostly beginners, Yoga Teachers, musicians, or curious people from all around the world. Those people are going to charge your batteries for sure!

When I’d land it in Rishikesh, I met a girl, and a reason for her of going to the Yoga festival was that she lost her mom. She talked openly about it, and she’d already known that she would felt better in the Yoga Festival then anywhere else.

You can see students who are holding hands in the air and teachers who are playing on the guitar and harmonica. Yoga class combined with music.
Music combined with Yoga class. Such an interesting and profound moment. I think the teacher was throwing a breath exercise along with asanas.

Don’t get lost while you are searching for the right yoga festival

You can choose any International Yoga Festival in Rishikesh! Why am I saying any? There plenty of different festivals going on at the beginning of March 1st.

When I arrived at Rishikesh, I had a problem finding the Yoga Festival in Parmath Nikethan. I couldn’t it, and I almost stayed somewhere else where I shouldn’t be (I wouldn’t be Lubomir if everything went perfectly, right?!).

You can meet great and inspiring Yoga teachers

I might say, I was lucky, but in the Yoga world or dictionary, It was meant to be to achieve a great and a very bright teacher Sandeep Desai who later on, invited me to Bombay and who was a main character in Rishikesh’s Yoga Festival.

Chinese Yoga and Martial art Teacher, is posing for a photographer by martial art's pose.
A good friend of mine, beautiful and charismatic Yoga and Martial Arts teacher and participant!

He said in the video a few exciting things about Yoga. First, it taught him to respect other people and listen to their perspective. What a surprise, nobody had ever taught me that in the school, so I was again impressed.

I know that it cannot be learned in one day, right? But it’s good to be reminded all the time.

Is Yoga Festival in Rishikesh expensive?

We need to pay for this show, right? When it comes to money, we might freeze. Especially when it comes to traveling or investing in our health (If I am wrong, that’s even better!).

This Yoga festival in Rishikesh cost me around $700 with the accommodation and food included. I bought a package, but you don’t need to buy it all. You can purchase only one day ticket or entry ticket without a room. You can find your accommodation outside an Ashram.

All the Yoga people are holding hands in the air and singing Beatles' songs! It's happening in Beatles' Ashram in Rishikesh.
Such a powerful moment when all people go to the Beatles’ Ashram and sing their songs!

You can become a volunteer and get a free ticket to the festival

I remember while I was registering myself, that the people behind the desk were volunteers or people, kids who lived there. I asked those volunteers how they went there. They told me that they had sent an application through the website of Parmath Nikethan. Simple as that.

Check Facebook groups with accommodations. People are helpful and respond quickly. Or you can use booking.com.

Find a room as close to the Ashram as possible! Trust me, saving a few pennies is not worth it.

For me, it was a good decision to be close to all classes inside the Ashram. Trust me; Yoga Classes are mentally and physically tiring. You are waking up every morning at 5 am (going to your class took 5-10 mins from the Ashram) and going to your bed at 9 pm exhausted!

The kind of yoga classes you can find there

There are plenty of well-known classes like Yin Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Reiki, Singing Tibetian bowls, Iyengar yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, and Martial arts! So you might face a problem that you won’t be able to choose which class to attend the first in one day.

In the middle, there is an old lady, Yoga teacher, who is singing mantras during the Artie ceremony.
This lady in the middle, not even that she sings, she also gives classes of Hatha Yoga.

It might be helpful to plan your days in advance

I was struggling from the beginning of which class is the most interesting and maybe the most important for me. So I had to checked the schedule of program before.

There were still two classes that parallel each other going on. For example, if the first day, you select a class Reiki (Reiki level 1), it was followed up like Reiki level 2, Reiki level 3. Those teachers always had a schedule like that. The following class was always going deeper into the subject.

Many people talk (your future friends) around you about their Yoga experience, and it’s easy to get lost where to go next.

I think it does not matter what you choose. I let my intuition and curiosity go, and I’d experienced pretty hot classes like from American Indian tribes (Indian ceremonials with hot stones), Traditional Hatha Yogas, Very unusual Kundalini Yogas, where I thought that I was going to explode. A teacher was screaming at his students to breathe loud and let his students hold their hands in the air for ages.

3 beautiful women are posing for a picture. They are wearing very colorful dresses. Those are one of the students of International Yoga Festival 2019 in Rishikesh India.
Latini-American women, Yoga teachers, and also participants of the Yoga Festival in Rishikesh. Beautiful, aren’t they?

You could also go for a walk with teachers out of the Ashram to see the beauty of nature or a little bit of peaceful chaos in Rishikesh town!

An busy alley covered by roof where you can see a father with her son on motorbike. It's close to the gate of Parmath Nikethan.
I’d been passing this alley almost every day. It was close to Parmath Nikethan and only one place, where you could catch a WiFi :D.

The best Yoga class where I did nothing

There was one class every afternoon from 5 pm to 6.30, where you laid on the floor and did nothing. You were listening to musicians who were playing on unusual instruments like Tibetan singing bowls, Triangle instruments, music pipe, drams, etc.

After one hour, you were so relaxed (We are made from water, and that moment, water becomes very still)! Even your back starts hurting by lying so long and still.

You had to arrive 30-40 mins before class in order to get a good spot!

Motivation and the last words (Do not be afraid) of going there!

I think I made one of the best investments in my life of going there! I met so many lovely people who were able to concentrate on the conversation more than 30 mins, learned many incredible things about Indian (American Indian as well) culture.

American Indian girl is blowing into a hot little pot and playing with the smoke (American Indian Tradition)
We were all dancing, and suddenly, an American Indian girl showed up and blew up the smoke all around me.

I’ve also learned self emotional growth. I am able to let my feelings go, I am not ashamed to cry or let my emotions show. I say what I feel and what I do not like.

GO GO GO GO! If you have any questions, please leave a comment below :). Thank you