Melkote Yoga Immersion

WITH SRI M. A. ALWAR AND ANDREW EPPLER

February 1-8 2027

Eight days inside the living tradition that shaped Sri Krishnamacharya's yoga.

Melkote is a sacred temple village an hour from Mysore where the philosophical and devotional roots of yoga have been alive and cared for over a thousand years. It is where the tradition that most deeply shaped Sri Krishnamacharya’s teachings still thrives. This immersion is an invitation to spend eight days there, practicing, studying, and experiencing the living heritage behind the yoga you love.

Each morning begins before dawn. You will climb the sacred hill to the Yoga Narasimhan Temple for sunrise mantra chanting, led by Sri Yatindra — Alwar Swami's disciple and nephew, himself in deep traditional training. Practice then moves to the thousand-year-old Kalyani Temple — built in the time of Rāmānuja — for āsana, prāṇāyāma, mudrā, and meditation. Afternoons are spent with Alwar Swami, exploring the sacred temples and holy places of Melkote that most visitors never find. We take part in the rituals, hear the stories, and receive detailed explanations of the history and philosophy behind each place from scholars who grew up inside this tradition. Each evening includes a short mantra chanting session with Vidyā, Alwar Swami's wife — a quiet and beautiful close to the day. All levels of experience are welcome.
Over a thousand years ago, the sage Rāmānuja appointed seventy-four guardians of a sacred tradition and gave them a name — Iyengars, the keepers of five rituals. Their role was to preserve and transmit a living lineage of philosophy, devotion, and sacred practice that had been entrusted to them. That transmission has continued, unbroken, to this day.
Sri Krishnamacharya was himself an Iyengar — born into this same lineage, shaped by its philosophy, and formed by the temple culture of Melkote. The yoga he gave to the world, which now accounts for a significant portion of all āsana practice being done globally, grew from roots that run directly through this tradition. Most practitioners have never known this. Coming to Melkote is a chance to encounter it directly.
Our guide here is Dr. M. A. Alwar — Alwar Swami — whose family carries one of the last unbroken father-to-son lines of transmission within this tradition. The philosophy we study during the immersion is not academic. It is the living worldview from which the practice you love actually emerged — studied in the place where it has always been kept alive, with one of the few people on earth qualified to teach it.
Melkote is an ancient temple village an hour and twenty minutes from Mysore, and one of the most important centers of yogic and Vedantic knowledge in South India. It has been patronized by the Royal Family of Mysore for over four hundred years and carries an unbroken tradition of scholarship, temple worship, and sacred practice. The philosophical and devotional foundations of Sri Krishnamacharya's teaching were deeply rooted in the Sri Vaishnava tradition centered here. To come to Melkote is to encounter that background directly — not through books or lectures, but through the living atmosphere of a place that has been in continuous spiritual practice for over a thousand years.
Accommodation is at SV Comforts Hotel in Melkote — clean, comfortable, and well situated for the week ahead. Two meals are provided each day, along with tea and snacks in the afternoon. The food is prasadam — offered to the divine before it is served — prepared by Sri Ramapriya and Sri Rangapriya, pujaris of the Cheluva Narayana temple whose family arrived in Melkote in the 12th century with the sage Ramanuja. For them, cooking is a sacred act, and it shows in every meal.
DAILY SCHEDULE
6:00am Walk to the Yoga Narasimhan Temple — a twenty minute climb up the sacred hill to greet the sunrise.
6:00–7:30am Mantra chanting at the Yoga Narasimhan Temple. Sri Yatindra leads us in the Āditya Hṛdayam — the ancient sun mantra — as the sun rises over Melkote.
7:30–8:00am Chai and coffee at a local tea shop — an unhurried start to the morning.
8:00–10:00am Āsana, Prāṇāyāma, and Meditation at Kalyani Temple.
10:30–11:30am Breakfast picnic at Palasha Theertha — one of Melkote's most beautiful sacred ponds. This is a wonderful time for a swim before the day opens up.
12pm–3:30pm Free time to rest, explore, or simply be.
3:30–6:00pm Sacred site visits and teachings with Alwar Swami.
6:30pm A short mantra chanting session with Vidyā, Alwar Swami's wife — a quiet and beautiful close to the afternoon.
7:00pm Dinner.
Timings may vary from day to day depending on our outings and the natural rhythm of the week.
Check-in at SV Comforts Hotel begins at noon on February 1st. We will meet at the hotel at 3pm for our first outing together.
We are here to help you plan every step of the journey — from the moment you decide to come to the moment you arrive in Melkote. That includes helping with the visa application process, answering questions about flights, and arranging ground transportation.
Most students arrive through Bengaluru International Airport (BLR), though direct flights to Mysore are sometimes available and worth checking. We recommend taking a taxi directly rather than connecting onward after a long flight, and we are happy to arrange reliable drivers. If you are traveling from Mysore to Melkote, we can help arrange that transportation as well — it is a beautiful hour and twenty minute drive through the Karnataka countryside.
Visas are required for most nationalities — begin that process well in advance and we will guide you through it.
If you would like to arrive early and take time to rest before the immersion begins, extra nights of accommodation can be arranged in both Mysore and Melkote. Just let us know and we will take care of it.
All meals during the immersion are vegetarian, with vegan and gluten-free options available. Please let us know your dietary requirements in advance. Wifi is available at the hotel. Bring any medications, supplements, or vitamins you take regularly. We are happy to answer any questions about health, safety, and what to pack.

