AyurYoga Eco-Ashram

Near Mysore-Kerala, Karnataka, South India 

Photos of AyurYoga Eco-Ashram, Mysore-Kerala, South India 

What is Ashram?

Ashram is a place where people can recharge their spiritual batteries, away from all the distractions of the busy and materialistic lifestyle in the society. From the Yogic understanding humans are brainwashed continuously in society and compelled to lead an automated robotic lifestyle which is shallow and meaningless sometimes.

A secluded space and energy of like minded people in an ashram helps us to take a time off from these compulsive behaviours, attitudes, habits, schedules, obligations of the society and challenge our own beliefs and values that guide our lifestyle. Here, we dare to ask: What am i doing with my life? Why? What do i want? What is the purpose of Life? And each one have to find the answers from within.

Accommodation

At the moment we have 27 rooms, with attached bathrooms inside and a balcony facing the river. Ten of them are wooden cottages and while other rooms are made of hollow mud bricks which maintains insulation naturally. All are same in sizes, facilities and facing the river and valley on the other side.

Eventually we would like to build more guest rooms to be able to provide a private room to all students. Until then, some rooms are shared by two students and certain rooms are only for single occupancy. 

All rooms are spread as per Permaculture principles and gives enough privacy and beautiful views all around. Interiors are simple and spacious 12 x 14 feet bedrooms, well-lit and air flow from two windows.

• All beds have spring mattress, pillows, quilts, blankets etc
• Clean bed-sheets and towels are changed regularly
• Reading table and chair, wardrobe with safe keeping lockers
• Wastebin, Brooms/brushes/cleaning supplies for self-cleaning
• Balcony facing river, with easy chairs and coffee tables
• Mosquito nets for all three windows – no need of a separate net
• Bathrooms with western toilets, showers, sinks, mirrors etc.
• Solar Hot water to keep you warm
• A small pantry area with a sink and counter
• Toilet paper is sold at nominal cost
• 24/7 power supply with voltage control and back up generator
• Universal plug points in rooms – suitable for charging any gadget
• Wi-Fi access with a nominal charge
• Laundry in modern washing machine with a nominal charge

Practicalities

Electricity 

We have 6 to 12 hour power cuts every day. However, we have UPS Battery backup for all rooms and teaching halls, besides the silent Diesel Generator for emergencies. We request our guests not to waste power, especially when we are on batteries during the day time.

Internet
AyurYoga Eco-Ashram is equipped with two high-speed Fiber-Optic internet lines, but with a certain limitations on bandwidth/speed which is highly expensive in India. So, we provide Internet to our guests with nominal charges. We request all our guests to limit internet usage to emails/basic net browsing or whatever necessary and to avoid any upload/downloads, video, to conserve the limited bandwidth available to us per a month.Two computers in the office can be used by students with nominal costs of 2 rupees/per minute – less than 2 dollars/hour.

We expect the students to connect with their inner worlds and appreciate the peace of Mother Nature, instead of being distracted with outside world. And we consider all mobile phones/computer/smart devices are not healthy for body, breath, mind, and environment – so they are not allowed in our class rooms and minimized throughout the campus.

Telephone:
International Mobile phone may or may not work – depends on your network and roaming activation. As per the laws of Indian Government, it is not possible to buy/activate SIM cards for foreigners without a permanent address in India. Nevertheless, there are a few exclusive cell phone counters for foreign tourists at International Airports.

AyurYoga Eco-Ashram is equipped with both land-line and mobile phones in the office which can be used by guests for calling/receiving phone calls with nominal costs. Though we do not encourage the people to use mobile phones in our campus, Ashram office would be able to help you with renting out a temporary phone/SIM card, if it is really an unavoidable necessity for you.

Laundry
It is possible to get your clothes washed and ironed with one of our staff taking care of Laundry. A nominal charge per a piece is charged – about $5 per wash, includes drying and ironing. You can also get washing powder and wash on your own, preferably at the laundry stones at the River steps.

We request our guest to minimize the use of chemical soaps, washing powders, shampoos in the bathrooms, as we are trying to keep our land free from all chemical for Organic Farming of Herbal/Ayurvedic medicinal plants, Vegetable, fruits for own consumption.

Existing Buildings:

Chakra Yoga Hall on the Riverside, measuring about 3000 square feet (sq.ft.), and can accommodate up to 30 people spaciously.

Surya Hal l, measuring 1250 sq.ft., is currently used for Dining and also for morning Gentle Yoga Class and evening Video Shows etc.

