Siddhiyoga.com NOT siddhiyoga.org whom I know nothing about.
I spent 4 months with Siddhi Yoga, one doing my YTTC in Rishikesh and 3 assisting in Dharamsala.
Rishikesh
The rooms were basic, I changed rooms 3 times just to find hot water, eventually paying extra to have a top floor room with a hot shower. Before I spoke up and moved to the top floor (which was bad on my part) I was cold showering from a bucket.
The hotel staff were amazing, always willing to help and always had a smile on their face. Each day had different yummy food and soup, perfect for the diet of a yogi. The facilities were amazing, plenty of equipment for many students and the hall was cleaned regularly.
Dharamsala
The facilities in dharamsala are not even close to what you are paying. The food was not what a yogi should be eating, every day was rice and daal so I forgot about that 'abundance of fruit and vegetables' until the end of my, cut short, 3 months. The kitchen facilities are disgusting, flies everywhere, with the 'cooks' spreading jam on bread with their bare hands, and unsightly, rusty utensils. At the beginning of the second training I got very sick, and after not feeling any better after month 3 I came back to the UK to get treatment to find I had had Salmonella, food poisoning for 7 weeks.
The room I stayed in was simply depressing and considering it gets to way above 35 degrees there is no AC, so even being in the room was a severely uncomfortable experience. After the first few nights of sleeping in the bed provided, I actually had it removed from the room as the floor was more comfortable. When I arrived there was no shower, only a dirty bath tub underneath a window with no curtain. After purchasing a shower head, lead and curtain myself, it was fitted. Despite this, I can count all my hot showers on 1 hand.
The atmosphere there for me was very tense, I felt eyes on me if I wore shorts and a t-shirt, which in that sort of heat was necessary. If I left the resort, or came back from being away during the break between trainings I would get asked questions by multiple! staff; who was I going with, why, how long ECT. Very very intrusive to be in a taxi to a hotel to meet a friend and have the taxi driver be called asking where I was going, who I was meeting and why.
There was not enough equipment for all the students which is CRAZY considering how much each student pays. E.g enough soft mats for everyone and enough blocks for everyone.
Overall, being an assistant with Siddhi Yoga was a traumatic experience that I'm glad I cut short.
This review was posted on their Facebook page which I assume will be removed, the same as other negative reviews.