Alwar Swami is the son of the legendary Sri Lakshmithathacharya Swami and the living bearer of something extraordinarily rare — an unbroken line of transmission in which the knowledge of this tradition has passed from father to eldest son for over a thousand years. He has studied its philosophy, rituals, and sacred texts since childhood, not as an academic pursuit but as a way of life inherited from birth.

He grew up in Melkote. He knows every temple, every sacred pond, every story and every ceremony with the intimacy of someone for whom this is not the past but the present. When he moves through these sacred places, something shifts — the lineage comes alive through him, and ancient knowledge that exists nowhere in any book becomes suddenly and directly accessible.

Accompanying us in Melkote is his nephew and disciple Sri Yatindra — a young man of deep traditional training who is himself walking the same path, preparing to carry this lineage forward into the next generation. In the photo above you can see exactly what this transmission looks like: alive, unhurried, and passed from one human being to another in a sacred place.

To spend eight days in their company is a rare gift. We do not take it lightly, and neither do they.

Andrew Eppler

Andrew has been practicing and teaching Ashtanga Yoga for over thirty years, and has spent much of that time returning to Mysore to study with the teachers and scholars who shaped his own understanding of the practice. His connection with Alwar Swami and the Nāthamuni Sampradāya is long-standing and rooted in genuine study and mutual respect — and it is that connection which makes the access this immersion offers possible.

I offer this immersion because I want sincere students to encounter the wider world behind the practice directly — not only through āsana, but through philosophy, sacred place, and living tradition. I will be with you every step of the way, on the mat each morning and beside you in the temples each afternoon.

Daily āsana practice in
Kalyani Temple.

Sunrise mantra chanting at the Yoga Narasimhan Temple.

Learning from Alwar Swami in the sacred spaces of Melkote.

What happens in Melkote is difficult to describe to someone who has not been there. The temples, the teachings, the food, the dawn chanting on the sacred hill — it settles into you in a way that is hard to explain and impossible to forget. Alwar Swami opens doors there that are not open anywhere else, and eight days walking through them in his company is a rare thing. If it is calling you, come.

PRICING & PAYMENT

Full Immersion — February 1–8, 2027 Eight days including all teachings, accommodation, meals, and transportation within Melkote.

$1,300 early registration · $1,500 after October 1st

A $300 deposit reserves your place, with the remaining balance due before the immersion begins.

Mysore Yoga Conference Attendees As a gesture of gratitude to our conference community, attendees receive a 20% discount on the full immersion. Please mention your conference registration when you sign up.

Afternoon Day Pass — $50 Joining us from Mysore for the day? You are welcome. Meet us in Melkote at 3pm, join the afternoon outing with Alwar Swami, and stay for a delicious evening meal prepared by the pujaris of the Cheluva Narayana temple before heading back to Mysore. A remarkable afternoon for $50.

A 50% discount is available for Indian citizens. Please enquire for details.