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Founder, Rishikul Yogshala | President, Yoga Association Rishikesh
Bipin Baloni Ji founded Rishikul Yogshala in 2010 and has been teaching here since the very first batch. He holds an M.Phil. in Yoga and a Postgraduate degree in Yoga from Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna University (HNBU), has completed a 500-Hour Yoga Teacher Training Course, and is an International Certified Master Trainer. He started practising yoga in 2008 and began teaching in 2009, so by the time he opened this school, he had already spent years learning from some of the most respected teachers in Rishikesh, including direct students of BKS Iyengar and teachers from the Himalayan Tradition.
He specialises in Hatha Yoga, Ashtanga Vinyasa, Pranayama, Yoga Therapy, Anatomy & Physiology of Yogic Sciences, and Meditation. He has taught at schools and retreat centres across India and internationally.
Alongside running Rishikul Yogshala, he serves as President of the Yoga Association Rishikesh (also known as the Rishikesh Yoga Association/Alliance), the body that represents and oversees yoga schools and teachers across the Rishikesh region. It is not a title that comes with a registration fee. It reflects the trust that the broader yoga community in Rishikesh has placed in him over many years.
Students who have trained under him consistently point to the same thing, he teaches from eye level, not from above. He brings experience and seriousness to the room, but also patience and a sense of humour that make the harder sessions easier to get through. He notices what others miss, a breath held in the wrong place and a shoulder slightly out of line, and corrects it in a way that actually makes sense to the student.
Warriors in many cultures have been symbols of steady strength โ not aggression, but a quiet, grounded power. Virabhadrasana, the Warrior Pose, carries that same spirit into your yoga practice. It's a standing pose that builds strength in the legs, opens the chest,...
Warrior III is the balancing warrior. You stand on one steady leg, lift the other behind you, and lean forward until your body forms one long, parallel line. It's a pose of focus, strength, and quiet courage. In this guide, we'll meet Virabhadrasana III gently, build...
Of the three Warriors, Warrior II is the steady one. The hips open to the side, the arms reach long, and the gaze rests quietly over the front fingertips. It's a pose of grounded strength โ fierce in the legs, but soft and open through the chest. In this guide, we'll...
Nadi Shodhana โ the energy-channel purification breath โ is one of pranayama's most traditional practices. On the surface, it looks like alternate nostril breathing, and in a way it is. But Nadi Shodhana goes a little deeper: it adds the gentle pause of breath...
Anulom Vilom โ alternate nostril breathing โ is one of the kindest places to begin a pranayama practice. You sit quietly, close one nostril, breathe in, then close the other and breathe out. That's it. Yet within a few rounds, the mind softens and the breath finds its...
Saraswati Mantras for Yoga and Life Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, art, and creativity, has been honoured for centuries through chant. Students before exams, musicians before performance, and writers searching for inspiration all turn to her...
Malasana โ the Garland Pose โ is yoga's deep, grounded squat. Sit low between your feet, bring your palms together at the heart, and let your elbows gently press your knees open. It's a pose that opens the hips, strengthens the lower back, and reminds the body of a...
Understanding Utthita Parsvakonasana Utthita Parsvakonasana โ the Extended Side Angle Pose โ is one of yoga's most expressive standing postures. From a long warrior stance, the body folds sideways over the front leg, the bottom hand reaches the floor or a block, and...
What is Ashwini Mudra? Among yoga's lesser-known practices is a quiet, powerful one called Ashwini Mudra, the 'horse gesture.' It works invisibly: a small, rhythmic engagement of the pelvic floor, done while sitting comfortably. Despite its simplicity, it has been...
Sirsasana (Headstand Yoga Pose) Sirsasana โ the Headstand โ is sometimes called the King of Yoga Poses, and for good reason. It calls on strength, balance, breath, and quiet courage all at once. It's also a pose that asks for serious care. In this guide, we'll walk...
What is Janu Sirsasana Janu Sirsasana โ the Head-to-Knee Pose โ is one of yoga's most welcoming seated forward folds. Where Paschimottanasana asks both legs to extend, Janu Sirsasana invites you to fold over just one โ the other leg gently bent, the foot tucked...