Chandra Hall, measuring 2000 sq.ft of area in L shape is above the Dining Hall, with great panoramic views of the place.  

Annapurna is our spacious modern kitchen and dining hall, along with plenty of storage rooms and laundry/washing areas. The open hall above this building, with spectacular views is also used for yoga classes occasionally. 

Heritage Building at the entrance to house our teachers and also works as our temporary office, until the Reception/Office building will be ready in the future.

Coming up Facilities

1) Reception with offices, Travel/Forex agent counters, Boutique, Internet Zone etc.
2) Ayurveda Facility with four Therapy Rooms and Herbal Medicinal manufacturing unit for our own use
3) Teachers and Staff quarters
4) Three Guest Houses with Eco-friendly mud bricks, to accommodate all guests in private rooms
5) Three-floor Central structure with a Yoga Hall, Library and Meditation Hall
6) Developing Gardens, Landscapes, ponds, water works and art to create a Zen atmosphere for spiritual energy.
7) Organic Farming of vegetables, fruits, flowers, Ayurvedic medicines for our own use and training purpose.
8) Sacred Forest – plantation of 5000 Herbal/Ayurvedic medicinal trees to produce a healing space/energy.

Every new student coming to this campus would be contributing for the further growth of this ashram, as all the profits from what you pay would be used for the development and maintenance of this ashram. We feel the need for having this kind of ashrams in India, where peace, space and nature are hard to find as the increasing population opting for materialistic lifestyle that damages the Mother Nature. At AyurYoga Eco-Ashram, we can’t think of spirituality devoid of Mother Nature and its influence our body-mind-soul every day.

Though we provide the basic creature comforts, and facilities needed for International students, we are not a hotel nor a resort, where you can demand with money you can pay. We consider all payments from students are as exchange for what we teach and gift for future students. And there no separate charges for accommodation, food and facilities. The idea behind charging for certain extras like private rooms, internet, laundry, Fruit Juices etc. is to minimize the use of natural and human resources like Water, Power, Food, Internet – which are all in scarcity and expensive for us.

How to Get Here?

This part of India is perfectly safe for women travelers and we take the safety of our students seriously. Our designated Driver/staff will be standing at airport with a placard showing your name and our ashram name. Also we will email you at least three emergency phone numbers to reach us, in case of any problem in finding our person at airport.

Mysore Airport:

There is one Airport for namesake but flights are a few and seasonal. At the moment there is only one small flight coming from Chennai to Mysore on Mon, Wed and Fridays.

Bangalore Airport (BLR), Karnataka:

Nearest International Airport at about 200 Kms. from ashram and well connected with all places in the world.

Most of our students comes/departs from here – so you can share the taxi ride with them.

Calicut Airport (CCJ), Kerala: (Calicut is also known as Kozhikode)

Located on the coast of Kerala, one can driver through scenic hills and forests to reach our ashram. Pick the flights arriving in the early morning to enjoy the best of scenery on the way. It is at same distance/time/costs like Bangalore Airport.

Flight Tickets

Please check the below websites to get a better deals: 
http://www.momondo.com/
http://www.ixigo.com/

Estimated Cost for Airport Transfers

Cheaper Bus option by Buses (for day-time arrivals)

If you are a seasoned traveller arriving during the day time, you can easily take buses easily and costs less than $20 to reach our place.

Bangalore Airport - Mysore: There are two direct buses from Bangalore airport to Mysore leaving at 4 am and again at 4 pm - reaching in Mysore at 10 am and again at 11 pm. It is very comfortable and safe bus for foreign tourists. Costs less than $15. Other than these direct buses from airport, there is one bus every 20 minutes to Mysore from Bangalore Central bus station, which is connected with regular Airport buses. 

When you reach Mysore, you just have to call us/our driver waiting there to drive you down to our ashram in one hour, which costs extra of about Rs. 1200 ($20). 

Website to check the buses: http://www.ksrtc.in/

Trains from other parts of India

Mysore is the nearest train station well-connected with trains from Bangalore, Chennai and Mangalore. There are also long journey trains from/to New Delhi, Mumbai and all other Indian Cities, but not advisable  for travellers new to India. If you can write us from which part of India you want to come we can tell you what is the easiest way. 

Check the available trains  from here: www.indiarailinfo.com

Our Location on Google Maps:

You can also see the Sattelite view of this map directly from Google Maps, by typing in AyurYoga Eco-Ashram India