Yoga · Ananda in the Himalayas · Rishikesh
Holistic Yoga
Ananda’s Holistic Yoga: classical Hatha and Raja Yoga with elements of Karma, Bhakti and Jnana Yoga, sold at 7, 14 or 21 nights.
Your retreat, at a glance
The programme
Ananda describes Holistic Yoga as a programme built on classical Hatha and Raja Yoga, for body, breath and mind, with elements of Karma, Bhakti and Jnana Yoga for attitude and behaviour. The property sells it at 7, 14 or 21 nights, with other lengths allowed, in its Comprehensive and Intensive categories.
Read the full description
According to the property, a detailed yoga consultation on arrival shapes the sessions: personalised asanas, pranayama, mudras (energy channelling) and bandhas (energy locks), with Ayurvedic, international and oriental therapies alongside. It says the programme builds physical strength, flexibility, sleep, immunity, mental clarity and emotional resilience.
The property says that when two guests share a room, personal yoga, fitness and meditation sessions are given together, unless its wellness consultant advises otherwise.
Season, arrival & included essentials
- Accommodation for the nights booked, at the room category and occupancy chosen
- A pre-arrival consultation, plus diet and lifestyle guidelines before arrival
- A detailed yoga consultation on arrival, progress checks, a debrief and a follow-up
- Physiotherapy and emotional-wellbeing consultations, depending on category
Is this your kind of stay?
Who it suits — and who it doesn’t
Travel-planning guidance. Medical suitability is for your own doctor and the qualified team at the property.
Consider this if
- Those deepening their yoga practice, whatever their current ability, as the property describes the programme
- The goals the property names: flexibility, therapeutic healing, discipline of the mind and spiritual awareness
Consider another option if
- Children under 14, whom the property’s child policy does not admit to the estate
- Guests aged 14 to 18, whom the policy page books on Foundation programmes only, not the Comprehensive or Intensive categories
- Pregnancy: the property’s spa guidelines allow no treatment in the first 16 weeks, then only selected ones after a consultation
Price & inclusions
What it costs, and what is in it
7 nights, sharing a Deluxe Garden View Room
The price includes: Accommodation, three meals a day, consultations, the programme’s therapies and personal sessions, group activities and hydrotherapy.
Counted, so you can compare
- 6therapy hours, Comprehensive
Ayurvedic, international and oriental therapies over 7 nights; Intensive lists 10. Each therapy, session or consultation lasts 30 to 85 minutes, it says.
- 8personal session hours
Yoga, pranayama and meditation over 7 nights in the Comprehensive category; Intensive lists 11.
- 8hours of consultations
Over 7 nights, as the brochure counts them, from pre-stay diagnostics through Ayurveda, emotional healing and physiotherapy to the post-stay follow-up.
- 3wellness meals a day
Breakfast, lunch and dinner, as guided by the lead consultant.
Included
- Accommodation for the nights booked, at the room category and occupancy chosen
- A pre-arrival consultation, plus diet and lifestyle guidelines before arrival
- A detailed yoga consultation on arrival, progress checks, a debrief and a follow-up
- Physiotherapy and emotional-wellbeing consultations, depending on category
- Personal yoga, pranayama and meditation sessions for the hours listed
- Ayurvedic, international and oriental therapies for the hours listed
- Three wellness meals a day, as guided by the lead consultant
- Group yoga, pranayama, meditation, Vedanta talks, fitness, cooking demonstrations, treks
- Daily hydrotherapy: steam, sauna, chill plunge pool and Kneipp foot bath
Not included
- 18% GST
- Car transfers, quoted on request
- À la carte cuisine and spa menu orders
Cancellation. Every property sets its own terms, and they change. Your written quote includes the current property and travel-supplier conditions before you confirm anything.
A day, hour by hour
The day, as the property publishes it
The property publishes one typical day for all guests: activities starting 7am to 10am and 4pm to 6pm, and spa treatments at 11am.
- Nature walk or trekA walk in and around the estate, or the 13 km sunrise trek to Kunjapuri Temple, which the brochure lists as weekly.
