Sivananda Yoga Ashram — Local services in Town of Fallsburg

Shivanand Yoga Ranch, Catskill, NY, I drove to this place from Albany,NY which is close to 115 miles. I was suppose to go there on President's day long weekend but some other things came,so I have decided to go there following weekend & these guys very easily accommodated my date change request. Prior to going there I was completely oblivion about where I am landing. This was my first experience to any asharam ,being by birth Hindu & followed lot of practices from my childhood but I never went to any yoga center or asharam my entire life. So my reservation was from Saturday till Monday-2nights. There confirmation details said I can checkin after 2.00 PM,so I thought 1.5 should be sufficient for 115 miles. After 1 hr of highway travel I realized it had some local roads & which had traffic signals & you have continuously change the speed but I always loved countryside roads,so I enjoyed the region & little radiation fog was formed but not that much dense. So I had to keep adjusting myself to the density of fog. I realized after sometime drive turned out to be of two hrs & more. I saw budd road & I saw hoarding about Ashram,which was visible from main street. I thought that's it I reached but that's where uphill road started which was close to 4 miles from the main road & finally I reached to this place the parking lot near aashram was almost full with one slot

left. I guess they have huge parking near the road but I parked near ashram parking lot. I went to reception counter she gave me all the needed details. Since it was saturday I had to pay extra 15$,it was already explained it to me. The whole process took close to 20 minutes, she walked me through the schedule & I realized that they had a positive thinking lecture which I missed by 1/2 hr & it only happen on Saturday since there are lot of people on Saturday.So I said I missed that session but it was in progress so she said if I want I can join them. I decided to join. I entered the temple area & I felt I landed in Indian temple with Krishna deity at the center & other deities around it. Swami was answering the questions to the people,It lasted till 3:30 PM. I realized some of the people were already comfortable with all the process & I was naive about lot of process as these guys checked in on Friday. After that these guys walked me to my Kutir/Cottage. I had booked dorm accommodation,so two more beds were there. At 4:00 PM they had yoga session beginners & advanced in two different places. Since I was beginner so I have decided to goto beginner class. It was first time yoga with an instructor. It was an refreshing experience for me. At 6 organic food was ready, rice, fried potato, moong dal, boiled kale & salad with dressing made up of nuts & avacado. Initially I was skeptical but I loved food. Also there was tea available. It lasted till 6:30 at 7PM they had Bhagvath Gita chanting class which lasted for 1/2 hr. After a long time I read Sanskrit which is devnagiri script & there was english pronunciation was also there. After that there was satsang at 8 PM in which 20-25 min was mediation program, they started directly meditating & I had little idea about meditation,so it was ok for me but I guess prerequisite is to have little idea about it. Around 8:30 there was kirtan, which I enjoyed fully & it brought my memories back from childhood. I was surprised to see hindu chant aartis followed was americans with thick accent following proper rituals. All those things were over by 9:10 followed by message from swami shivanand & ashokanand's book.

As an overall this place is really nice & I enjoyed my first aasharam stay with yoga & surrounded by catskill mountain, it is certainly a treasure for your mental peace. It certainly did not reach to...

As a New Yorker and an at-home yogini in search of a TTC program, I had a bewildering menu of options to choose from. But in seeking an authentically classical, traditional experience that would take me away from the daily grind of city living and totally immerse me in a holistic practice, I found the perfect choice in the TTC program offered by the Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch.

As the “elder stateswoman” of my group, I was terribly nervous about sharing a “dorm” after decades of being a married person and a mother of young adult children myself - and also of being able to keep up with everyone in class. I went in with the intention of finding my headstand; I came out, quite a bit more physically battered and still without quite having attained that headstand, but having undergone such an ineffable internal - yes - transformation, that I am still overcome with the power of the experience. I connected with my roommates immediately though I was 20 years older than the older one of the two (!), and the group as a whole was so diversely talented and committed and loving. The Catskills setting is stunning and was so uplifting to experience on morning meditation walks. The vegetarian meals were delicious and pleasurable to share in the company of fellow TTCs, karma yogis and guests alike. The only minor quibble I might offer is that some daily fruit would have been appreciated. The schedule was grueling as anticipated, but we all became quickly acclimated and dove in to the rich lectures enthusiastically - Swami Paramananda is charismatic and charming and ridiculously aspirational in his asana practice and teaching. I really miss his joyous Jaya Ganesha at the start of satsang. Swami Satyapremananda is a brilliant Gita scholar, warmly relatable, and also a beautiful kirtan leader. How I loved kirtan at satsang! I never could have expected how my heart would soar during communal chanting! Shakti and Marie, the Dynamic Duo of asana classes, brought such energy, focus and attentiveness to each class, and compassion and sensitivity to our individual capabilities. I really cannot express adequately how incredibly grateful I am to have been able to give myself this birthday present (yes, I had the most humbling, beautiful birthday at the ashram in the middle of the TTC). I am already looking forward to the ATTC next summer!

To anyone seeking a short respite from the realities of the workaday life, I encourage them to go in with an open heart and mind, understanding that this is in fact a spiritual community and not a spa resort (though there are excellent yoga classes and workshops and a sauna).

And, without question, the TTC program is unparalleled - but again, fair warning, beyond the asana training, it is highly structured, academic, and spiritual all at once. A trainee who goes in prepared to be challenged on all fronts will emerge a fuller, richer person. Om...

My personal experience with an Ashram here in the U.S. was very enlightening - in the sense of complete disillusionment - in so many ways. I visited the Sivananda Ashram in upstate New York about ten years ago. My complete openness and vulnerability of having the best of intentions as a result of my faith in this practice and community of 'yogis' were met with two things. For one thing I experienced racial prejudice for the first time in my twenty something years of life here in America as my friendly and enthusiastic yet platonic advances were met with anything from hostility and suspicion to disrespect infringing on ridicule. A mistrustful and guarded approach had served me well in avoiding such prejudice in the past. They taught Asanas not yoga there along with a bunch of fancy hindu words as their groupie lingo and not much else. Which leads to the second result of the pompous, self-absorbed social dropout 'yogis' there who couldn't find anything else to do with their lives. They were committed to dogmatically transmitting the teachings of their idol 'guru master' - no disrespect to Swami Sivananda himself - by a strict adherence and regurgitation of what they were taught without a sufficiently deeper understanding of what was involved to evolve this knowledge any further. Any deviance from their discourse in questioning would be met with a devoted albeit confused quotation of 'something the master said'. Eventually the 'swami' there resorted to discrediting me and criticizing my practice rather than exploring what I was attempting to discuss! For example if I inquired how different postures affected the flow of energy and attempted to experiment with variations of postures, or even failed to do them in the 'sivananda' sequence, his conclusion was merely that I was doing the postures wrong.

And of course his wise conclusion that I would do such a thing because I needed attention.

Thankfully that need is fulfilled by these kinds of sites on the internet to share my...