A Day in the Life of 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training: Our Real Hour-by-Hour Schedule

Before you book a yoga teacher training, you want to know one simple thing. What will my days actually feel like?

This post answers that with our real timetable. Not a "typical school" example. The exact hours we follow on the 200-hour yoga teacher training in Rishikesh, what happens in each block, and how hard it really is.

Written by Mayuri Shewale, E-RYT 500 (Yoga Alliance) and founder of Swaastik Yog School in Rishikesh. I lead the asana, alignment and teaching-methodology modules of every 200-hour batch, so this is the day I teach, hour by hour. The photos are of our own students.

If you want the bigger picture first (the emotional ups and downs, the food, the first-week nerves), read our guide on what to expect at yoga teacher training in Rishikesh. This post zooms in on the clock.

The daily schedule, hour by hour

This is the timetable from our 200-hour course page. Timings can shift a little with the season, but the shape of the day stays the same.

Time	Session	What you actually do
06:00 – 07:15 AM	Hatha Yoga	Slow, held postures with careful alignment. Your body wakes up.
07:15 – 09:00 AM	Pranayama / Shatkarma	Breathing techniques and yogic cleansing practices, such as neti.
09:00 – 09:30 AM	Brunch	Your first meal of the day. Sattvic and vegetarian.
09:45 – 10:45 AM	Alignment / Anatomy	Theory: how the body moves, and how to keep students safe.
10:45 AM – 12:00 PM	Ashtanga Yoga	Dynamic practice: Sun Salutations A and B and the standing primary series.
12:00 – 03:30 PM	Rest & self-study	Free time. Nap, study, practise, or walk to the river.
03:30 – 04:45 PM	Advance Yoga Class	Afternoon practice, variations and deeper work on postures.
05:30 – 06:30 PM	Meditation	Seated meditation, including mantra and candle-gazing (trataka).
06:30 – 07:30 PM	Rest	Personal time before the evening sessions.
07:30 – 08:00 PM	Mantra Chanting	Om, the Gayatri mantra, the Guru mantra and others.
08:00 – 09:00 PM	Dinner	Sattvic vegetarian dinner. Then sleep.

Add it up and you get about 8 hours of sessions a day. Of those, about 3¾ hours are physical asana practice. The rest is breathwork, theory, meditation and chanting.

Morning: 6:00 AM to brunch

The first three hours are the heart of the day. You practise on an empty stomach, which is the traditional way.

6:00 AM: Hatha yoga

Hatha comes first because it is slow. You hold each posture and learn where every part of your body should be. Over the course you learn the Hatha Sun Salutation with its breath and about 25 classical Hatha postures.

In winter, this class begins in the dark. In Rishikesh the sun rises a little after 7:00 AM in mid-December, and around 5:15 AM in mid-June. So in the cold months, you watch the sky turn light during class.

7:15 AM: Pranayama and shatkarma

This is the longest morning block. You learn to sit well, then to breathe with the belly, the chest and the full yogic breath. Later come techniques such as Nadi Shodhana, Ujjayi, Bhastrika and Bhramari.

Shatkarma means yogic cleansing. You learn practices such as jala neti (rinsing the nose with salt water), kapalbhati and trataka. Many students are nervous about neti on day one. After a few tries, it usually feels normal.

9:00 AM: Brunch

We serve two meals a day: brunch and dinner. Both are sattvic vegetarian food. Herbal tea and RO-filtered water are there all day, and evening chai is included. We can make your meals dairy-free if you ask.

Two meals is a real change for many people. We will talk about how to handle it in the tips section below.

Late morning: theory, then Ashtanga

9:45 AM: Alignment and anatomy

After brunch you sit down to learn. This is where you study how the body works: the main body systems, how yoga affects breathing and digestion, and how to align and adjust each posture safely.

This is also where you learn to teach. Sequencing, cueing, using props, and adapting poses for injuries all grow out of this session.

10:45 AM: Ashtanga yoga

Ashtanga is the most physical class of the day. You learn Sun Salutation A and B and the Ashtanga standing primary series, linked with the breath.

