This post is simply an unbiased reflection of my experience at Nada Yoga School. I am not receiving any remuneration for providing my opinion.

What You’ll Learn in Nada Yoga School’s Different 200-Hour Yoga TTCs

Three different TTC courses ran simultaneously when I attended Nada Yoga so I will share my personal experience in the Kundalini Course and recount the experiences of my friends who took the Meditation and the Nada Courses.

What is Covered in All of the 200-hour TTCs at Nada Yoga School?

Seven out of the nine daily classes are the same. Theory classes meet in one large group, while practical classes are taught to the individual modules separately so as to give more attention to the students.

The theory classes that everyone shares in a big classroom include:

Asana Alignment and Adjustment

Regardless of what module you take, you learn how to correctly perform about sixty major hatha asanas very thoroughly. You learn how to modify the poses for different body types and the benefits of each pose. Also, you learn who should not perform the full pose and how they should modify it. Regardless of your module, going through any 200-hour TTC at Nada will qualify you to teach hatha.

Yogic Anatomy/Ayurveda

The course starts off with yogic anatomy, which is almost completely parallel with Western anatomy, but with a few helpful lifestyle tips. Don’t expect anything so esoteric here. This is a rather grounded, scientific approach to the body, which I liked. The areas of focus are digestive, respiratory, muscular, and skeletal. I personally felt that more time than was necessary went into anatomical terminology that wouldn’t be particularly useful to teaching yoga. However, learning things such as that brushing with too much tooth paste or for more than three minutes can corrode your teeth and how to wisely use pre/probiotics made the class worthwhile. The anatomy teacher was comprehensive, pragmatic, and quite charming. Everyone in our class enjoyed his lectures and left every day having learned something new.

The last half of the course features an ayurveda class which describes the characteristics of the three different body constitutions, doshas, and how to apply ayurvedic principles to balance your body, mind, and spirit. If you already have basic knowledge about ayurveda, this class won’t offer so much that is new. But if you are very new to ayurveda, this is a fantastic introduction.

The practicals which all units have, but which are practised in smaller groups include:

Kundalini Practical

Whether, you are in the Kundalini YTTC or not, you’ll have the opportunity everyday to practice kundalini yoga in this 90-minute session. Rather than holding asanas, you perform dynamic kriyas that blend fairly fast-paced movements with mantras. Expect plenty of pranayama and meditation too, along with frequent sessions of free expression where you are free to let out whatever energetic blockages may be waiting to unknot. For the KYTTC, we practised first thing in the morning (6am) which was an energising and inspiring way to start the day.

Pranayama/Shatkarma

Half of the week, you will learn how to practice and teach pranayamas (breathing techniques). This is an important aspect of yoga that is often neglected in studio classes, so it was exciting to finally receive clear instruction from knowledgeable teachers.

The other half of the week, you will learn how to practice shatkarmas. Shatkarmas are purifying techniques. In a previous school I learned that purifying techniques are kriyas, but kriyas here mean movements mixed with mantras and are actively performed in the kundalini practical. The primary shatkarmas taught here are neti techniques (cleansing of the nasal passages with salt water).

Another school I studied at taught us to be particularly careful about nasal cleansing in cold weather because of the risk of developing sinus infections. The shatkarma classes at Nada occurred outdoors on windy and wintry Himalayan mornings. I can’t verify the cause, but I can report that many students did get mild illnesses through the month. Admittedly, that is inevitable at an international school in India. If you desire, as I did, you can opt not to perform the neti techniques. However, if it had been warmer, I certainly would have practised.

Meditation Practical

In this class, you learn a variety of different meditation techniques from nidra yoga to music meditation. Rather than going deep into any meditation style, you get a broad overview of what techniques are at your disposal. While the class was not specifically geared to teach us how to teach meditation, I would feel comfortable incorporating these meditations into my yoga classes.

Asana Practical

In this class, you will practise hatha asanas with a particular focus on alignment and adjustment. You gain practise perfecting the demonstration of an asana and adjusting others. This is the class that really prepares you to be in a studio teaching. You pair up with a buddy and correct each other under the guidance of the asana instructor.

Mantra/Kirtan

30 minutes around the end of the day for the whole school to play instruments, sing/chant, and occasionally dance. This is also an opportunity for the Nada TTC students to practise what they have been learning with a small audience.

