Welcome to the Ananda Yoga Shala

Ashtanga Vinyasa,

Dream & Vipassana Yoga Shala

We are located in Mathura Nagar (Metagalli) neighborhood, a peaceful neighborhood in the bustling city of Mysore, India. Our resident teacher is Ravi Kumar, a deeply respected local Ashtanga Guru. We are also intimately connected to Dream & Vipassana Yoga teacher, Russell Hazard, and his teaching lodge in Ontario, Canada.

 Together we seek to bring the ancient teachings to life.

Our physical program revolves around Guruji’s unique and powerful Ashtanga method, combined with pranayama, wholesome food, and Ayurvedic therapies. Guruji’s training will make you strong, supple and focused.

His teaching emphasizes breath and banda, and every class starts with a pranayama warm-up. Full pranayama courses are also available.

Ravi Kumar & Russell Hazard

Our philosophical roots are grounded in Russ Hazard’s work, which penetrates the four branches of yoga, and combines them with other deep teachings from around the world. These include Tibetan dream yoga, aboriginal shamanic practices, network cognitive psychology and Vipassana meditation. In our view, the key to success is to practice “seeing reality as it is”. It requires tremendous discipline through training to withstand the awesome power of reality. However, with practice, the yogi seeks to maintain awareness at all times, whether in waking consciousness, dream consciousness, or Turiya (a unique state of consciousness brought about by Vipassana, in which a sleeping individual remains fully aware of waking reality). In maintaining awareness, one may experience a vast array of realities and allow the deep rooted tensions (sankaras) to arise to the surface and dissipate. We strive to help you bring these ancient and diverse teachings past the intellect and into the realm of experience. We believe that if humanity is ever going to reach its potential, we need to listen to the whole world’s wisdom.

Meditation is peace.

Ashtanga, also known as Raja yoga, is one of the four yogic branches. At the Ananda, the underlying meaning behind Bhakti, and Jnana yoga teachings are also explored. Perhaps most important, in a world full of hunger and suffering, we place a great emphasis on the tremendous power of Karma yoga.

These teachings are backed by the incredible beauty of Vipassana Meditation. We do not teach Vipassana meditation itself here, as the proper way to learn this powerful tool is only on a ten day course at any of the many by-donation Vipassana centers in the world. The closest such center is the nearby Bangalore Vipassana Centre. If you have not already taken a 10 day Vipassana meditation course, we can heartily recommend it.

Chillin’ by the pool…

This joint project is designed to provide a wonderful place of study for students from around the world. However, it is also designed to improve the lives of local people. Aside from offering “by donation” classes to any of the many local people living in destitution, we set aside a portion of any money left over after expenses. We use these proceeds to fund grassroots projects to help empower and better local peoples lives. We believe that real yoga makes a difference in the aspirant and in the world around them!

Click here to check out our village outreach program!!

Come enjoy learning and friendship in this restful, natural atmosphere. Practice asana on the shaded deck, have a deliciously cool swim in our swimming pool, or sip a cool mango lassi surrounded by fruit trees and birds. The wonderful city of Mysore has many excellent attractions (hyperlink to attractions page) and we know you will thoroughly enjoy them. That being said, like any city, it is full of noise, pollution, and distractions. Ananda Shala offers a beautiful sanctuary in which to train and relax that is just a quick bike ride or rickshaw drive away from anything you may want in town. It is the best of both worlds.

For a listing of our courses, timings and prices, click HERE

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Part of “The Dhamma Project”

The Dhamma Project is spearheaded by Russ Hazard and Tanglefoot Lodge. It seeks to empower individuals around the world to understand and utilize a range of non-sectarian teachings for the betterment of the individual and of society. This is accomplished through a number of means. The first is a revitalization of the international yoga community through a reintroduction of the Dhamma, or Vipassana meditation. The Dhamma highlights the critical experience of “seeing reality as it is”. It is our belief that this practice is at the heart of yoga, and that it has been overwhelmed in the vast ocean of teachings and information currently circulating. There are literally millions of yoga practitioners currently in the west. A reclaiming of the Dhamma by the yogic community will foster a rapid and far reaching transformation within this group. As individuals experience the Dhamma, this transformation naturally ripples out through society by affecting the immediate friends and family of the practitioner.  The experience of annica is accessible to all people immediately within this lifetime. It is a methodology, not a belief. It is inclusive and does not clash with other creeds. The Dhamma is currently practiced by yogis, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, and atheists. For more information on the Dhamma, please visit www.dhamma.org

Another critical means is a deep emphasis on understanding how karma yoga functions, so that people from all backgrounds and beliefs can enjoy the immense satisfaction that comes from reaching out to the world with love and compassion. This is done with a basic respect for traditional practices and cultures. We believe that it is important to help people help themselves, rather than creating dependence and imposing unsustainable practices in the name of assistance.

 In order to facilitate this project, people from all economic and national backgrounds are encouraged to work together to create community. The Ananda Shala is an example of this concept at work. In this case a group of local people have come together cooperatively to spread beautiful teachings, provide meaningful work for a large number of local citizens and their dependants, and reach out with aid to their own community, allowing the gift of yoga to improve the lives of the local poor. Tanglefoot Lodge is providing teaching, technical, web/internet, and small scale financial assistance. The Shala itself charges only the reasonable rates required to allow it to thrive, and puts excess funds back into its own local community. Local people who cannot afford the rates are not turned away from the teachings.

Funded local projects are designed to benefit the community as a whole and support sustainable, healthy living.

We hope to develop such projects throughout western and developing nations, fostering healthy interdependence, mutual understanding and international community. If you have a project you would like assistance with, or if you are able to donate time or money to any given project, please feel free to contact us!