TUSHITA-NEPAL MEDITATION RETREATS — Attraction in Pokhara

I am not used to leave negative comments on Internet. But for the case of Tushita Nepal, I thought it was important to share my experience so you can have a better one, elsewhere in Nepal (or India) ! To start with the positive things, the ashram is really well located, at the top of the hill. The place, with the garden, is beautiful and quite. The rooms are comfortable, with nice furniture. From the rooms or lunch area, you do not have the view on the lake neither on the mountains. But if you go on the top of the garden then yes you will see the mountains if it is not cloudy. Moreover, Rajesh's wife (Rajesh is the owner and teacher) is an excellent cooker. Her food is delicious. On that point, I am extremely positive. HOWEVER, for the yoga and meditation part, I would say without doubt that it was a terrible experience. Rajesh focused the sessions on theory, with poor practice. And if you are an educated person, then there is a high chance that what you will not believe what you hear and you will ask yourself what you are doing here. Rajesh's speech is unconsistent, confusing, full of fake news. For the theorical part, Rajesh is mixing a lot of things in his speech, which one tends to be very confusing. He mixes religion, yoga and meditation technics, scientific proofs, fake news, racist arguments against the Indians, small details that nobody really care except him. He always repeats the same things. In addition, he puts a lot of effort explaining that everything is coming from Nepal and not India. He talked so badly about Indians and India that sometimes we ask ourself how radical he is. Strange from somebody who says that he did a 999 days retreat and reached enlightment. He also gives value to fake news. Rajesh is convinced that in the ancient time, aircrafts were existing, as also Internet, cellphones, ... (according to his own words). To give you another example, he said that his master is a time-traveler who is able to teleport. At the end, it is impossible to trust what Rajesh is saying. We do not know where is the truth. He says that we can ask any question, but when you ask bad questions that put into question what he is saying, then he gives you a crazy answer, in a peremptory way, to step to another subject. He is a poor listener, and at the end, you understand that you are not here to discuss with him. He also can be very condescendent. As for the practice, I would say in depends on the exercice. We had a nice singing bowl session. For the rest, the yoga part and meditation part were really frustrating, and powerless from a feeling point of view. I felt (and I was not the only one) that the gestures and exercices were slapdash, not done properly.

So, if I had to summarize, Tushita Nepal could be a really nice (but expensive) hotel, where you could practice meditation and yoga by your own. HOWEVER, as an ashram and a place to learn yoga and meditation, I would strongly recommend you to go elsewhere. If you go there, and if after the first day you see you do not like it, do not expect that things will improve. It is what I believed and I was wrong. The prices are much too high for what it is : 656 euros for 7 nights 8 days (or 555 euros for the light version) 270 euros for 3 nights 4 days Rajesh explains these high prices by the fact 50% of the incomes (or sometimes he says also 60%) will be used to establish Nalanda University. I do not know how serious is this project. Personnaly, even if it is a true project, I thing that Rajesh is before all a businessman. He explained that before his enlightment, he was a successful businessman, said to be one of the richest people of Pokhara. He has a high opinion of himself. And he seems to value rich and famous people. He repeated several times that the uncle of Cristano Ronaldo came to his ashram, that the owner of an important Nepali company also comes to his place, ... When he wants to defend himself, he always mention bad energy of the person, closed-mindness, ... always the same speech! And about prices, he is unflexible, no way...

The place itself is really lovely. Its located uphill with a beautiful view over the village and on the other side with a breathtaking panorama of the himalaya. The rooms are nice decorated and clean. On the rooftop we'd do every morning yoga at 7 am, which sounds a little bit early but actually it's worth waking up so early...seeing the sunrise and the weather changig almost every five minitues from foggy to sunny to foggy again! The food is just amazing, until then I never had any idea how delicious veg food can be. Gyanu( the owners wife) is a great chef and she even gave us some cooking lessons! Almost all of the ingridients are self grown or at least local. Gyanu is a really warm-hearted person and I enjoyed the afternoon/night talks with her. However my stay there was very relaxing and in general i had a great time, there were also a few things I didn't like so much. As the retreat is in the mountains, it's far away from the next town so you're either stuck there or you have to take a cab to Pokhara which can get expensive (just so you know, but for one week it's also ok to just stay at the retreat and read a book or go for a hike, i guess) This point triggers me much more. Rajesh (the teacher) was a freindly guy, but really stuck into his own opinion about life and god. He told us a lot of storys and as long as you agreed he'd be open to talk more about it but if you disagreed or doubted he'd just cut the conversation off and say that everyone can have his own opinion and thats it. I think this is very sad and at some points inmature considering that i just wanted him to explain me why he sees the world the way he does. Also he said that a lot of his stories are 'scientifically proven' and so on. I only looked up one story (about jesus who allegedly was in nepal for 18 years) and the first article that popped up on google already said, that it was a lie and explained why it's untrue. I don't really care so much about this but i don't like it when you make your theories look like facts so no one can argue them and just starts to believe you blindely. If you questioned him he'd just shut down and change the subject, not really explaining himself. He also talked a lot of times awfully bad about India and in some points i do understand him, but as a yogi who claims to have inner peace and so on he seems to have a bad history with india and can't seem to let it go, which is controversial and sad. So if you don't care so much about these two points, then please go on and book your trip to Tushita! But if you are expecting a life changing experience with a great talk about life and god and you are more of a doubting person, it can get litte frustrating and i'm not sure if you'll get the answers you're really looking for. Nevertheless I had a lovely time there and I'd still recommend it to everyone with this small advertismet, which is why I rated the...

The most magical and authentic spiritual retreat I have ever done!

The Universe put us on the road to Rajesh my partner and I, and it was one of the best experiences of our stay! Rajesh is an excellent spiritual guide, he made us discover through our "birth charts" Vedic astrology, teached it to us, introduced us to yoga/pranayama, transmitted to us a lot of knowledge from the Vedas, teached feng shui, the effects of the cardinal points on the body, diet, the benefits of nature on the body and many more! Rajesh is always there to listen to us and guide us, he has become a real confident and friend for us!

We also had the chance to experience the healing of Our kundalini energy by a spiritual healer, who gave us also a reading of the future in the rice! This experience was by far the most extraordinary that we have had here.

Tushita vibrates love and here we take care of you in the same way! His wife Gyanu transmits all her love of food to us with her divinely prepared dishes! Kumari the house helper is always there to take care of us when we needed! We felt like family in this little place of paradise! In addition, its magical garden on the Himalayan mountains makes us vibrate to the sound of universal energy!

WE are so gratefull for this wonderful and magical experience !

If you need spiritual guidance, questions about your future, your life mission, if you need a body-mind reconnection, or just to recharge yourself with the sacred energy of the Himalayas, look no further. more! ...