200-Hour Kundalini Yoga Teacher Training Course at Nada Yoga School

Where the Kundalini Course differs from the other units is in its Philosophy course. This is in fact a two-part class that firstly delves into yoga philosophy via a lecture and then a meditation specific to the lecture. I would consider the knowledge presented in this course essential for yoga teachers. However, if you have been to an intensive yoga course before or you have already read many yoga texts, this class may feel remedial. Regardless of how new the information is to you, you can expect the lectures to be engaging and interactive as well as pragmatic and accessible. The meditations are also quite fruitful.

A benefit of the Kundalini Course is that, at least when I attended, the Kundalini students seemed to have more sense of community than the other students. I suspect this is because the Kundalini practical is quite intense and I believe it excited and united us while it perhaps exhausted the other students.

I had expected to walk away having been taught how to teach kundalini yoga, however this wasn’t the case. The school taught everyone how to teach hatha, had us practice Kundalini, and lectured the kundalini students on yoga philosophy. But we were never taught how to teach kundalini. Some of us were ambitious enough to take notes on the Kundalini Practical’s sequence so that we would be able to understand sequencing and remember the kriyas given, although this was admittedly a distraction from actually doing the yoga. However, that was really the best way to prepare ourselves to teach kundalini afterwards. While KYTTC wasn’t quite what I expected, I was ultimately quite satisfied with the program.

200-Hour Nada Yoga Teacher Training Course at Nada Yoga School

While the Kundalini TTC students had a Kundalini meditation module, students in the Nada TTC learned how to play one of three instruments – the tablas, harmonium, or sitar. Perhaps half of the students did not have previous music experience. They mostly chose the harmonium as it was the easiest to learn while more advanced students typically chose the sitar. The most committed students used their break times to pick up a second instrument. In only a month, one can really learn the basics. Of course, one can’t expect to be taught to teach an instrument in such a limited time (although one student in the course unfortunately did). Like in all of the TTC modules, you just learn how to teach hatha.

Of the three courses, this was the second largest class size. Because the group is divided up into three sub-groups, less sense of community developed than in the other courses, although people tended to become quite close with the three to five other students in their subgroup. The culture in the nada group was also more artsy, creative, and free-spirited while the kundalini group was more focused, social, and energetic. The Nada TTC students seemed to be quite satisfied with the course and said they would recommend it.

Review of the 200-Hour Meditation Yoga Teacher Training Course at Nada Yoga School

The Yoga + Meditation TTC only had six students and they all seemed quite satisfied with their experience. They learned five meditation techniques, four of which the other modules did not learn. Their focus was to go more in depth into certain meditations while the other modules superficially covered a breadth of techniques. Their philosophy course was also different, focusing more on Pantanjali’s 8 Limbs of Yoga.

Review of All that Makes Nada Yoga School Unique

Review of the Teachers at Nada Yoga School

Overall, my review of the quality of the teachers is positive. They were all Indian and, with one exception, had completely understandable English. They are quite pragmatic, which I greatly appreciated. Yoga and India can easily head into a faith-based direction, but the Nada teachers were discerning and had an appreciation for science and research. The philosophy teacher was actually a retired medical doctor whose practice was in Canada.

I will note that I was unimpressed by one of the teachers, as were many of the students. He was kind and as supportive as he could be. He simply lacked presentation and organizational skills and his English was not strong enough to understand much of what he said. However, he did seem very motivated to grow so I imagine he will improve as a teacher. He was only one out of seven teachers and there was no penalty for skipping his classes, so I’m ultimately not very satisfied with the teachers that the school managed to bring together.

Review of Nada Yoga’s Course Material

The classes at Nada are very thorough and mostly comprehensive. The course material consists of a published work full of asanas, kriyas, and shatkarmas that you can reference in the future, but which is not reference in the course. A small meditation guide is similarly provided for future reference.

A manual specific to Nada is also provided and while it reviews some of the topics covered in the course, it is not comprehensive and it does not follow the sequence of the course. More parallel to the course’s flow are the teachers’ powerpoints which they send to all the students at the end of the course. If you encounter something that you definitely want to review something, it would be wise to take notes on it. They do provide notebooks.