Surya Bhedana, the sun-piercing breath, is one of pranayama's warming practices. You breathe in through the right nostril, hold gently, and breathe out through the left. In yogic understanding, the right nostril carries the warming, solar energy of the body, and Surya...
What is Yama Yoga? Long before yoga was poses on a mat, it was a way of living kindly with the world around us. The first of yoga's eight limbs โ the yamas โ gathers five gentle guidelines for how we treat others: non-violence, truth, non-stealing, restraint, and...
Concept of Nauli Kriya Nauli Kriya is one of yoga's most striking practices to watch and one of its most demanding to learn. With the breath held out, the abdominal muscles are isolated and rolled side to side, creating a movement that looks almost impossible. It's...
What is Pranamasana? Pranamasana โ the Prayer Pose โ is one of yoga's simplest and most quietly meaningful postures. You stand tall, bring your palms together at the heart in Anjali Mudra, and pause. It's the first and last pose of every Sun Salutation, the bookend of...
What is Parivrtta Trikonasana? Parivrtta Trikonasana โ the Revolved Triangle Pose โ is one of yoga's more demanding standing poses. You step into a long stance, fold forward over the front leg, and twist the spine to bring the opposite hand to the floor or a block. It...
When summer arrives in full force, the body asks for cooling. The skin feels hot, sleep becomes restless, and even a glass of cold water doesn't quite settle the heat. Yoga has a quiet, beautiful answer: cooling pranayamas. A few minutes of slow, deliberate breath can...
Eight Limbs of Yoga Long before yoga was poses on a mat, it was a path of living. Around 2,000 years ago, the sage Patanjali described this path in eight steps โ eight 'limbs' that move from how we treat the world around us all the way inward to a quiet, attentive...
What Is Akarna Dhanurasana (Archerโs Pose)? Akarna Dhanurasana โ the Archer's Pose, also called the Shooting Bow Pose โ is a seated posture that beautifully imitates an archer drawing a bow. You sit with both legs extended, hold the toes of both feet, then draw one...
What is Apana Vayu Mudra? There's a small hand gesture in yoga that's traditionally called the 'lifesaver' โ the Apana Vayu Mudra. The name sounds dramatic, but the practice itself is gentle: a quiet arrangement of the fingers said to support the heart and ease the...
Mula Bandha โ the Root Lock โ is one of yoga's most subtle practices. Unlike a pose you can see or a breath you can hear, Mula Bandha is felt inwardly: a quiet, gentle engagement of the pelvic floor muscles, said in the yogic tradition to lift prana upward from the...
Utkatasana โ the Chair Pose โ is one of those poses that looks easy until you try to hold it for a few breaths. You bend your knees and sit back into an imaginary chair, and very quickly your thighs and breath start working hard together. It's a pose of quiet...
Parsvottanasana โ the Pyramid Pose, also called the Intense Side Stretch โ folds the body forward over one extended leg, with the back leg straight and slightly turned in. The hands traditionally meet in reverse prayer behind the back, though many of us find that...
AcroYoga is one of yoga's youngest and most playful relatives โ a modern partner practice that blends elements of yoga, acrobatics, and Thai massage into a beautiful, trust-based experience. One person becomes the base (often lying on the back), another becomes the...
Ardha Chandrasana โ the Half Moon Pose โ is one of yoga's most beautifully balanced standing postures. You shift your weight onto one leg, lift the other behind you, lower one hand to the floor (or a block), and reach the top arm to the sky โ the body forming a long,...
Prasarita Padottanasana โ the Wide-Legged Forward Fold โ opens the body in a way few other poses do. You step the feet wide apart, fold forward from the hips, and let gravity do the gentle work. The inner thighs lengthen, the spine releases, and the head dangles...
Uttanpadasana โ the Raised Legs Pose โ is one of yoga's most quietly demanding core postures. You lie on your back, keep the lower back grounded, and slowly lift both legs straight up until they reach a 90-degree angle (or as close as your core allows). What looks...
Veerasana โ the Hero Pose โ looks deceptively simple: you kneel, you sit back between your heels, and you let the spine grow long. But for most modern bodies, sitting between the heels is anything but easy. Tight ankles, tight thighs, tight knees, and years of...
