Today, marks the beginning of something special and one I hope will do justice to the purpose it seeks to fulfil.
On the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi, the beginning of all things auspicious, I present Shanti Spaces, a home for curated listings, events and workshops across yoga, wellness, spirituality and holistic healing.
How moving to Rishikesh set the tone for starting Shanti Spaces
I came to Rishikesh over 6 months ago, hoping to heal from grief over loss of a loved one and a whole host of existential but persistent crises.
Little did I know that those fix months would have such a profound impact on my well-being, mental health and overall outlook towards life.
Like everyone else, I came to Rishikesh to do a Yoga Course, and ended up signing up for a 200-hour Teacher Training Course, having no intention to be a yoga teacher, but just to set my own lifestyle right. And for that, it worked beautifully well. For 23 days, I woke up at 5:30am, started my day with a long walk to the yoga school, a gruelling 2 hour Ashtanga Yoga session, followed by meditation and then a sumptuous breakfast. It then eased into a yogic philosophy class, some more yoga through the day, and finally ending the day with a dinner at 7:30pm and back home. Life was completely different and yet new.
Unfortunately, grief struck yet again as I lost my dog in Rishikesh even before finishing my yoga courses. Suddenly, everything began to make sense. Coming to Rishikesh wasn’t a co-incidence. It was my calling all along. It wasn’t a random a vacation, it was the inner journey I’d meant to do for everything to fall in place. Rishikesh felt like home.
Days after cremating my dog at it, I eventually got married to the love of my life on the banks of the Ganga, and started a new chapter of my life in the place. Slowly, I began to withdraw from the life I’d lived so far in Bangalore, in a well-paying job, within my own small circles and a limited world. Rishikesh, a tiny town, expanded my horizons, both external and the ones inside.
It’s where sages and saints came to seek knowledge, practice meditation and achieve “Samadhi”, the ultimate state of the mind. Indeed, at Vashisht Gufa (cave), one can visit the actual places maharishis practiced meditations for years and feel the vibration and the spiritual spillover still palpable in its leaking and musty walls.
It’s at the soft white sands and the emerald waters by the Ganga here where yogis honed their practice thousands of years ago, it’s where Ganga starts its long, glorious journey ahead, and it’s where remnants of an ancient, mystic and complex set of energies thrive.
The energy in Rishikesh today
Today Rishikesh is known as the yoga capital of the world, and for a good reason. More than 300 yoga schools are based out of here. Along with yoga, there are other ancient practices and knowledge systems like Ayurveda, Meditation, holistic healing that find both their propagators and hungry takers. As for a traveler hungry for a new experience more than just rafting or an external thrill, Rishikesh offers many deeply spiritual and inward-seeking activities like sound healing, kirtans, satsangs etc.
In fact, there’s no death of activities for someone looking to expand their inner horizon and their consciousness. And sometimes, there’s nowhere to look.
What Shanti Spaces aims to be
That’s what Shanti Spaces is all about.
It’s a culmination of my on-ground research on all that Rishikesh has to offer, all my conversations with hundreds of people, going door to door from yoga school to another, attending events every other day, and being part of dozens of communities in the yoga and lightwork space, not just in Rishikesh but beyond.
And I seek to condense and present all of that knowledge in one place for the people who seek it.
Our country is full of spiritual, ancient and mind-expanding wonders that have as much resonance today as they did 1000s of years, if not more, that deserve finding, that deserve an audience and whose promoters deserve patrons.
Finding them shouldn’t be left to one’s social media skills. Shanti Spaces will bring them all on one platform.
Shanti Spaces will curate yoga schools, yoga retreats, and events across the yogic spectrum – Ayurvedic retreats, kirtans, satsangs, ceremonies, musical recitals, sound healing and more.
Shanti Spaces is proudly born in Rishikesh but is a homage to all the Indian knowledge and light that can help heal the world.