By now you have eaten and you are warm, so this is the right moment for the hardest physical work of the day.

Midday: the 3½-hour break

From 12:00 to 3:30 PM, nothing is scheduled. This surprises people. It is there for a reason.

Your body needs it. You are practising asana three times a day. The break is when you recover, digest, and let the morning's learning settle.

Here is how our students usually spend it:

• Sleep. A short nap is a popular choice, especially in week one.
• Study. Read the course manual, learn Sanskrit pose names, or plan a practice class.
• Practise teaching. Pair up with a classmate and teach each other a short sequence.
• Walk. Tapovan's cafés and the Ganga are a short walk from the school.
• Admin. Laundry, calls home, a trip to the market.

Afternoon and evening: practice, stillness, sound

3:30 PM: Advance yoga class

The afternoon class goes deeper. You work on variations, harder postures and the details you could not fit into the morning.

This is also where teaching practice becomes real. You lead parts of a class and get feedback from teachers and classmates. Your sections get longer as the course goes on. By the final week, you teach a full class on your own.

After class there is a 45-minute break. Drink water, stretch, and rest your legs.

5:30 PM: Meditation

The day slows down. You learn how to sit, then short meditation practices. Later you try mantra meditation and trataka, which means gazing at a candle flame.

Meditation and yoga nidra are led by Swami Anand.

7:30 PM: Mantra chanting, then dinner

Half an hour of chanting closes the teaching day. You learn Om chanting, the Gayatri mantra, the Guru mantra, the Ashtanga opening mantra and the mantras for each posture of the Hatha Sun Salutation.

Dinner is at 8:00 PM. Most students go to bed soon after. The next class starts at 6:00 AM.

What happens on Sundays?

Classes run six days a week. Sunday is your day off. It is for rest, laundry, sleep, and seeing Rishikesh.

Weekend excursions are included in the course fee. Over the years our trips have included temple visits, waterfall walks, meditation in a cave near Rishikesh, and the evening Ganga Aarti on the riverbank. The exact plan depends on the season and the group.

Want more ideas for your free day? See our guide to things to do in Rishikesh.

	Training day (6 days a week)	Sunday
First session	6:00 AM Hatha	No classes
Scheduled sessions	About 8 hours	None (excursion when planned)
Best use	Show up, rest well at midday	Sleep in, explore, catch up on study

How do the 22 days unfold?

Our 200-hour batches start on the 5th and 15th of every month and run for 22 days (for example, the 5th to the 26th). You can move in the day before. Day 1 starts at 6:00 AM.

A 22-day course has three or four Sundays in it, depending on the start date. Here is how the weeks usually feel:

Stage	What usually happens	How it often feels
Day 0	Arrive, check in, meet your classmates and the team	Excited, tired from travel
Week 1	Learn the daily rhythm, the basic postures and the breathwork	Sore muscles and early nights. This is normal.
Week 2	Deeper asana and theory. Teaching practice with feedback.	The schedule starts to feel easy. Your body adapts.
Week 3	You teach longer sections, then full classes. Revision and assessment.	Focused, a little nervous, more confident each day
Final day	Graduation ceremony and your certificate	Proud, emotional, sad to leave

Are there exams in a 200-hour yoga teacher training?

Yes. The main final assessment is a practical teaching exam: you plan a class and teach it while your teachers watch. Theory, such as anatomy and philosophy, is also checked during the course.

To graduate, you attend the required sessions and pass the assessments. Our teachers want you to pass. The exam checks that you can teach safely. It is not there to catch you out.

You receive your certificate at the end of the course. You can then register with Yoga Alliance as an RYT-200. Our guide on what RYT-200 means explains that step.

Bring a white outfit for the graduation ceremony. It is on our requirements list. After you graduate, you also get 15 days of free online group teaching to keep your new skills fresh.

How hard is yoga teacher training, honestly?

It is demanding, but it is built for normal people. You do not need to be very flexible. You do need a reasonably healthy body and the will to show up every day.

