Yogis in India

In early December 2005, I boarded a plane in Toronto with a ticket to Delhi, India, in my hand. Reeling from the death of my parents, I’d turned to yoga and teacher-training classes taught in Toronto by Yogrishi Vishvketu who was in the process of opening an ashram in Rishikesh, India. After a class, I walked directly up to him and declared: “I am going to study with you in India.” Today, I live in a spacious apartment in Rishikesh with views of the Himalayan mountains, in what’s commonly known as the yoga capital of the world.

Anand Prakash ashram is a saffron-coloured, three-story building in the heart of Tapovan, the north end of Rishikesh. When Yogrishi Vishvketu built it over a decade ago, the area around the ashram was barren and most of the rooms had a stunning view of the deep green Ganga River and the Himalayan foothills. Now, the formerly ‘quiet end’ of Rishikesh is booming, and the ashram is boxed in by guest houses, hotels, cafés, and yoga schools. Yogrishi Vishvketu, known as Guruji to his students, opened the Anand Prakash yoga ashram in 2007, teaching Akhanda yoga - a holistic vision of yoga that includes physical