Hi, I’m Danica – a yoga teacher who runs retreats around the world. I started practicing yoga in early 2000 while living in the USA but it wasn’t until 2012 that I decided to take a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) in Ubud, Bali. In 2015 I completed the Level 2 Course, also in Bali. So I have been a practitioner for a long time before deciding to leave the corporate world and make yoga my full time “job”. Yoga has taken me to so many interesting and spiritual places, none more so than the Beatles Ashram!
I was born in Belgrade, Serbia and moved to the States in 1998 where I lived for 10+ years. After the USA, I moved to Dubai where I was recruited for a Marketing Director position at a company opening an exclusive private members club in the Middle East. In 2013, I decided to leave the corporate world to dedicate myself to sharing my passion for yoga with people here in Dubai and later in Malaysia where I also lived for three years.
In addition to teaching in-person classes and offering online yoga courses, I facilitate two or three retreats a year. I have hosted retreats in Dubai, Zanzibar, Rishikesh (India), Sri Lanka, Uganda, Kenya and Nepal. I offer both yoga retreats and yoga holidays. During yoga holidays, the focus is on the adventure in the particular country. For example: gorilla trekking and yoga in Uganda where we begin and end each day with yoga and meditation, while also curating days full of activities that include hikes, safaris, etc.
On yoga retreats, the daily schedule is less active in terms of activities – as the days are spent in deep exploration of yoga through longer meditation and pranayama sessions, as well as asana practices. The afternoons are filled with more restorative yoga, discussions/lectures about yoga philosophy, chanting, self-inquiry, etc. For example: my upcoming Sri Lanka retreat called “Deep Nourishment” is about all of the above.
My retreats consist of small groups of no more than 20 people which allows for in-depth connection between the participants, more sharing, and more quality time which I can spend observing and connecting with the students. I have welcomed people from all over the world. To find out more about the upcoming retreats, you can connect with me via IG (@yogawithdanica) and on my website www.yogawithdanica.com.
My Wonderful Yoga Retreat in Rishikesh
As one of the yoga capitals of the world, Rishikesh has always been on my must-visit list – so it was a perfect opportunity to organize a retreat there in March of 2023. We were there for six days and explored all that Rishikesh is known for: daily aarti ceremonies (pujas where light/flames are waved for deities), visiting the Parmarth Niketan Ashram (situated on the banks of the holy Ganges River), partaking in a beautiful ceremony held in Hindi and English by Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati who is a renowned spiritual leader, and visiting Haridwar which is an ancient city and important Hindu pilgrimage site where the Ganges River exists at the Himalayan foothills.
In between our yoga and meditation sessions, we explored the town of Rishikesh itself which is very busy on the weekends as the crowds from Delhi arrive. On the weekdays, the town is calmer and more peaceful. We enjoyed eating at the local vegan cafes overlooking the Ganges River and went shopping for some beautiful local crafts – from carvings made of wood and other materials, to stunning and inexpensive pashmina shawls, to incense, malas and pretty much anything related to yoga and spirituality.
The streets of Rishikesh are full of cows that roam around freely and even try to enter cafes! We also visited the famous Maharishi Transcendental Meditation Center which is known to be a great place to learn TM meditation. By the Ganges River, we visited a meditation cave where ancient sages meditated. The cave can only permit five to seven people to enter at a time, so it’s quite a small space. After the meditation, we walked down to the Ganges to dip our feet in the holy water. Of course, I had to check out the famous Beatles Ashram while I was in Rishikesh as well!
A Dream Come True Visiting the Beatles Ashram
You simply can’t go to Rishikesh without visiting the Beatles Ashram. I was a fan of the Beatles growing up, so this visit felt extra special. I remember watching their documentaries on TV and nearly missing school many times. My first school performance was a choreographed roller dance to the song “Help” by the Beatles. So when I visited the Beatles Ashram in Rishikesh, where the Beatles spent time in 1968 to learn transcendental meditation thought by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, I was so happy and in disbelief that I got to walk the same path that my idols once did!
I saw where they lived and meditated, where they had their communal meals, where they grew their own vegetable garden, and where they spent time in meditation and in the lecture hall overlooking the Ganges. The ashram has been abandoned for years but the energy there is still palpable.
What to Expect at the Beatles Ashram
The Beatles Ashram is situated on the hills above the Ganges River and it offers spectacular views of Rishikesh. The ashram was abandoned in the 70s but after the government took over the care of the grounds, it was reopened as a tourist attraction. There are various buildings to see on the site: a big dining hall, meditation hall (full of graffiti nowadays), living quarters, and most interesting to me meditation chambers (dome-looking caves) where the Beatles were meditating. Each meditation chamber (there are 84 of them in total) are built from the rocks of the Ganges River.
Around the ashram grounds, which are hilly, you can see where the veggie gardens once were – as they were all growing their own food. In one of the buildings, a couple of small rooms are dedicated to the Beatles with the walls covered in their pictures and songs written during their time in the ashram. One famous songs written there is “Across the Universe”.
Final Thoughts on Rishikesh & The Beatles Ashram
I loved the atmosphere of Rishikesh and would go back for that reason alone! There are yoga schools everywhere, cool cafes, cows, dogs, monkeys, shops and street stalls. It’s fun to hire a scooter and roam around the town, but you can also navigate on foot. The town is not for someone looking for luxury hotels, and certainly not for people who expect cleanliness and order (especially those from the Western World). Rishikesh is a mix of complete chaos, noise, traffic, smells and cow poop everywhere – but it all somehow is beautiful and part of its charm. You simply have to visit it for yourself!
The Beatles Ashram is a must-visit when going to Rishikesh. It won’t take you more than two hours to see it all and to get a feel of the place. It’s nice to take your time, sit on the benches overlooking the town or even meditate in one of the chambers. The ashram is a cool place to take photos for your IG as well. Most of it is in ruins, so there’s not much you can see or experience other than the area where the Beatles posters and memorabilia is on exhibition. But there’s no denying the energy of the ashram!
