Not Just for Burners & Hippies: Purple Valley Yoga Center in Goa, India
Dersy Beach, Agonda, Goa
by Kastekephoto
A new generation of pilgrims, including Ashtangis, have been hitting India’s hippie trail according to a New York Times article today about Goa, India. (Thanks for the tip, Bala.)
The article - an entertaining read - explains how this enclave was a destination for the Haight-Ashbury crowd in the sixties and has become a destination “for the yogaphiles and Burning Man groupies of today.”
Foreigners have flocked to tiny Goa — whose statewide population of 1.4 million is about one-tenth that of Mumbai, 300 miles north — ever since the Portuguese established a Spice Route colony there in the 1500’s.
Lonely Planet kindly indicates Goa’s location
for curious Ashtangis, Burners & Hippies
Talking of yogaphiles, Goa also happens to have one of the foremost centers of Ashtanga yoga at the Purple Valley Yoga Center. The NY Times specifically mentions the Purple Valley:
Come daylight, Goa’s dedication to partying is matched by its dedication to the healing arts, the yang to the night’s yin. At Purple Valley yoga center, rejuvenation might take the form of Ashtanga poses or vinyasa flow exercises, two of the daily courses offered. The leading name on Goa’s yoga circuit, the center has brought in pretzel-limbed luminaries from the globe’s four corners, including the sometime teacher of Madonna and Sting, Danny Paradise.
Purple Valley Yoga Shala in Goa
The quality of the Ashtanga teachers who visit Purple Valley is remarkable. Here is a non-exhaustive list for 2006:
- Nancy Gilgoff
- Both of the Swenson brothers, David and Doug
- Matthew Sweeney
- R. Sharath Rangaswamy
Coming up later this year and in 2007 are Sharath Rangaswamy (again), Manju Jois and Michael Gannon.
Purple Valley Yoga Center also publishes a newsletter that we recommend.
A cow on Baga Beach in Goa
from Skinnyde at Flickr
xiQii said,
April 16, 2008 @ 10:32 am
jajajja mira la vacaa xDD cuando yo fui tmb habian vacas en la playa, al lao de la tumbona y to jaja si esqe taban x tos laosss