Rishikesh has a quiet rhythm of its own. The Ganga flows steadily, the hills hold the morning mist, and somewhere a bell rings for evening aarti. If you're planning to visit โ whether for yoga, for the river, or just to slow down โ there are a few places worth knowing...
Vakrasana โ sometimes called the simpler seated twist โ is the kinder, friendlier cousin of Ardha Matsyendrasana. Where the classical seated twist tucks the foot across the opposite thigh, Vakrasana rests the foot flat beside the opposite knee. The result is a gentle,...
Rishikeshโs Hidden Gem: Neer Garh Waterfall Just six kilometres up the road from Laxman Jhula, hidden in a small forested valley, is Neer Garh Waterfall โ a beautiful three-tier waterfall reached by a short trek through the woods. The water tumbles over rocks into a...
What Is the Muladhara Chakra(Root Chakra)? If you've ever felt unsteady, anxious about money or shelter, or like the ground beneath you has gone soft, you may be hearing from your Muladhara โ the root chakra. It sits quietly at the base of your spine and looks after a...
Around 2,000 years ago, a sage named Patanjali quietly gathered the scattered teachings of yoga and put them into a small, precise text โ the Yoga Sutras. We know almost nothing about him as a person. What we do have is a body of work that has guided every serious...
India has been the cradle of countless spiritual teachers โ sages whose words and lives continue to shape how yoga, meditation, and inner inquiry are practised around the world today. The ten we'll meet in this guide are far from a complete list (no such list could...
Natarajasana โ the Dancer Pose โ is one of yoga's most visually graceful asanas. You stand on one leg, reach back to hold the other foot, lift it behind you, and tilt forward into a long, soaring line. The pose is named after Nataraja โ Shiva as the cosmic dancer โ...
Namaste Meaning: What It Really Means Namaste is one of the few Sanskrit words that has travelled the world. You hear it at the end of every yoga class, on greeting cards, sometimes printed on t-shirts. But what does it really mean? Behind the soft sound is a...
Shitkari โ the hissing cooling breath โ is one of pranayama's most refreshing practices. You gently part the lips, place the tongue behind the teeth, and breathe in through the mouth with a soft hissing sound. The breath comes in cool, like a sip of mint water. In...
Ashtanga Namaskara โ the Eight-Limbed Salutation, also called Knees-Chest-Chin Pose โ is one of yoga's quietly powerful postures. You begin in Plank, then lower the knees, the chest, and the chin to the floor while keeping the hips lifted โ eight points of the body...
Just below your navel sits a quiet centre called Svadhisthana โ your sacral chakra. It's where the body holds creativity, pleasure, and the soft flow of feeling. When it's balanced, life has a little more colour and play. When it isn't, things can feel stuck or numb....
Place a hand just above your navel. Underneath it sits your Manipura โ the solar plexus chakra โ the quiet centre of your confidence, your will, and your sense of who you are. When it's steady, you move through your day with a soft strength. When it isn't, doubt and...
Have you ever walked into a room and sensed someone's mood before they said a word? The yogic tradition would call that the aura โ the subtle energy field said to surround every living being, sometimes seen as a soft halo of colour. Modern science is cautious about...
Lotus Pose โ Padmasana โ looks like stillness. The hands rest, the back is long, the breath quiets. But inside the body, much is happening. The hips rotate externally to a degree most modern bodies haven't been trained for. The knees flex and the ankles hold a...
Almost every yoga style you might practise today โ Ashtanga, Iyengar, Viniyoga โ flows from one small, intense teacher who lived a long life and quietly changed yoga forever. His name was Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888โ1989). In this guide, we'll meet him gently: who...
Why India is the birthplace of yoga & the best destination Maybe you've practised yoga for a while, or maybe you've only just begun, and a quiet thought has started to surface โ could I one day teach this? If that question is sitting with you, this gentle roadmap...
Experience the Monsoon Magic in Rishikesh August in Rishikesh is the deep monsoon โ the month when rain wraps the hills in mist, the Ganges runs full and fast, and the air smells of wet earth and incense in equal measure. It's the quietest tourist month of the year,...
