Yoga has its origin in India and Rishikesh has been known as the land of yoga. Why is Rishikesh a good choice in India to learn yoga when you can learn it anywhere else in India or even in your own country?

Reasons for coming to Rishikesh for yoga:

• Plenty of yoga centre to choose from
• Almost all Rishikesh yoga centres provide also Yoga Teacher Training Course (TTC) if you wish to go further
• Flexibility - almost all Rishikesh yoga centres have daily classes, sometimes twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening
• Convenience - you will find many yoga centres in Rishikesh just a short walk away from your guesthouse/hotel
• Rishikesh is a very tourist friendly town - it is safe and has full tourists amenities like guesthouses, restaurants, cafes, shopping, etc. to please all budgets. More about Rishikesh amenities here.
• Many massage spas after a day of practice to relax yourself.  Here is a list of recommended Ayurvedic and massage spas in Rishikesh.
• Want to deepen your yoga studies and learning? Rishikesh has many ashrams where you can learn more about yoga philosophy and meditation. Read here for more details on Rishikesh ashrams.
• Many other interesting activities other than yoga to undertake - check out here the other activities in Rishikesh.
• Lots of outdoor activities in the surrounding areas near Rishikesh.
• Not far from the airport - nearest local airport in Dehradun is an hour's drive away and there are several connecting flights a day with Delhi. Find out here how to get to Rishikesh.
• Also not far from Delhi airport - about 7 to 8 hours' drive. Check out here how to reach Rishikesh from Delhi by car, with the bus or train. Train travel in India is the most interesting mode of transportation for tourists. Here the details on how to get to Rishikesh by train.
  
• Get to know hundreds of other like minded-yoga friends - almost every tourists in Rishikesh is a yoga enthusiasts of some sort. 

It is probably hard to find another more comfortable town in India to learn yoga or do a yoga retreat. And despite the large number of yoga centers in Rishikesh, you can still find some genuinely good and experienced teachers. Rishikesh is indeed the land of yoga.

Finding a deserving non-profit organization in Rishikesh to support can be a difficult task. There are many big charitable organizations in Rishikesh. Even the ashrams in Rishikesh are also involved in different forms of charity work. If you speak to the locals here, they might paint you a different picture of how these bigger charities work, especiallly those run by the ashrams in Rishikesh. But this should be in a different post.

I have chosen to highlight here 2 very small initiatives I found recently. They support the underprivileged in Rishikesh, and sometimes in the regions nearby, in different ways - food rations, medication costs, education fees, children day care centers, individual help for  difficult circumstances, etc. Their activities benefit the beneficiaries directly without all the resources wasted in bureaucratic matters or having the donated money passing through too many hands. These are joint efforts by both Indians, Rishikesh locals and foreign volunteers, doing what they can to care for the community they live in.

Atma Seva - they have a website as well but this Facebook page here has plenty of current updates about their work

Freedom Group Rishikesh - focuses more on the children in Rishikesh

If you have more time out of your yoga retreat or travel schedule and would like to spend some time getting to know the Rishikesh community better, I have written in another post about volunteering in Rishikesh.