- YogaTraditional Hatha yoga for beginners and practitioners
- Morning stretchesDynamic stretches
- Visiting master talk
- VedantaTalks by senior Vedic scholars
- Spa treatmentsIndividual treatments as set by the guest’s programme
- Gym session or cooking classInterval training with trainers; the cooking classes are weekly
- Meditation and pranayama
- Vedanta
Where you stay
Ananda in the Himalayas
A wellness retreat on the 100-acre former palace estate of the Maharaja of Tehri-Garhwal, overlooking Rishikesh and the Ganga valley. Its press kit says it opened in 2000 as India’s first luxury wellness retreat.
Worth knowing: The property says it is a wellness destination, not a clinic, and that its therapies offer no immediate cures. Leaving early is charged 100% of the booked value with no refund. Children under 14 are not admitted, and some spa treatments are restricted for 14–18-year-olds. Several programmes start at 14 nights, and Panchakarma runs 21.
The full profileWho looks after you
Supervision, by qualification and number
Teams are described by role and qualification rather than by name, because staffing changes. The property confirms the current team and how practitioners are assigned before or on arrival.
- Clinical supervision
- The property names a yoga and meditation guide as lead consultant. Its programme web page gives physiotherapy and emotional-wellbeing consultations to Comprehensive only; its brochures say both categories.
- The team around you
- The property names disciplines, not staff numbers: a yoga and meditation guide as lead consultant, yoga instructors, an emotional healer and a physiotherapist.
- Consultations
- Pre-arrival, a yoga consultation on arrival, progress checks, a debrief and a follow-up; the brochure counts 8 hours at 7 nights.
Questions
Before you ask
What if I am not very flexible?
What will I learn about yoga philosophy?
What are mudras and bandhas?
How does it address mental and emotional health?
What are the cancellation terms?
Make a trip of it
Before, during and after your 7 nights
The excursions and extra stays we arrange in Rishikesh, placed by when to take each — a good day out on the wrong day of a treatment course is not a good day out.
Explore flights, excursions & extra stays
Before you begin
Arrive early — see the country while you are fresh
Extra stay · 2 nights
Delhi, at the start
Old Delhi, the Lodi tombs and a night’s sleep before the domestic hop. Fights jetlag and the Dehradun weather risk at once.
Culture · Half day
Haridwar and Har Ki Pauri
An hour downstream and several centuries older in feel — a pilgrimage town with none of Rishikesh’s yoga-school economy.
During the stay
Light enough for a rest day or a free afternoon
Holistic Yoga · 7 nights at Ananda in the HimalayasCulture · Half day
The Beatles Ashram
Chaurasi Kutia, where the White Album was largely written in 1968 — now a ruin inside Rajaji reserve with a small entrance fee and a great deal of graffiti art. Melancholy and worth it.
Active · Half day, early
Kunjapuri at sunrise
A short steep temple climb for the Himalayan range at first light — Bandarpunch, Gangotri, Chaukhamba. Leave at 04:30. Not compatible with a 05:30 practice start, so take it on a rest day.
Culture · 90 minutes, at dusk
Ganga Aarti at Parmarth Niketan
The riverbank fire ceremony, every evening, free and unticketed. Go on your first night rather than your last — it sets the register for everything after it.
After you finish
The reward, once the treatment is done
Extra stay · 4 nights
Corbett & the Kumaon hills
India’s oldest national park and then the quiet ridge villages above it. The correct decompression after a month of teacher training.
Extra stay · 2 nights
Amritsar & the Golden Temple
An overnight train or a short flight west. The langar kitchen feeds 50,000 people a day and it is the most moving hour in north India.
Active · Half day
White water on the Ganga
September to November and March to May, when the river is running. Excellent, cold, and firmly incompatible with any oil-therapy week — book it either side.
Begin with a conversation
Plan your 7 nights at Ananda in the Himalayas
Tell us your dates and who is travelling. A specialist comes back with a written quote for the stay, the treatments, the flights and the transfers.
- 1
Share your plan
Two minutes: when you would like to start, how long, your nationality and your WhatsApp number.
- 2
Talk it through
A wellness travel specialist picks it up on WhatsApp or a free call — length, room, season, and whether this is the right house for you.
- 3
Your written quote
Room, dates, treatments, flights and transfers in one quote, with the current cancellation terms.
- 4
Confirm when ready
Nothing is paid until you confirm in writing. One team then looks after the whole journey.