I attended Shrimath as part of the 21 Day/200 hour - Oct/Nov '17 batch of 8 people.
I have nothing but great things to say about Shrimath and would encourage anyone who is interested in furthering their practice and/or becoming a teacher to attend.
Based just outside of Bangalore, the ashram-style setup allows for an authentic experience. The rooms, though basic, are comfortable and the bathrooms have hot water for the baths. There's plenty of open space for walking and taking in the scenery, not to mention the resident cow Purna who i fell in love with quickly. HOT TIP: if you want to make friends with Purna, be sure to brush her daily!
Krishna, the lead Yoga Teacher and resident at Shrimath has a wealth of experience and an ability to listen intently and answer almost any question we threw at him. I felt lucky to have a teacher with such experience to run us through guided meditation, yoga philosophy classes as well as Yoga Nidra each day.
Hema is the type of person that is IMPOSSIBLE not to love. She taught us yogasana classes 1-2 times each day and it was always a pleasure. With over 7 years experience, her teaching style was firm yet playful - always fun.
21 Days means no days off (like other 28-30 day YTT offer) but I find this an advantage. There's always something to do/learn/see/study and the time seriously flies.
FOOD
The beautiful and always-smiling Shoba cooked us amazing and nutritious vegetarian food 3 times a day. The best thing was you can go for 2nd's or 3rd's - depending on your hunger! On top of this, we were treated to Indian tea mid-morning and Herbal tea mid afternoon. My usual cravings for coffee/ice cream and chocolate were slim to non and i was always pleasantly satisfied. I actually lost a few kg's of fat as well, which is always a plus!
I look forward to going back and studying at Shrimath further in the near future, and recommend anyone interested in a traditional, authentic, ashram-style Hatha Yoga teacher training to send Krishna an email and enquire.
Cheers