Why Visit Rishikesh in the Month of July? July in Rishikesh is when the monsoon truly arrives. The pre-monsoon teases of late June give way to steady rains, the hills turn from summer brown to emerald green, and the hidden waterfalls in the surrounding forests come...
April in Rishikesh sits at a beautiful threshold. The cool mountain mornings of winter are gone, the deep summer hasn't yet arrived, and the hills are still green from spring. The Char Dham yatra (the pilgrimage to four high-Himalayan shrines) opens this month, and...
Why Visit Rishikesh in December December in Rishikesh is the year's quiet closing chapter. The days are cool and clear, the mornings are misty, and the town fills with international visitors seeking a contemplative end to the year โ yoga retreats, meditation...
If you ask anyone who knows Rishikesh well when to visit, the answer almost always comes back the same: October and November. The monsoon has just left, the air is washed clean, the Himalayan peaks reveal themselves in crisp morning detail, and the temperatures sit in...
When people imagine training in Rishikesh, many picture an ashram โ early sunrise bells, shared meals, simple rooms, hours of silence by the river. That picture is real, but it's only one kind of training. Modern yoga schools in Rishikesh offer a different rhythm:...
May in Rishikesh is when the year quietly tilts toward summer. The days grow noticeably warmer, the mornings ask for an earlier start, and the town fills with the steady stream of Char Dham pilgrims passing through on their way to the high-Himalayan shrines. The early...
Why Visit Rishikesh in January? January in Rishikesh is one of the quietest months of the year. The crowds of the festive autumn season have left, the deep summer is months away, and the city settles into a cool, contemplative rhythm. Mornings are misty over the...
March in Rishikesh is the year's most genuinely comfortable month. Winter has loosened its grip but summer is still weeks away, the flowering trees begin to colour the hillsides, and Holi โ India's festival of colour โ paints the town in pinks and yellows and blues...
Yoga retreats in Rishikesh have become one of the most popular experiences travellers seek. But brochures rarely describe what a retreat actually feels like โ the early mornings, the unexpected silences, the moments of restlessness, the quiet way the days reshape you....
June in Rishikesh is a month of two halves. The first three weeks are deep summer โ hot, dry, with the air shimmering above the river โ and the last week begins to feel the first stirrings of the monsoon, as the clouds gather over the Himalayas. In the middle of all...
Introduction February in Rishikesh is one of the year's quietly beautiful months. The deepest cold of January is softening, the mornings are still crisp but the days are gently warming, and the town fills with anticipation of Maha Shivratri โ one of the biggest Shiva...
History of Rishikesh Most people come to Rishikesh for one of three reasons: yoga, adventure, or spiritual seeking. What surprises them is that the city holds all three at once, often within the same day. Morning Ganga Aarti, afternoon white-water rafting, evening...
Begin Your Journey of Traditional Yoga in Rishikesh, India Rishikesh isn't one place. It's a string of small neighbourhoods along the Ganges, each with its own pace, its own community, and its own feeling. Where you train shapes the whole experience โ the morning walk...
There comes a point in many yoga journeys when an hour on the mat each week doesn't quite reach the part of you that's calling for more. If you've felt that quiet pull, a residential yoga course in Rishikesh may be what you're looking for. It isn't a holiday, and it...
Almost every yoga school in Rishikesh will tell you they're Yoga Alliance accredited. Most are; some are not; and reading the difference takes a moment of care. In this guide, we'll gently walk through what Yoga Alliance accreditation actually means, how to verify a...
Most yoga retreats in Rishikesh balance asana with meditation, with the body's practice taking the larger share of each day. But there's a quieter category of retreat where the proportions are reversed โ where meditation is the centre, asana the support, and inner...
Long before modern yoga simplified pranayama into a handful of techniques, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika described eight classical breath retentions โ the Ashta Kumbhakas. Each one has its own quality: some warm, some cool, some calming, some demanding. Together they form...
The Hanuman Chalisa is a 40-verse devotional hymn to Lord Hanuman, composed by the poet-saint Tulsidas in the 16th century in Awadhi (a dialect of Hindi). Millions of devotees recite it daily, often at dawn or at dusk, for protection, strength, and the qualities...