Review of the Accommodation, Food, and Facilities at Nada Yoga School

My group was very fortunate that the school was completing renovations on the Rishikesh campus during our course. The school temporarily relocated to a 4-star hotel, the Grand Alova, in neighboring Tapovan. Before arriving, this adjustment disappointed me because I was looking forward to living right on the Ganges in the center of Rishikesh. However, the high standards of the hotel, the serenity of the area, and the proximity to Rishikesh left me grateful for the change.

That hotel could not have been cheap for Nada and the course is not so expensive. I felt I could trust the school to take care of its students because of their choice to move us there while other cheaper options existed. They ultimately prioritized our comfort over their profit margins which is surprisingly uncommon in Indian yoga schools. However, I did not stay at the Rishikesh campus and therefore cannot provide a first-person review of it. I can recount what I heard of it and what I saw of it from the outside.

Review of the Rishikesh Campus at Nada Yoga School

Unfortunately, I hear that the accommodation at the Rishikesh campus is not so impressive. It is apparently spacious enough – typically 2 students share a suite with private bedrooms and a shared bathroom and living room. But the rooms are apparently old and dingy. Apparently the renovations happening when I was there were not addressing this issue. I can only imagine that the school is intending to update the property as they save the money to do so. The school is fairly new and I think by making the course price so affordable, they run on relatively low margins. The consequence of this is inevitably more of an ashram experience when it comes to lodging.

They were very attentive to making us as comfortable as possible – providing extra blankets, space heaters, etc. I imagine they do their best to make students’ stay as comfortable as possible just as they did for us at the hotel.

The location of the Rishikesh campus is unique. It is right on the Ganges, in the center of all the shopping and cafes that Rishikesh offers. The accessibility to the city is nice. Although I would advise students to make an intention to focus on the course and their peers. For a richer experience, don’t get too distracted by the bustling town around. I do not know for certain, but it is possible that some street noise might make its way into the campus.

Review of the Food at Nada Yoga School

The food will be vegetarian, and vegan or gluten free upon request, served thrice per day. The Grand Alova Hotel was responsible for making our food so it will be different than what was served at Nada’s campus. I can say that the food was very tasty and if we had any general requests, the teachers would promptly make sure that the hotel was notified and we would changes very quickly.

One example is that Indian food tends to be very heavily cooked but many of us wanted fresher vegetables that still had a bit of structure and individual flavor. Once someone mentioned this to one of the teachers, the hotel kindly adjusted the buffet. I believe such a response would also occur on the Nada campus. The food would also probably be more ayurvedic on campus as well.

Three buffet meals are available every day. So why would you eat out? Well if you are like 90ish% of our group, you will eat out often anyway. There are just so many amazing vegetarian food options in Rishikesh! And they are so cheap! Nada’s campus is the perfect place to be able to experience the many juice bars, dosa joints, and masala chai carts that Rishikesh has to offer.

Review of the Facilities at Nada Yoga School

The campus is quite large so I can only assume that the yoga rooms are quite spacious. I imagine there are public areas throughout the campus, but even if not, there are beautiful scenic public spaces right in front of the campus along the Ganges.

Jivasu, the philosophy teacher that is there roughly half of the year, is also a retired medical doctor. Students can consult him with any medical problems that might arise. He will be able to determine what drugs you need and arrange for their pickup. He did this for a health problem that I had in the first week and I felt so safe in a situation that would otherwise be very vulnerable. If he can’t help or if you happen to need any specific medical equipment, he will refer you to a hospital in neighboring Haridwar or Dehradun. The area around Rishikesh is in fact one of the medical tourism hubs in India.

Speaking of healthcare abroad, here is an article I wrote about tips on medical tourism, focused on laser hair removal in India.

What is Impressive about Nada Yoga School?

Nada brought us on wonderful adventures around Rishikesh.

Most yoga schools in Rishikesh offer Sunday activities, but I have heard that sometimes yoga schools neglect those promises. Nada always organised Sunday activities for us though. We went rafting in the Ganges, visited a mountaintop temple for a Himalayan sunrise. We also visited a cave with thousands of years of history of meditating babas. Nada delivered on all of its promises, which is a rarity for any organization in India.

Rishikesh is the place to study yoga.

Rishikesh is the acclaimed birthplace of yoga and yoga has thrived there for the last 5000 years. 5000 years! That’s 20x older than the US and twice as old as Rome! You’re not just plugging into a school and some teachers when you visit. Rather, you’re plugging into an ancient legacy charged with such a unique and beautiful energy. By the way, it’s where the Beatles studied meditation and you can visit their old ashram (near to Nada’s campus). It’s worth the trip to the Beatles ashram because you see the seed of the bridge connecting East to West.

