Searching for the best wellness retreats in India? In this fast-paced world, it is easy to lose focus on your health. With the stress and challenges of life, we often our physical well being.
If you want to make yourself healthy, detox and rejuvenate your body, and learn to live a healthy lifestyle practiced in India since ages, here are the 10 best Yoga retreats and resorts in India.
The list includes selection of best Ayurveda retreats and Yoga resorts in India. The list is not in any ranking or order, but randomly presented for your reference.
1. Somatheeram Ayurveda Resort, Kerala
Somatheeram Ayurveda Resort is the world’s first Ayurvedic resort and an award winning Ayurveda Hospital set on a tropical gardens and prime beachfront location in South India.
It is located at Chowara Beach with over 15 acres of greenery all around on a hillock 9 km south of the famous Kovalam Beach, Trivandrum, Kerala, India. Here you can benefit from traditional Ayurvedic therapy as well as Yoga in a blissfully peaceful environment.
Somatheeram provides Ayurveda treatments/programmes for persons/patients from all over the world. The special Ayurveda treatments and packages offered are rejuvenation therapy, panchakarma/detoxification (body purification), slimming, stress management, anti ageing, beauty care and various clinical treatments.
2. Ananda in the Himalayas, Narendranagar
Ananada in the Himalayas is one of the highest ranked spas in the world. It is not just a yoga retreat, but assists in redefining lifestyles to include the well-known traditional Indian wellness regimes of Ayurveda, Yoga and Vedanta.
It is located in the tranquil Himalayan foothills, close to the mythological cities of Haridwar and Rishikesh. It is surrounded by graceful Sal forests, overlooking the peaceful Ganga.
Yoga at Ananda is completely pure and traditional in form, stemming from the roots of Hatha yoga and adapting it to suit individual needs. Ananda Practices and teaches the techniques of the BIhar School of Yoga also known as Satyananda Yoga. Ananda Ayurvedic Therapy programmes are prescribed by the physician after a detailed consultation, which specifies daily routines, diet and wellness activities. The consultation focuses on balancing the three bio energetic forces in the human body, namely Vata, Pitta and Kapha.
They offer various package for their visitors: Getaway Packages, Essentially Ananda, Himalayan Bliss, Couples Connect and Ananda Radiance Ritual for Brides-to-Be.
Ananda is also known for their special package for brides-to-be, known as “Ananda Radiance Ritual for Brides-to-Be”.
3. Tushita Meditation Centre, Dharamshala
Tushita is a centre for the study and practice of Buddhism from the Tibetan Mahayana tradition. Located in Northern India, in the forested hills above the town of McLeod Ganj, Dharamsala – the seat in exile of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.
Tushita aims to provide a friendly and conducive environment for people to learn about the teachings of the Buddha. They offer regular drop-in events and courses on introductory Buddhist philosophy and meditation, as well as intermediate level courses and group retreats for more experienced students.
The three types of courses offered at Tushita Meditation Centre are:
- Introduction to Buddhism Courses
- Intermediate-level courses
- Group Practice Retreats
Tushita Medication Center employs the teachings and practices of Lord Buddha through the medium of spirituality. Visitors live a very simple life and the center emphasizes silence as a major part of its teachings.
4. Parmarth Niketan, Rishikesh
Parmarth Niketan is a true spiritual haven, lying on the holy banks of Mother Ganga in the lap of the lush Himalayas. It is the largest ashram in Rishikesh, with over 1,000 rooms, the facilities are a perfect blend of modern amenities and traditional, spiritual simplicity.
The daily activities at Parmarth Niketan include morning universal prayers, daily yoga and meditation classes, daily satsang and lecture programs, kirtan, the world-renowned Ganga Aarti at sunset, as well as Nature Cure and Ayurvedic treatment. There are frequently special cultural and spiritual programs given by visiting revered saints, acclaimed musicians, spiritual and social leaders and others.
Additionally, there are frequent camps in which pilgrims come from across the world to partake in intensive courses on yoga, meditation, pranayama, stress management, acupressure, Reiki and other ancient Indian sciences.
5. Art of Living Ashram, Bangalore
The Art of Living International Center is situated on the top of the Panchagiri Hills, 24km southwest of Bangalore, near Udipalya village. The Ashram is an ideal location for reflection and retreat and is a popular destination for peace-seekers.
While enjoying meditative walks and exploring the ashram, one can choose from the various residential programs offered at the Ashram every week. The main important attractions of the ashram are Sudarshan Kriya, Ayurveda Panchakarma Center and Nadi Pareeksha Wellness Center. In Sudarshan Kriya, we get into the rhythm of our Being and see how Being is permeating our emotions, our thoughts, our breath and our bodies.