At the very top of your head sits the Sahasrara โ the crown chakra. It's the most subtle of the seven and the hardest to describe, because it points to something larger than the everyday self. When it opens, even briefly, life feels quietly connected. In this guide,...
Uddiyana Bandha โ the Upward Abdominal Lock โ is one of yoga's most distinctive practices. With the breath held out, the abdomen is gently drawn up and inward, creating a soft hollow under the ribs. In the yogic tradition, this lock is said to lift prana upward...
Close your eyes for a moment and listen. Maybe you hear a bird, a fan, a distant car. Sound has always shaped how we feel โ and for thousands of years, yogic traditions have used it on purpose, gently, to bring the body and mind back into balance. Sound healing isn't...
Tucked into the forested hills above the Ganges, Mouni Baba Cave is one of Rishikesh's quieter sacred spots. It's named after Mouni Baba โ the silent saint โ who is said to have lived here in deep mauna, the yogic practice of complete silence. The cave itself is small...
Long before yoga was about poses on a mat, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika described six cleansing practices that prepare the body for deeper work โ the Shatkarmas, also called the Shat Kriyas. They cleanse the digestive tract, the nasal passages, the eyes, the abdomen, and...
About 35 kilometres above Rishikesh, perched on a Himalayan ridge at 1,676 metres, the Kunjapuri Temple watches the sun rise over a wide sweep of mountains โ Banderpunch, Gangotri, Swargarohini, Chaukhamba โ all spreading out in the early light. The temple is one of...
At the quiet northern edge of Rishikesh, just before the town gives way to forest and Himalayan foothills, sits a small temple dedicated to Lord Shiva โ the Bhootnath Temple. Bhootnath, one of Shiva's many names, means 'Lord of Spirits and Beings'. The temple is older...
The Bhagavad Gita is one of the oldest, kindest, and most-loved texts in the yoga tradition. It's a conversation โ between a hesitant warrior and his divine charioteer โ about how to live well, act rightly, and stay steady when life feels uncertain. In this guide,...
Have you ever felt a moment that quiets your mind even before you understand why? The air feels different, your breath slows, something within you softens. That's the feeling most visitors describe when they witness Ganga Aarti in Rishikesh for the first time. As the...
About 22 kilometres upstream from central Rishikesh, on the banks of the Ganges, there's a small, dark cave where the air feels heavier with silence than anywhere else in the area. This is Vashistha Cave, named after the sage Vashistha who is said to have practised...
The Ashtanga Primary Series is unlike anything else in yoga. It's a fixed, prescribed sequence of asanas โ always the same, always in the same order โ practised in the same way by students from beginner to advanced. Pattabhi Jois called it Yoga Chikitsa, 'Yoga...
Picture this: you're sipping masala chai with a samosa in your hand, sitting on a sun-warmed stone, watching the Ganges flow calmly below. A monkey is eyeing your samosa, the Himalayan wind is whispering, and you've just arrived in Rishikesh for the first time....
There are hundreds of yoga teacher training schools across India, which can make choosing feel almost impossible. So I've kept this list short, honest, and grounded โ ten schools that have built genuine reputations through their teaching, not their marketing. In this...
There's a quiet moment in every yoga teacher training when you stop being only a student. You step to the front of the room, clear your throat, and offer your first cues to a circle of fellow trainees. That moment is the heart of what's called the teaching practicum โ...
Yogic management is one of the oldest holistic approaches to wellbeing โ a tradition that views health as the quiet harmony of body, breath, and mind. It doesn't aim to replace medical care; rather, it supports the body's own quiet capacity to heal. In this guide,...
Brahmacharya is one of yoga's most misunderstood teachings. It's often translated as 'celibacy', and many Western introductions stop there โ which makes it feel either irrelevant or impossible for most modern lives. The Sanskrit word actually points to something...
If you've ever finished a regular yoga class wishing the practice could speak more directly to what you're going through โ chronic pain, stress, a habit your body has held for years โ yoga therapy is what you're looking for. It's yoga, but personal: shaped around you...
Yoga Teacher Training School in India Searching for the right yoga school can feel like staring at a wall of beautiful websites that all promise the same thing. So I'd like to do something different here. In this guide, I've gathered twelve yoga schools that have...
