Yoga tourism

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Some yoga tourists travel to India to become certified yoga teachers, like these participants in a 200-hour Ashtanga yoga teacher training in Rishikesh. 200-hour-ashtanga-yoga-teacher-training-in-rishikesh.jpg
Some yoga tourists travel to India to become certified yoga teachers, like these participants in a 200-hour Ashtanga yoga teacher training in Rishikesh.

Yoga tourism is travel with the specific purpose of experiencing some form of yoga, whether spiritual or postural. The former is a type of spiritual tourism; the latter is related both to spiritual and to wellness tourism. [1] [2] Yoga tourists often visit ashrams in India to study yoga or to be trained and certified as yoga teachers. Major centres for yoga tourism include Rishikesh and Mysore.

Contents

While the Himalayas is the birthplace of yoga and a major yoga tourism destination, yoga retreats and holidays are provided in many countries, varying from simple stays in guesthouses and ashrams to 5-star comfort in luxury resorts.

Venues

A yoga holiday in Fiji A Kundalini Yoga Asana practice session.jpg
A yoga holiday in Fiji

Yoga tourism does not necessarily mean travel to an ashram (a Hindu monastery), nor necessarily to India, though as the birthplace of yoga it is the activity's locus classicus . Ashrams offering yoga exist, for example, in Canada. [3] Other possible types of venue describe themselves as "holistic centres" and "yoga holidays", including holidays at "a 5-star resort with a celebrity Yoga Teacher". [3] Yoga holidays are provided in countries including Greece, Sri Lanka, Japan, Thailand, Scotland, France, Morocco, England, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the Maldives and Wales. [4] [5] Yoga retreats can be found in many countries, including for instance Costa Rica and Italy. [3] Hotels and guesthouses around the world similarly offer yoga holidays in countries such as Bulgaria and Turkey; "pastoral yoga" can be found in countries including France. [3]

India

Tourists doing yoga in Poon Hill, Nepal punhilmaa yog grdai pryttkhru.jpg
Tourists doing yoga in Poon Hill, Nepal

India has become a major destination for yoga tourism, following on from Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswati Maharaj's arrival in Rishikesh in 1922 to promote his philosophy of yoga. [6] Then an English rock band the Beatles travelled to Rishikesh in 1968 to take part in a Transcendental Meditation training course at Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram. The visit sparked widespread Western interest in Indian spirituality, [6] and has led many Westerners to travel to India hoping to find "authentic" [7] yoga in ashrams in places such as Mysore (for Ashtanga Yoga) and Rishikesh. [8] That movement led in turn to the creation of many yoga schools offering teacher training and promotion of India as a "yoga tourism hub" [9] by the Indian Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of AYUSH. [7] [10] [9]

Reception

Youthful Westerners' sometimes naive spiritual quests to India, and the many varieties of ashram and yoga on offer to them, are gently [11] satirised in the Mindful Yoga instructor Anne Cushman's novel Enlightenment for Idiots. [12] [11]

Elizabeth Gilbert's 2006 memoir Eat, Pray, Love , now also a romantic Hollywood film, describes her experiences in an Indian ashram on her journey of self-discovery. [3] Gilbert is thought [13] to have stayed in the Siddha Yoga ashram Gurudev Siddha Peeth in Maharashtra; the film's "Pray" section was set in Ashram Hari Mandir at Pataudi, near Delhi. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muktananda</span> Yoga guru who founded Siddha Yoga (1908–1982)

Swami Muktananda Paramahamsa, born Krishna Rai, was a yoga guru and the founder of Siddha Yoga. He was a disciple of Bhagavan Nityananda. He wrote books on the subjects of Kundalini Shakti, Vedanta, and Kashmir Shaivism, including a spiritual autobiography entitled The Play of Consciousness. In honorific style, he is often referred to as Swami Muktananda, or Baba Muktananda, or in a familiar way just Baba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ashram</span> Hindu spiritual hermitage or monastery

An ashram is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siddha Yoga</span> Type of yoga

Siddha Yoga is a spiritual path founded by Swami Muktananda (1908–1982). According to its literature, the Siddha Yoga tradition is "based mainly on eastern philosophies" and "draws many of its teachings from the Indian yogic texts of Vedanta and Kashmir Shaivism, the Bhagavad Gita and the poet-saints." The present head of Siddha Yoga is Gurumayi Chidvilasananda.