Admittedly, Rishikesh has become more touristic since yoga exploded in popularity globally. While this does mean that some authenticity is threatened, the growth in tourism does mean that many teachers are learning how to teach to Westerners. Many Western people would not be satisfied learning the way that yoga would traditionally be taught. Guru worship was the mainstream and that, probably rightly, turns a lot of Westerners off. Since Rishikesh has grown, the teachers have adopted some of the things that are actually good about the West – research, reverence for science, and comfort with student-teacher discussion. Rishikesh is still traditional in so many ways, but it is evolving rapidly and I think some of the change is in fact good.

Nada Yoga School is very accommodating.

I ended up not being able to make it to the first course I reserved a spot for. They were kind enough to permit me to apply my deposit to another course. As I get cold easily, they were very helpful getting extra blankets and a space heater for my room. They proactively seek feedback and respond quickly. That feels so nice and so hospitable. After 2 years on the road, I felt the most at home at Nada Yoga School.

What Could be Better about Nada Yoga School?

Overall, I am very satisfied with my time at Nada and I would recommend the program. However, a few things that could be improved are:

Nada could teach more about sequencing.

The biggest flaw of the school is that sequencing is neglected. There is a sequencing class but in fact, it does not really teach about sequencing. It gives fairly common sense pointers on how to manage a yoga class. We did not thoroughly learn in what order to put the asanas or which asanas counter other asanas. They don’t teach how to build up and then bring down a class at all. This was one of the primary things many of us were hoping to learn. Fortunately there are books on the subject so we can educate ourselves. However, it would have been better to practice sequencing under the teachers’ guidance.

A formal introduction to the course would be nice.

You are sort of cast into the course without an introduction. On the second day, the philosophy teacher explained what would happen in his classes and offers some practical information. However, a simple hour on behalf of the whole school to welcome us, explain what we will learn through the month, what they expect of us, and what our schedules will be like every week would be quite useful. Particularly when we arrived on the first day, it was unclear when meals would be. We didn’t know when classes would start or who the teachers were. This could be due to that because they relocated the school to the Grand Alova Hotel for the month, hotel staff checked us in rather than Nada staff.

Breaks aren’t timed so well at Nada Yoga School.

Most of us were unsatisfied with the timing of our breaks. We had a break at 6pm, right before dinner at 7:30pm. Since the day starts at 6am, that means twelve hours of classes with only two hours of meal breaks. However, those meal breaks are spent eating and socialising. No one appeared properly rested after the meal breaks. Having that hour break in the middle of the day would have made more sense.

They serve dinner too late.

They serve dinner at 7:30, which means you will finish eating between 8 to 8:30. We all tended to get hungry and need to snack before dinner was ready and then we were too full to comfortably sleep right after eating dinner. To get 8 hours of sleep, you’d have to go to bed between 9 to 10 since the first class is at 6am. I think we all would have been happier they served dinner around 6:00.

No school is going to be completely perfect. I see that the school is always trying to evolve so I expect that they will already improve some of these things by the time you might arrive there.

Is it Worth It to Do a TTC in Rishikesh? At Nada Yoga School?

Yes. A firm, unhesitating yes. The quality of the program is so high. Rishikesh is one of the best places to be in India. The cost of the course is very affordable relative to other TTCs. Nada offers such high value and it is worth every dollar. I do not take reviewing centers of spirituality lightly and in fact I can be quite critical of many schools and centers. But this review has been a positive one. It is not because I am being kind. It is because Nada respects its students and has their best interests at heart. This is a comprehensive program with talented, grounded teachers. I am grateful that I could spend one of the best months of my life here, make lifelong friends in this energetically beautiful place, and to take away lesson that I will carry for the rest of my life (and maybe a few more 😉 ).

A 200-Hour TTC at Nada Yoga School is definitely worth it.

Deciding on a yoga TTC can be difficult and often reviews are not so comprehensive. I hope that this review helps you make a decision. If I missed anything, let me know in the comments or DM me on Instagram. Or just follow me – you might like my feed 🙂

I’ll be uploading Kundalini video lessons soon similar to Nada’s style. Subscribe to my (rather infrequent, but high-quality) emails to be notified when they post.

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