Swasti Yoga School

I highly recommend this school. And I highly recommend this teacher. Just to stand next to him, to hear him speak, to feel his adjustments. He believes that the universe gave him the opportunity to learn yoga and now to pass it on to people, and it really feels like that’s the main purpose of his life, to share the knowledge of yoga with other people. He’s very humble, he considers himself to be only a messenger. He thinks this is his duty to teach people. I have never heard him to speak about money, people leave donation for drop-in classes in the end of the class. This is his way of living. He’s not commercial. He is not interested in doing commercials or promote his persona, this is amazing. At every lesson, he gives more than 100% of his time.

If you want to go deep inside and do the course, it’s great. If you do not have time, just visit his drop-in. Find this teacher. Surinder is a low-tech kind of guy, I don’t see his advertisements here, he’s not doing much on the web. So if you’re in Rishikesh, just ask people around because everyone knows Surinder here. Usually he is doing drop-ins from Monday to Saturday, Sunday is a day off, quarter to nine or some other time according to the season.

I don’t feel like I can start teaching just after completing this course. This course gave me a lot of material and things to work on, but becoming a good teacher requires a lot of practice. You need to practice until it becomes your second nature. This course is just a beginning. It’s a way of leaving, not a course to do to enrich myself. The course helped me to understand how to make yoga practice my second nature very naturally. There is still long way to go.

*This review is based with TopYogis staff interview with Shloemi, the teacher training course graduate from Swasti Yoga School

I loved this course. I couldn't ask for something that was more accurate for me. For me, it is well-balanced, in terms of physical, spiritual, knowledgeable aspects. And energy, the vibe for me was perfect. It was my second time in Rishikesh, last time was 6 years ago, I came here for the first time to get to know yoga, and now I came back.

I did not know Surinder before. I was just sitting in Ram Jhula and people were talking about yoga, because that’s what people do here. And everybody advised me to go to Surinder Ji. I actually wanted to visit his drop-in classes, but that week, there were not drop-ins because the school was busy with ttc (teacher training course). So I thought, why not? I signed up, and luckily it was perfect for me.

Surinder teaches you about asanas, physical aspects and breathing, and also he talks so much about the mind, spiritual path. Everybody can hear themselves in his words. Most of all, he’s not just talking. You feel that he’s a real person who lives these principles. This is his path as well. He’s a student, he’s a yogi just like all of us, a little bit more knowledgeable, that’s it. It’s amazing vibe. He also brings a lot of love to the class, a lot of soft energy, a lot of compassion. Every time he touches or adjusts you, you feel it in your heart, not just the body. So, first of all, you learn a lot, and for me, it’s the only way to practice yoga and to pass it on to other people, and it moves me from the inside. Sometimes I just had tears in my eyes when he was encouraging me: “good job!”.

I come from Iyengar practice, I like Iyengar very much, so for me, all the adjustments are very familiar. And still here, I learned a lot, maybe not from the strictly anatomical point of view, but I feel that I know the body much better. I learned about adjustments, but not so much as how to adjust physically as general principles, how to adjust verbally, how to see if anyone needs an adjustment. I would say that the practice of asanas on the course was very safe and adjusted to the student. Everybody could do their own level of difficulty. There was no pushing, Surinder encouraged us and shows us where we can go more deeper into the posture.