A bend in the Ganga

Sliding into the &lsquodownward-facing dog&rsquo posture with what, to my untrained mind, appeared to be consummate canine felicity, I sensed the searing intensity of critical female eyes on my upraised posterior. &ldquoRaise your bum,&rdquo the small-framed Mukta Ghosh, who was leading us through our break-of-dawn yogic regimen, cajoled me with disarming anatomical directness. &ldquoStraighten your knees.&rdquo But attaining perfection with the Adho Mukha Svanasana &mdash one of a succession of postures in the Sun Salutation sequence &mdash remained an enterprise way beyond the capabilities of my bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. And watching me flail around like a neurologically challenged dog with barely-concealed amuse-ment, Mukta, I&rsquom convinced, was readily able to diagnose the nature of my failing I hadn&rsquot done a stroke (or a stretch) of yoga for even a day of my life.

And, yet, here I was at the International Yoga Week in Rishikesh, alongside some of the supplest, nimblest bodies on planet earth, whose ability to contort themselves into the most complex of asanas glaringly showed up my own pathetic inadequacies of both body and mind. You couldn&rsquot have asked for a more propitious ambience for nourishing the spirit. Ganga Kinare, the boutique hotel that was hosting the yoga week, is situated right on a bank of the serenely flowing Ganga down-river from the town. And for a whole week every March, the place resonates with the collective yogic life-forces of practitioners from all over the world, who gather here for 70 hours of yoga and meditation and spiritual discourses.

But luckily for me, it isn&rsquot just diehard yogis who undergo soul-elevating experiences at Ganga Kinare. Arriving at the hotel, I was received with sonorous Vedic chants resident priests Rahul and Ankit assured me that the swasti vachan sloka that they had recited was intended to harness the cosmic forces so as to secure my well-being. And later that afternoon, Sagar Thokade, the Ayurveda doctor who has set up clinic in the artful hotel lobby, felt my pulse and diagnosed my body constitution as being of pitta-vata type and prescribed a dietary regimen optimised for my wellness.

Everything about the resort &mdash from the healthful all-vegetarian menu at &lsquoHolywater&rsquo, the in-house restaurant that offers panoramic views of the Ganga, to the tender ministrations of the therapists at the Ayur Ganga spa &mdash is primed for the rejuvenation of body and soul. And that&rsquos not even counting the beneficial effect of doing deep-breathing in the lotus position from a balcony that affords spectacular vistas of India&rsquos mother river and of the Rajaji National Park just across. Or the calmness of mind that envelopes you at dusk, when the priests lead an enchanting aarti at the hotel&rsquos private ghat. It would be balm for the bruised soul of any clumsy &lsquodownward-facing dog&rsquo.

The International Yoga Week (internationalyogaweek.com) is hosted in Rishikesh every March at Ganga Kinare (gangakinare.com), a 38-room boutique hotel that is uniquely located right on a bank of the Ganga. The resort has 20 Deluxe and 14 Super Deluxe guestrooms, and four superior suites all rooms have a river-view. During the festival, the hotel offers packages starting at Rs 22,000 per person (double occupancy, includes all meals and access to all yoga week programmes). reservations@himalayan-hotels.com 91-8447404441