Travel blog: Yoga and the Beatles in Rishikesh

A combination of too many years in London, a lack of proper responsibilities and an unhealthy admiration for Michael Palin have led Nick Claxton to spend a year travelling the globe. A terminally-disorganised 24-year-old taking on the world - solo. He will be sharing his experiences from India and Nepal, south-east Asia, New Zealand and South America. This month he is reporting from India and Nepal. Here is his seventh blog entry:

Rishikesh is renowned for two main things. It is the self-proclaimed capital of yoga and it broke into mainstream consciousness when the Beatles stayed here back in 1968.

So for two very different types of devotee, Rishikesh has become a kind of pilgrimage destination.

The numbers of tourists are noticeable immediately, but the negative impact this would usually bring has been tempered by the locals' acceptance that most of the tourists are here either to bend themselves into awkward-looking positions or sit by the Ganges listening to Ringo warble on about yellow submarines.

I guess I fall into the category with headphones plugged into their ears by default since I've always been sceptical of yoga. Most practitioners I met back in Europe seemed eerily serene and aloof at the same time - focused on their pursuit of bodily perfection and judgemental of those not taking the same path.

But my preconceptions were broken down after spending a few days with some yoga students (it turns out that they are real people underneath too…) and soon I was up at 08:00 for my first yoga class at the Vedic Yoga school (100 rupees/£1.20, no pre-booking needed).

To be honest I didn't need too much convincing before I gave it a go - I reasoned that if not in Rishikesh, then where else?

My first hour and a half of yoga left me immersed in a feeling that's hard to describe. Just from focusing intently on my breathing and the position of my body I got some sort of natural high and my mind was clear, calm and emptied.

By the time I walked back out onto the street I was in a complete daze. Almost immediately a motorbike had to screech to a stop as I stepped into its path. I barely even reacted - I don't think I've ever been so relaxed!

Later classes did not have such a strong impact but I enjoyed trying out a few different types of yoga during my ten days in Rishikesh.

There are so many schools to choose from and all have beginners' classes for what seems to be a set price of 100 rupees.

I found hatha yoga to be most beneficial for me - it was far less calming than my first class, but the teachers helped me push my body to extremes would have thought impossible a week before.

Despite enjoying yoga, Rishikesh's other main attraction was never too far from my mind. So one morning a group of us got up to catch the sunrise on the Ram Jhula bridge and then headed out of town to the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi - where John, Paul, George and Ringo sought enlightenment and returned with the White Album.

I didn't know before arriving in Rishikesh that due to a dispute with the Indian government, the Beatles' ashram (as it is locally known) has been closed since 1997. In those eleven years, it has been shut off from the public and reclaimed by the surrounding forest.

Officially, visitors are not allowed entry to the ashram, so on our first trip we attempted to slip past the guards - climbing up alongside the Ganges and jumping the rusted side gate.

Apparently we were not the first to try this route, as the guards caught up with us and demanded a bribe to let us carry on (100 rupees proved sufficient).

On our second visit, we discovered that it's far easier to just bribe them at the front gate and save yourself the climb!

Exploring the Beatles ashram was incredibly thrilling. You feel as if you are disturbing the ruins of some ancient civilisation as you pick your way through the undergrowth and crumbling buildings.

Scattered around the ashram are small meditation huts for quiet contemplation, while the domes on the roof of the main building have been built to reverberate sound - perfect for sending chants echoing around the forest.

But most of our time was spent digging through old documents from as early as the Sixties which littered the floor of one otherwise nondescript room.

It was fascinating to read some of the teachings which had first attracted George Harrison to the Maharishi, while at the back of my mind was the hope of finding some discarded Lennon lyrics in the mess under our feet.

Of course, I left without anything to kick-start my music career. But to mask my disappointment, I left a little offering among the dusty papers to give some future Beatles fan the thrill I missed out on.

I'd just ask them to check the handwriting before sticking the 'original' lyrics to Helter Skelter on eBay!

Nick Claxton