With a large gold bracelet studded with jewels and a gold chain around his neck, Siddha Akshar breaks away from the stereotypes usually associated with yoga gurus.
Akshar (41), the founder and yogi behind Akshar Yoga, has trained sports personalities like Sunil Gavaskar, Phogat sisters, and many Bollywood celebrities.
How did Akshar, who was born into a humble army family, go on to train celebrities and expats across luxury retreats?
The yoga guru traces his roots to Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh and has been training in the Siddha tradition since the age of seven from widely revered sages and traveling saints. After completing his schooling in army schools and finishing his BA in Economics, Akshar took a different path from his peers who were looking at a lifetime of 9-to-5 corporate grind.
Meeting the master
The first time you see Akshar, his charisma and aura certainly help you understand, to some extent, his ability to influence people.
“Every morning when you see him it’s like meeting him for the first time, when he smiles at you or when you see your guru, you get into bliss, it gives you energy,” says Cyprus resident Anthony, who was introduced to Akshar from his existing guru.
Like Anthony, many of Akshar’s students learned about him from their existing gurus. Akshar traces his spiritual learning from a revered deity in Himachal Pradesh, Sidh Baba Balak Nath for putting him on the path of yogic lifestyle and Siddha training.
Earlier this month, Siddhaa Akshar led a 10-day retreat for his international students at Taj Rishikesh Spa and Resort, about half an hour from Rishikesh. This land has been the home ground for the yogic lifestyle, meditation, and vedantic philosophy. Its association with tapasya goes back to mythologies with lord Vishnu’s penance.
Throughout the retreat, the hotel had strict instructions to not offer tea or coffee to any of the students. The meal, an ayurveda-inspired satvik menu, had an international blend consisting of Indian, Asian, and continental dishes, mostly paired with warm ginger water during the chilly weather.
The retreat for the Teacher Training course—a blend of physical, mental, and spiritual experiences—included hikes across Uttarakhand’s Garhwal range, and involved meditating in key energy points at the mountain. Owning to his global reach, such retreats are held in places like Himachal Pradesh, Bangalore, Rishikesh, Puri, and Coorg, Taiwan, Singapore, Dubai, London, and the United States.
Akshar Yoga charges around Rs 4 to Rs 10 lakh for the Rishikesh-based teacher training course.
The Ganga played a central role in the retreat as students lined up early in the morning to perform yoga on its banks. They then moved closer to nature with dips, and rafting across the refreshingly cold waters.
Preeti, a London resident and one of the students spoke to YS Life right after finishing her hour-long yoga session with Akshar.
Sitting on a terrace, she discussed why she was at the retreat. “I’ve got a guru that’s here. I can reach out to him. He can train me. He can guide me. You know, he can tell me off as well. But the point being is that he exists for me, and he’s my connection to the universe,” Preeti says.
Preeti is among the 80 students who have travelled from as far as Kenya, the US, Taiwan, Japan, Dubai, Iran, and France to train under their guru or Grandmaster as they call him.
Akshar, who believes in the importance of a specific place to do certain tasks, sees time spent in the lap of Himalayas living a mindful life as a blessing against those boxed yoga studios in cities that some people have to settle for.
As far as luxury goes, Akshar firmly believes that access to life force or Prana Vayu available amid the Himalayas is the true luxury, something to strive for and work towards.
“Think of it as a luxury facility. Praan Vayu. There are trees, rivers, and clean water. There is no noise that disturbs you,” Akshar tells YS Life.
When you live in the mountains, they prepare you for life. This tapasya is a way for you to increase your life force, go back down to your lives and create change.
“Your path as a yogi is to succeed in what you do, through which you might just end up providing a living to some people. We are staying in a remote property, in a property which provides employment opportunities to so many people from the pahadi area, maybe this is how we will give back to society and our fellow human beings through the yogic lifestyle,” Akshar explains.
While Akshar Yoga traces its roots back to Siddha Akshar’s pahadi origin, the community has opened its outlets in two areas of Bengaluru–Yelahanka and Sadashivanagar
Along with taking online and in-person training in these centres, Akshar organises and leads multiple such retreats throughout the year, mostly focusing on nature-rich and spiritually significant points like Rishikesh. As per sources, the fees for these lies between Rs 9- Rs 10 lakh.
The organisation has trained about 50,000 students and around 400-500 new yoga enthusiasts enroll in its courses every month.
The Teacher Training course, which comes in Basic, Advanced and Master level, runs for a duration between one and six months based on commitment. These online-cum offline sessions start at Rs 30,000 to Rs 2.50 lakh based on location, facility, and intensity.
YS Life was invited to interact with Himalayan Siddha Akshar’s Teachers Training Retreat
