Soul Sojourns: How To Be Productive, Explore Mysore & Learn Yoga Under 500 USD?

Entrance gate to the famous Mysore palace

Most of you must have heard of Mysore in India. If you haven’t allow me to introduce you to the charming city. It is a famous city in South India in the state of Karnataka, not very far from the IT capital of Bangalore. The city is made famous by the Wodeyars, the family that ruled the city, its palaces, temples, great weather and its nice people. R K Narayan, a writer who created a fictitious town called Malgudi that many like me fell in love with during their childhood also spent most of his life in the city. The fact is that if you look closely, there are brushes of Mysore(or Mysuru) in the stories of Malgudi.

How cool would it be to visit this city, right? But what if I said that there is a lot more on offer in the city beyond the plethora of tourist sights. To start off with, it is the Yoga capital of South India(and of the entire country, in my personal opinion). It is known for its great Yoga tradition and world famous teachers like Iyengar and Pattabi Jois.

As always, the question is how to drop everything to go explore and learn Yoga in a city other than yours? Fortunately I have the advantage of being able to undertake such experiments and share my experience with you so you know whether it is a good idea or not. Many of us now have jobs that can be managed remotely as long as the WiFi is strong. And in Mysore, good WiFi is as easy to find as a steaming plate of Idli-Sambar is(ok, just kidding, it is slightly more difficult than that).

So if you are in the position to convince your boss about a two week work-away plan, then head to Mysore and spend your morning and evenings stretching your body and killing yourself. Kidding again! Yoga is yet to kill anyone as far as I know. What Yoga does do is to introduce you to a better way of living. And as opposed to getting less work done you may actually be super productive, like I was when I tried this lifestyle for a couple of weeks. Yoga certainly offers concentration, creativity and contentment. So much so that I am now inspired to live a life of Yoga, but that is a story for another day.

The Deets:

It is one thing to say this and another to make it happen. What about accommodation? Where to learn Yoga? Food? Places to explore? Well here is my guide on all that. It may not be complete in all respects, so feel free to send me abuses and questions.

Yoga:

This is not what your average Yoga teacher looks like. This is what an average moron looks like.

There are many Yoga institutes and teachers in Mysore. So many that figuring out what may work best for you is a task. Most foreign travelers come to Mysore for intensive Yoga training and many for Teacher’s Training Program. That, of course, makes better business sense for Yoga schools. Plus, it provides them more time and scope to transfer Yoga knowledge to their students. I will be visiting Mysore multiple times to figure which schools and teachers offer weekly, fortnightly or plain drop-in classes since all day Yoga sessions may not work for most of us. In my first visit I attended Nirvana Yoga Shala which was one of the few that offered a schedule that matched mine and was also within my budget as they offered accommodation as well. I was taking Hatha Yoga class at 6 in the morning, then Pranayama at 8am and either meditation or back bending and hip opening class in the evening for an hour. This fit my schedule well as I would start work at 10am after my Yoga classes and be ready in time in the evening for the next class as well.

Cost: 2500 INR for classes per week that included as many classes as I wanted to take, but I am sure there are other options available during season

Accommodation:

Now when you are on a working holiday, a comfortable stay that allows for a good working atmosphere is important(not to mention, strong internet). I generally prefer a place with a table and chair(like most creative millennials I do not possess the ability to lounge on a sofa for hours, and also I happen to love my back), a kitchen, clean bathroom and a wardrobe. Even here, Nirvana Yoga Shala scores a 10/10 - the room I stayed in had a nice double bed, a mini kitchen with a refrigerator and wardrobe. The pick of the room was the balcony. So that was more than what I could have asked for.

In a few days, I will be back in Mysore and am planning to try out a home stay or a hostel which are cheaper with communal kitchens and in a different area. Nirvana Yoga Shala is located in Gokulam which is considered one of the poshest localities in Mysore. In my next trip, I intend to explore Lakshmipuram which is 5kms away and is also known for being a Yoga hub. Sonder hostel which I am interested in staying at offers a bed at 500INR per night with breakfast included(sounds like a great deal, right?).

Budget: 800 INR per night

Daily expenses:

Though I did not go for one, scooters are available on rent in Mysore and they cost about 200INR per day. As for food, Mysore has superb South Indian vegetarian fare at pretty reasonable prices across the city, Anima Madhva Bhavana was my favourite for lunch. Unless you want to splurge, 400INR should be good enough for three meals every day. So for me, this amount is really good because I believe in minimalism, or like my Mom says, “...because Sachin is always broke!”

The plantain leaf meal at Anima Madhva Bhavana. Drooling already?

Exploring the city and one off expensive meals can be managed if you budget an extra 300INR per day.

Budget: 700INR per day for food and other expenses

Reaching Mysore and back:

Bangalore is the closest metropolis to Mysore and is 3 to 100 hours away depending on Bangalore traffic(if you have been to the city, you will know what I am talking about).

Cost: From Mumbai or Delhi, you can get 5000-7000INR return flights to Bangalore and then take a bus or train to Mysore after drinking yourself silly at a Bangalore microbrewery. Ask me, I am guilty of that sin!

Here is your two week Mysore Yoga, Stay and Explore program budget in a ready table:

Type of expense	For a day/week	15 days in INR
Accommodation	800INR/ Night	11200(for 14 nights)
Yoga Classes	2500/week	5000
Daily expenses	700INR/day	10500
Travel to and back from Mysore	7000INR depending on where you are traveling from. If you are from Bangalore, you will hardly spend anything. Go there. Now!	7000
Total		33700

You may want to ask yourself whether this will be worth it? Well, don’t ask yourself - ask me! I am the one who has been there and done that. Yoga brings calm and that brings clarity. So if you are in a place in life where things don’t seem to be moving for you then a Yoga-filled work break or holiday in Mysore just might be what the Doctor ordered.

Plus, the beauty of Yoga is that if it catches your fancy, then a lot of other not-so-constructive habits like binge eating and binge drinking will go away. That itself will save you a lot more money in a few months than what you will spend in Mysore.

So if you are searching for fitness or even for your soul, Mysore might be a good place to start!

If you want to know what places to explore in Mysore on a long break, then wait for my next blog post.