The Sri Sri Ayurveda Panchakarma Center, located ideally in the midst of swaying palms and built with wood in the traditional Kerela style, is a feast both for the senses and the spirit. The Wellness Center offers Nadi Pareeksha, which is an ancient Ayurvedic technique of pulse-based diagnosis.
6. Osho Meditation Resort, Pune
Osho Meditation Resort, Pune is a well known meditation resort in India. It reflects a unique combination of the meditation qualities of a Gautama the Buddha and the resort qualities of a Zorba the Greek.
There are 10 meditations offered everyday varying from active to passive, traditional and revolutionary. Some of the well known meditations are OSHO Dynamic Meditation, Morning Audio Meditation, OSHO Nataraj Meditation, OSHO Vipassana Meditation, OSHO Mandala Meditation, OSHO Whirling Meditation, OSHO No Dimensions Meditation, OSHO Chakra Breathing Meditation, OSHO Kundalini Meditation and Laughter Meditation.
Nightlife at Osho Meditation Resort are not meant to be boring. They offer Active and Dance Meditations and Full-moon meditations beneath the stars during night.
Worth to mention, if you are willing to stay here, you will have to go for HIV/AIDS Tests. Tests are done at the Welcome Center on arrival and the results are back within 15 minutes. A negative result is required for entry.
7. Ayurveda Yoga Meditation Resort, Coonoor
Ayurveda Yoga Meditation Resort, Coonoor is an award winning and trusted Ayurveda and Yoga center since 1950. Located in the Nilgiri mountains of south India with pleasant climate and natural settings, the goal of our retreat is to bring to you genuine and authentic experience with Ayurveda, Yoga and Meditation as according to the ancient Ayurvedic & Yogic traditions of India.
Authentic Kerala Ayurvedic treatments are offered for more than 100 diseases and ailments. Visitors start their day with personalized medicines, reviving yoga and rejuvenating ayurvedic treatments.
Guests can also get involved in activities like learning to live healthy and disease prevention, Organic gardening and healthy cooking. Needless to mention the mental and spiritual relaxation.
8. Kalari Kovilakom, Kerala
Kalari Kovilakom is the palace for Ayurveda, perhaps the first and only one of its kind. This palace has been restored and recreated into a unique Ayurveda hospital. Combining the healing experience of India’s ancient medicinal system, Ayurveda, with the grace and scale of palace living.
The intent and purpose of Kalari Kovilakom is to give you a chance to start your life all over again. Ayurveda, if correctly followed, promises not only a new body and mind, but a deep connection with the spirit. Kalari Kovilakom offers ayurveda unveiled in its most authentic form. The herbs used are pure and freshly picked, usually from the herb gardens maintained on Kalari Kovilakom’s own extensive grounds.
This place is meant for meditation, no meat, leather footwear or alcohol are allowed at Kalari.
9. Isha Yoga Centre, Coimbatore
The Isha Yoga Center, founded under the aegis of Isha Foundation, is set at the foothills of the Velliangiri Mountains in southern India. Created as a powerful sthana (a center for inner growth), this popular destination attracts people from all parts of the world and is unique in its offering of all the four major paths of yoga – gnana (knowledge), karma (action), kriya (energy), and bhakthi (devotion).
The center houses the architecturally distinctive Spanda Hall and garden, a 64,000 sq. ft. meditation hall and program facility that is the venue for many residential programs catering to various groups. The Yoga Center contains the Dhyanalinga, a unique and powerful energy-form sitting under a pillarless 250,000-brick dome structure.
Also located at the Yoga Center are the Isha Rejuvenation Center and Isha Home School.
10. Shreyas Yoga Retreat, Bangalore
Shreyas Yoga Retreat one of the most luxurious Yoga retreats in the world which represents simple luxury, elegance and a secluded haven of tranquility. Set in 25-acres of greenery and frangipani gardens, a maximum of 20 guests are lovingly cared for by staff, teachers and therapists, who all practice Yoga as part of their daily lives.
Shreyas Yoga Retreat offers authentic, personalised Hatha & Ashtanga Yoga to all guests, irrespective of age, experience or faith. Shreyas enables guests to integrate the manifold facets and benefits of Yoga (meditation, pranayama, deep relaxation, Yogic kriyas and more) into their daily lives without the austerity and rigour usually associated with yoga ashrams.
It offers a wide range of Ayurvedic therapies, relaxing massages & organic scrubs and masks freshly prepared from their organic gardens.
These serene and peaceful wellness destinations in India offer yoga, ayurveda treatments, meditation and healing classes.