Blog
Notes from the shala.
Postures taken apart properly, answers to the questions the school gets asked most on WhatsApp, and what a retreat in Kerala is actually like. Written by the people teaching the classes.
Practice
Why the first class of the day starts at 5.30 am
The early class fills first, and not because anyone likes alarms. The practical reasons the hour before sunrise suits yoga best.
4 min read
Kovalam
Yoga in Kovalam: a visitor's guide to the first class
On holiday in Kovalam with a few free mornings? When to come, which class to ask for, and how to book the first one.
5 min read
Beginners
How to start yoga when you have never done it
Almost everyone who writes to the school opens the same way: some version of "I have never done this and I am not flexible." Here is what the first month actually looks like.
3 min read
Asana
Halasana: the plough pose, and who should leave it alone
An inversion that looks simple in a photograph and is not. Halasana is the posture the school gets asked about most, and the one it most often tells people to wait on.
2 min read
Asana
Ardha Matsyendrasana: where the twist should come from
Named for Matsyendranath, and the posture most likely to be done badly by people who have been practising for years. The problem is almost always the same one.
2 min read
Asana
Vajrasana: the one posture you can do after eating
Every yoga teacher tells you to practise on an empty stomach. Vajrasana is the posture that comes with the opposite instruction, and it is the most useful thing in the syllabus for people who sit all day.
2 min read
Retreats
What a yoga retreat in Kerala is actually like
Less dramatic than the photographs and considerably better than them. Here is the honest shape of a retreat day, from a school that has been running them at Kovalam since 2014.
2 min readElsewhere on the site
Begin
Start with one class. Decide after that.
Tell us where you are starting from and we will suggest a time. Classes run Monday to Saturday, 5.30 am to 7.30 pm IST.