The Mysore style of asana practice is the way of teaching yoga as exercise within the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga tradition as taught by K. Pattabhi Jois in the southern Indian city of Mysore; its fame has made that city a yoga hub with a substantial yoga tourism business.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rishikesh</span> Municipal corporation in Uttarakhand, India

Rishikesh, also spelt as Hrishikesh, is a city near Dehradun in the Indian state Uttarakhand. The northern part of Rishikesh is in the Dehradun district while the southern part is in the Pauri Garhwal district. It is situated on the right bank of the Ganges River and is a pilgrimage town for Hindus, with ancient sages and saints meditating there in search of higher knowledge. There are numerous temples and ashrams built along the banks of the river.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muni Ki Reti</span> Town in Uttarakhand, India

Muni Ki Reti is a town and a municipal council in Tehri Garhwal district in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It lies close to the pilgrimage town of Rishikesh and is known for its ashrams, including the Divine Life Society of Sivananda Saraswati.

Gurudev Siddha Peeth is an Indian ashram run by the Gurudev Siddha Peeth Trust and serving the Siddha Yoga path. It is situated between the villages of Ganeshpuri and Vajreshwari in the state of Maharashtra, 70 miles (110 km) north-east of Mumbai. On the Siddha Yoga path it is known as the "mother ashram" because it is where Siddha Yoga began.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Beatles in India</span> 1968 visit to India by the English rock band

In February 1968, the English rock band the Beatles travelled to Rishikesh in northern India to take part in a Transcendental Meditation (TM) training course at the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The visit followed the Beatles' denunciation of drugs in favour of TM and received widespread media attention. The band's interest in the Maharishi's teachings was led by George Harrison's commitment, and it changed Western attitudes about Indian spirituality and encouraged the study of TM. The visit was also the most productive period for the Beatles' songwriting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parmarth Niketan</span> Hindu temple in Uttarakhand, India

Parmarth Niketan is an ashram located in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, India.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jivamukti Yoga</span> School of modern yoga

The Jivamukti Yoga method is a proprietary style of yoga created by David Life and Sharon Gannon in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">André Van Lysebeth</span>

André Van Lysebeth was a Belgian yoga instructor and author whose books about yoga have been translated into many languages. He is also known for a quintessential book on human sexuality he took thirty years of his life to write, Tantra: The Cult of the Feminine.

Religious tourism in India is a focus of Narendra Modi's national tourism policy. Uttarakhand has been popular as a religious and adventure tourism hub.

Beatles Ashram, also known as Chaurasi Kutia, is an ashram close to the north Indian city of Rishikesh in the state of Uttarakhand. It is located on the eastern bank of the Ganges river, opposite the Muni Ki Reti area of Rishikesh, in the foothills of the Himalayas. During the 1960s and 1970s, as the International Academy of Meditation, it was the training centre for students of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who devised the Transcendental Meditation technique. The ashram gained international attention between February and April 1968 when the English rock band the Beatles studied meditation there, along with celebrities such as Donovan, Mia Farrow and Mike Love. It was the setting for the band's most productive period as songwriters, where they composed most of the songs for their self-titled double album, also known as the "White Album".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoga as exercise</span> Physical activity consisting mainly of yoga poses

Yoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of postures, often connected by flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by breathing exercises, and frequently ending with relaxation lying down or meditation. Yoga in this form has become familiar across the world, especially in the US and Europe. It is derived from medieval Haṭha yoga, which made use of similar postures, but it is generally simply called "yoga". Academics have given yoga as exercise a variety of names, including modern postural yoga and transnational anglophone yoga.

Anne Cushman is an American teacher of yoga as exercise and meditation, a writer on Mindful Yoga, and a novelist. Her novel Enlightenment for Idiots was named by Booklist as one of the top ten novels of 2008. Cushman has also been an editor for Yoga Journal and Tricycle: The Buddhist Review. She directs mentoring programs and multi-year meditation training for yoga teachers at the Spirit Rock Meditation Center, emphasizing the fusion of yoga and Buddhist meditation and highlighting their shared history and philosophy.

Yoga teacher training is the training of teachers of yoga as exercise, consisting mainly of the practice of yoga asanas, leading to certification. Such training is accredited by the Yoga Alliance in America, by the British Wheel of Yoga in the United Kingdom, and by the European Union of Yoga across Europe. The Yoga Alliance sets standards for 200-hour and 500-hour Recognized Yoga Teacher levels, which are accepted in America and other countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoga in Britain</span>

Yoga in Britain is the practice of yoga, including modern yoga as exercise, in Britain. Yoga, consisting mainly of postures (asanas), arrived in Britain early in the 20th century, though the first classes that contained asanas were described as exercise systems for women rather than yoga. Classes called yoga, again mainly for women, began in the 1960s. Yoga grew further with the help of television programmes and the arrival of major brands including Iyengar Yoga and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Postural yoga in India</span>

