Why everyone must have been in the Shri Jasnath Ashram at least once in their life!
Yoga anytime, anywhere
You can do yoga anywhere: in the studio, at home, on holiday – you don’t need a lot of space and equipment. A yoga mat is enough and your own yoga practice can begin! That’s what’s nice about yoga.
But how often do you struggle to practice for yourself! Maybe you just manage to practice a few asanas, but if it’s actually pranayama, relaxation or even meditation, the mat is rolled up again in the corner and you’re back in the hectic everyday life.
Yoga shouldn’t be like that. More specifically, this is not yoga.
Even if you are already so advanced in your own yoga practice that you could do yoga for yourself, it is helpful to attend a yoga class now and then. Here you have no choice but to be present for a full 90 minutes and already with entering the yoga room, a different energy is usually felt, one becomes calmer and is ready for yoga.
Taking part in a guided yoga class at least once a week makes sense for this very reason. Often the energy from this one class stays for an entire week and influences your own practice and after a week you recharge up again!
Of course, whole weekends or even weeks in which you are intensively engaged in yoga, do yoga and live yoga have an even greater effect. Yoga workshops, retreats or festivals are great here.
Yoga Retreat in an Ashram
A yoga retreat is awesome to develop a yogi routine. Ay Yoga retreat in India is even more intense, with a practice far beyond the Asana practice.
Our yoga ashram in the middle of the Tharr desert in the state of Rajasthan offers the perfect conditions for an intense yoga retreat!
In addition to great yoga classes in various yoga styles by international yoga teachers from all over the world, you also learn to live yoga here! You Read correctly: You can and should actually LIVE yoga!
What an ashram actually is
Many misunderstand the term ashram and have reservations to go into an ashram. But don’t be afraid! In principle, an ashram is not a place where a god is worshipped or one must follow strong principles. An ashram doesn’t even have to be spiritual.
Ashram simply means a community of people who live and work together. No more or less! Often, however, this community of people is particularly concerned with each other, individual talents are promoted and there is a strong sense of belonging. Everyone can become a part of the community and contribute to the benefit of the ashram with his or her work. Such communities are particularly useful for spiritual development and yoga practice.
The Importance of Yoga
Yoga is not a series of strengthening and stretching exercises (this is just the useful side effect), but yoga is a philosophy of life, that leads to a more conscious and happier life.
And these philosophies are lived by the Indian ashram inhabitants of little Shri Jasnath Ashram without realizing that they are actually practicing yoga.
Yoga has many forms and here in the ashram is mainly the yoga of devotion (bhakti) and activity (karma) practiced.
Already in the early hours of the morning, shortly after sunrise, the Indian women begin to broom the ashram area stroke by stroke. As they broom, they are connected to the activity and only in the present moment. That’s yoga.
The same can be observed in the ashram kitchen or in the ashram garden: people merge with their work, are completely into it, are satisfied and do not think about the next things that have to be done.
When, after dinner at sunset, everyone comes together to the temple complex to sing Khirtan and celebrate the Arti, then the fire ceremony happens. People sing with passion and depth and are again completely in the moment, connecting to the melodies and the community. This is Bhakti Yoga, Yoga of the Heart and Devotion. The form of yoga that is the fastest to lead to the Samadhi- the connection with the universe, the Divine.
And indeed, these people, who live completely in the here and now and passionately singing mantras or khirtan, seem to be the most satisfied.
As a visitor, one can therefore count oneself lucky, to be able to live with these people for a few weeks. Within a few days, a part of their serenity turns to oneself and one becomes a part of them, begins to sweep on broom stick, by broom stick, or quietly cut the vegetables for lunch in the kitchen.
Day structure in the ashram
The regular and structured everyday life in the ashram helps you to experience healthy and inner peace.
The day begins early at 6 am, before sunrise, with a guided yoga class and is timed until the evening puja (prayer) and satsang (meeting) with the guru of the ashram.
The daily rhythm is by no means stressful. Especially for the retreat participants, between yoga classed, Ayurveda treatments and meals are always breaks as well.
A Guru
You don’t have to be afraid of the “guru”. A guru is merely the spiritual leader and teacher of his community and stands by his followers with advice and deeds. As one of the few people with good schooling in this part of the country, the current guru in the Shri Jasnat Ashram can help advise on topics such as health, nature conservation and lifestyle.
The Ashram itself hosts regular workshops and camps under his direction, on topics such as drug addiction, diabetics, empowerment of women (all important topics in India), which are accompanied by ordinary Indian farmers from the region.
For the Western guests of the ashram, the guru is available for questions on yoga topics, leads yoga classes and meditations and also likes to accompany trips to the surrounding area. A really very human guru ;).
Ayurveda Treatments
A nice additional factor of the ashram is the Ayurveda center! Here, after consultation with the local Ayurveda doctor, you can get Ayurvedic treatment and even take a whole Pancha Karma cure. If you prefer to relax, you can also choose daily between individual massages, facials or ecological body packs that are amazing!
Delicious, healthy, fresh and vegetarian!
A last important factor in why you should do a retreat in the Rajasthan ashram once in your life is the food!
Rarely have I eaten as well as in this ashram. Every day there are three delicious and varied meals, freshly prepared by the ashram chef, which are good not only for the belly, but also for the spirit.
The ingredients for the dishes either come from the ashram’s own ecological garden, are freshly picked from wild shrubs or are extracted from the milk of the ashram’s own cows.
The chef prepares several dishes from it, which then harmonize on the plate, the Indian thali, and are eaten with Rajasthanian millet bread. depending on the season there are different vegetables and fresh fruits!
Find out more about our Yoga-Ayurveda Retreat here