We all know that feeling โ the end of a long day, when your lower back carries the weight of every hour spent hunched over a screen and your hamstrings feel so tight that even standing up straight feels like an effort. That's exactly the moment Padahastasana โ the...
There are many reasons one should take a yoga teacher training course in India. India, as we all know, is the birthplace of yoga, making it the best destination for one to deepen their yogic practice and become a certified yoga teacher, whether itโs ancient wisdom,...
Yoga and Ayurveda for Youthful Vitality We all know that ageing is a predestined part of life. Yet, the ancient sciences of yoga and Ayurveda provide a wholesome approach to slowing down the ageing process and maintaining vitality. One can practice yoga and ayurveda...
Sadhaka & Badhaka Tattvas in Hatha Yoga In Hatha Yoga chapter 1.15 verse, we have studied the impediments in Hatha Yoga. Now let us understand what are the favourable principles that help a Yogi to become Ekagra-Chitta, i.e., one-pointed mind, and thus attain the...
Cause of Impediments In Yoga There are many causes of impediments to yoga. The subject yoga is pragmatic and has charisma; it can be a helpful tool to provide clarity in vision for all those who are seeking to walk with gathering enthusiasm; no matter in which...
A yoga aspirant, when performing the practice of asana, whether they do it by themselves or teach it to a mass number of people, there might be several aspects to consider when doing their own or teaching asanas, through which the teacher can guide their students....
Why do the Heroes in real life have been going through the Tapo Bhumi (Heated Ground)? With the undisputed spirit of investigation and keen desire to know the real, the ultimate truth, most of us have heard from Saints and Yogis that โtruth is God and God is truthโ,...
The Power of Om, OM and its True Spiritual Purpose This blog is dedicated to my fellow Yoga Teachers, students and spiritual seekers. The blog will present a concise historical overview of OM and its true spiritual purpose. The study and practice of the mantra OM is...
Yoga: A Genuine Science of Separation and Unification The applied methodology of separating the self from body and mind is known as โYoga Vidhiโ. Most of us have studied, learnt, and taught by โyoga schoolsโ that yoga is the science of unification between the...
Yoga and Science There is no doubt that yoga is the science of all sciences. It has been accepted by all literate, illiterate, doctors, scientists, atheists, non-atheists, and so on. The word that is used for science is known as Vidhya in the Sanskrit language....
Education System in India The man-made world and history is full of solid with strong proof of our rich education system of India; whether you can talk about the oldest university, Numerous ancient text, scriptures, various cultures, architectural structures,...
Yoga practices are more popular in the twenty-first century among the general public compared to earlier times. However, many people are still in doubt about the benefits and methods of doing yoga asanas. Therefore, yoga teachers need to learn demonstration techniques...
โWithout proper posture, you will face numberless obstacles in your meditation. And meditation is the core of all practices.โโSwami Rama Introduction - Meditative Postures A good meditation posture requires still, steady, relaxed, and comfortable positioning of the...
Structuring and Sequencing of Hatha Yoga Practices Yoga class sequences come in different styles, shapes and sizes. Every form, such as Iyengar Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Viniyoga, Bikram, Ashtanga, and Vinyasa etc, has its own ideas about how to sequence a practice....
Why Choosing the Right Yoga TTC Matters There are hundreds of yoga teacher training schools in India, and most look beautiful in photos. The harder question is which one will actually deepen your practice and prepare you to teach. Behind the curated images, a few...
Rishikesh: A Global Hub for Yoga and Meditation Many cities in India have temples; many have rivers; many have ashrams. But Rishikesh holds a particular place in the yogic imagination โ a small town tucked into the foothills of the Himalayas where the Ganges briefly...
If you've ever thought about deepening your yoga practice and one day teaching others, you may already be sitting with this question: which yoga teacher training is right for me? It's a big choice, and an honest one. There are many beautiful schools across India, but...
Ask anyone who's spent a month at a yoga school in Rishikesh what changed for them, and you'll rarely hear about the poses first. They'll talk about a quieter mind, a softer way of moving through the day, a kind of patience they didn't have before. The asanas grew...
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