Pokhara, the place in Nepal to do a yoga retreat or follow some yoga classes. In this blog, I will tell you, from the point of view of a yoga beginner (because I really see myself as a yoga beginner), about the best yoga studios in Pokhara and what our experiences in their yoga lessons were.
The best yoga studios in Pokhara, Nepal
Pokhara is bursting with great yoga studios. Scroll down to see our favourite places. But first I will tell you more about our yoga level.
Click here for our blog on the best restaurants in Pokhara!
My introduction (s) with yoga
At the age of 13, I followed my first yoga class … well, to be honest, it was more some sort of stretch class for the elderly. I had some stress at school and my parents thought it would be good if I learned to relax through yoga. It wasn’t like I took many classes here, so flash forward to my second introduction in yoga. I am now 21 years old and live in Amsterdam. Everyone here is practising yoga, and so I start to take some yoga classes at my gym and later at all kinds of specialized yoga studios.
Hatha, Vinyasa and Yin yoga
I learn the difference between Hatha, Vinyassa and Yin yoga (the latter still feels like relaxing in a pose for a long time). I experiment with Hot yoga, Bikram yoga (still don’t understand the difference) and Asthanga yoga. Every time when I visit a new yoga studio or take a new class, I get the question of how I classify myself. A bit embarrassed I keep telling the teachers that I really am still a beginner. Because even now, after taking yoga classes every week for six years, done in many different countries around the world, I still can’t do a real downward facing dog and I get a headache while only thinking about doing a headstand.
And yet I keep trying and practising, hoping I will get more flexible. And indeed, sometimes I can do poses I wasn’t able to do before. Ries continues to join me as well, and he is just as stiff and inflexible like I am. Oh well, at least we stand out together among all those flexible people!
Yoga in Pokhara – Nepal
Okay, this has been way too long of an introduction, so let me go back to the purpose of this article: tell you where you can find the best yoga studios in Pokhara (Nepal). Because after a 12-day trek from the Annapurna Circuit we are so stiff that we definitely could use some yoga. And so every morning we visit a different yoga studio and test a different yoga class. All of our experiences can be found below!
The best yoga studios in Pokhara:
Mudra Yoga Studio – yoga in Pokhara
Hatha Flow Yoga and Sound Bowl Healing lessons
Price: RS800 / $8, week membership: RS3800 / $38
Class duration: 60 minutes
Reservation required: no
Mudra is located in the middle of the tourist centre of Pokhara, above the popular restaurant OR2K. Yoga takes place in a large, light studio with a beautiful view of the lake. Teacher Christof gave modern Hatha yoga with lots of sun salutations, sometimes using a sound bowl to loosen your shakra (my shakra is mostly in shock every time I suddenly hear such a loud reverberation sound). Even though our class was filled with advanced students, Christof made sure that everyone could come along or that there were enough alternatives. This is the most expensive yoga studio we tried but it was well worth the money. Click here for the location of the Mudra Yoga Studio on Google Maps and click here for their Facebook page.
Holy Garden – yoga in Pokhara
Sound Bowl, Hatha, Vinyassa, Ashtanga, Aerobatic yoga, Yin yoga
Price: RS650 / $6.50, 10 lessons for RS4000 / $40
Class duration: 90 minutes
Reservation needed: no but advised otherwise the lesson may not take place
Wow, a class at Holy Garden was a completely different experience of yoga. After first taking an introduction sound bowl session from the cheerful and energetic Rajesh (conclusion: sounds bowls are really not my thing), he taught an hour and a half yoga class. We were allowed to choose what kind of yoga we wanted to practice and chose Hatha yoga, which he himself called dancing yoga.
And so we were ‘dancing’ in yoga poses for an hour and a half with an occasional pause in which he mainly asked strange questions (such as: “Wouldn’t you like to be a child again?”) and laughed a lot. The yoga in the Holy Garden is a lot less structured and strict than western yoga classes. There is room to do nothing or to chat. Quite refreshing. In retrospect, I did not really feel like I had done a huge workout, but surprisingly I noticed the next morning that Rajesh had certainly made sure my muscles had come into action!
The studio itself is dark and there is some background noise from associated Busy Bee’s bar. Nevertheless, I would recommend this special experience, especially with a free meditation class (duration: 60 minutes) in advance. Click here for the location of the Holy Garden Studio on Google Maps and click here for their Facebook page.
OM Family – yoga in Pokhara
Meditation, Vinyassa Yoga
Price: RS700 / $7.00
Class duration: 60 minutes
Reservation required: yes and a down payment
OM family is a yoga studio above the Tandori restaurant. You can follow yoga class here, but you can also learn to meditate or take a massage. We took a morning Vinyassa lesson from Sanil, but it soon became apparent that this was a different Vinyassa than we were used to. The lesson started jumping and dancing. The rest of the lesson had a lot to do with breathing and associated poses.
Surprisingly, Sanil sometimes had completely different names for poses, but if you didn’t fully understand what he meant, he would help you in the right posture. The dark studio was well filled with nine yogis, almost everyone was a beginner. After this class, I certainly had the feeling that I had worked out and I spent the rest of the day with lots of energy. Click here for the location of the Om Family Studio on Google Maps and click here their Facebook page.
Yoga retreats in Pokhara
In addition to yoga class, Pokhara is also very popular for doing a yoga retreat. Because we are travelling for a longer period of time, a yoga retreat in Pokhara does not fit into our budget. However, we heard great stories about Atmashree Yoga Retreat (number 1 on Tripadvisor). In addition, Yoga Purna and Sadhana Yoga Retreat also seem to be good.
What to do and see in Pokhara? Read our free travel guide!
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