Postural yoga began in India as a variant of traditional yoga, which was a mainly meditational practice; it has spread across the world and returned to the Indian subcontinent in different forms. The ancient Yoga Sutras of Patanjali mention yoga postures, asanas, only briefly, as meditation seats. Medieval Haṭha yoga made use of a small number of asanas alongside other techniques such as pranayama, shatkarmas, and mudras, but it was despised and almost extinct by the start of the 20th century. At that time, the revival of postural yoga was at first driven by Indian nationalism. Advocates such as Yogendra and Kuvalayananda made yoga acceptable in the 1920s, treating it as a medical subject. From the 1930s, the "father of modern yoga" Krishnamacharya developed a vigorous postural yoga, influenced by gymnastics, with transitions (vinyasas) that allowed one pose to flow into the next.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modern yoga gurus</span> People widely acknowledged to be gurus of modern yoga

Modern yoga gurus are people widely acknowledged to be gurus of modern yoga in any of its forms, whether religious or not. The role implies being well-known and having a large following; in contrast to the old guru-shishya tradition, the modern guru-follower relationship is not secretive, not exclusive, and does not necessarily involve a tradition. Many such gurus, but not all, teach a form of yoga as exercise; others teach forms which are more devotional or meditational; many teach a combination. Some have been affected by scandals of various kinds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siddeshwar Swami</span> Indian religious leader (1940–2023)

Siddeshwar Swami was an Indian spiritual preacher known for his teachings on yoga and spirituality. Swami was the head of Jnanayogashrama, an ashram in the city of Vijayapura, in the Indian state of Karnataka. He declined the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award, when it was awarded to him in 2018. He had earlier declined an honorary doctorate from the Karnatak University.

References

  1. Lehto, Xinran Y.; Brown, Sally; Chen, Yi; Morrison, Alastair M. (2015). "Yoga Tourism as a Niche Within the Wellness Tourism Market". Tourism Recreation Research. 31 (1): 25–35. doi:10.1080/02508281.2006.11081244. ISSN   0250-8281. S2CID   167910243.
  2. Bowers, Hana; Cheer, Joseph M. (2017). "Yoga tourism: Commodification and western embracement of eastern spiritual practice". Tourism Management Perspectives. 24: 208–216. doi:10.1016/j.tmp.2017.07.013. ISSN   2211-9736.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Lalonde, Angelique M. G. (2012). "Embodying asana in All New Places: Transformational Ethics, Yoga Tourism and Sensual Awakenings" (PDF). University of Victoria Department of Anthropology (PhD thesis).
  4. Jones, Caroline Sylger (19 June 2017). "The 30 greatest yoga holidays on the planet". The Daily Telegraph .
  5. Dunford, Jane (7 October 2018). "Perfect positions: 20 best yoga holidays worldwide". The Observer. The Guardian.
  6. 1 2 Goldberg, Philip (2010). American Veda: From Emerson and the Beatles to Yoga and Meditation – How Indian Spirituality Changed the West . New York: Harmony Books. pp.  7, 152. ISBN   978-0-385-52134-5.
  7. 1 2 Maddox, Callie Batts (2014). "Studying at the source: Ashtanga yoga tourism and the search for authenticity in Mysore, India". Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change. 13 (4): 330–343. doi:10.1080/14766825.2014.972410. ISSN   1476-6825. S2CID   143449133.
  8. Aggarwal, A. K.; Guglani, M.; Goel, R. K. (2008). "Spiritual & Yoga Tourism: A case study on experience of Foreign Tourists visiting Rishikesh, India". Conference on Tourism in India – Challenges Ahead, 15-17 May 2008, IIMK.[ dead link ]
  9. 1 2 Singh, Shikha. "Yoga Tourism in India India can be the Wellness Destination for the World" . Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  10. Ward, Mariellen (15 March 2012). "How to 'do' a yoga ashram in India". Archived from the original on 4 December 2019. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  11. 1 2 Dowdle, Hillari (2008). Enlightened Fiction. Yoga Journal. p. 117. Each character is ripe for a little satire, which makes the novel a fun read, especially if you're in on the joke... Cushman also manages to capture the heart of their teachings, which gives the book another level of meaning.
  12. Douglas, Anna (September 2008). "Enlightenment for Idiots, by Anne Cushman". Inquiring Mind. 25 (1 (Fall 2008)).
  13. 1 2 "Eat, Pray, Love - now try the holiday". Conde Nast Traveller. 10 September 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2019.