Part of the course	How hard	Why
Early mornings	Hard in week 1, easy by week 2	6:00 AM, six days a week. Most people adjust within a few days.
Physical practice	Medium to hard	About 3¾ hours of asana a day. Soreness in the first week is normal.
Theory	Medium	Anatomy, philosophy and Sanskrit terms are new for most students.
Teaching practice	Hard at first	Standing in front of a group feels uncomfortable. It gets easier with each turn.
Two meals a day	Easy to medium	A long gap between brunch and dinner. Easy to fix with a snack.
Living together	Easy for most	Shared meals and classes with an international group. It is often the best part.

One honest truth: the hardest day is usually not a physical one. It is the day you teach for the first time. Everyone is nervous. Everyone gets through it.

Brand new to yoga? Read yoga teacher training for beginners before you decide.

Who teaches each part of the day?

The same core teachers run every batch. You are not handed to a rotating roster.

• Mayuri Shewale (E-RYT 500, founder and head teacher): asana, alignment and teaching methodology.
• Rahul Badoni (co-founder): philosophy, pranayama and Ashtanga.
• Swami Anand: meditation and yoga nidra.

Classes are taught in English, in simple language. The head teacher is a woman and is on campus for the whole course. Read more about how we run the school on our women-led yoga school page.

8 tips to make the daily schedule easier

1. Start waking early before you fly. Move your alarm 15 minutes earlier each week for a month before the course.
2. Practise regularly beforehand. Even 30 minutes a day, 4–5 days a week, makes week one much kinder.
3. Keep a small snack in your room. Brunch is at 9:00 AM and dinner at 8:00 PM. A banana or a handful of nuts in the afternoon helps. The Tapovan market is close by.
4. Drink water all day. Filtered water is always available.
5. Use the midday break to rest first. Study after a nap, not instead of one.
6. Bring warm layers in winter. The walk to the 6:00 AM class is cold from about November to February. The hall itself is heated, and your room has a heated blanket.
7. Tell your teacher about any injury on day one. We will give you modifications. That is part of learning to teach.
8. Do not skip the evening sessions. Meditation and chanting are how the day winds down, and they are part of the curriculum you will one day teach.

For what to pack, see our yoga teacher training packing list for India.

Where will you sleep, and what does it cost?

You live on our campus in Tapovan. The yoga hall, dining and rooms are all in one place, so you never travel to class. Choose from three room types:

Room	Who you share with	200-hour course fee (USD)
Dormitory	Up to 4 people, same gender, shared washroom	$440
Shared room	2 people, same gender, attached washroom	$880
Private room	Just you, attached bathroom	$1,100

The fee includes the course, your certificate, accommodation, two sattvic meals a day, evening chai, herbal tea, filtered water, mats and props, printed course materials, Wi-Fi, weekend excursions and all taxes. Airport transfers, laundry and personal spending are extra.

To hold your seat, you pay a 10% deposit. The rest is paid when you arrive. Compare the rooms in detail in our guide to dorm vs shared vs private rooms, and see the current batch dates on the 200-hour course page.

Not sure you can give 22 days? Our 100-hour course runs for 14 days on the same daily rhythm.

Frequently asked questions

What time does yoga teacher training start each day?

On our 200-hour course, the first class is Hatha yoga at 6:00 AM. Pranayama and shatkarma follow at 7:15 AM, and brunch is at 9:00 AM.

How many hours a day is a 200-hour yoga teacher training?

About 8 hours of scheduled sessions a day, six days a week. Around 3¾ hours of that is physical asana practice. The rest is breathwork, anatomy, meditation and chanting.

Do you get days off during yoga teacher training?

Yes. Sunday is your day off each week. Weekend excursions are included, such as temple visits, waterfall walks and the Ganga Aarti.

Is there free time during the course?

Yes. There is a 3½-hour break from 12:00 to 3:30 PM every training day, plus an hour of rest before mantra chanting in the evening. Sundays are free too.

How many meals do you get?

Two sattvic vegetarian meals a day: brunch at 9:00 AM and dinner at 8:00 PM. Herbal tea, evening chai and filtered water are included. Many students keep a small snack for the afternoon.

Is the final exam written or practical?

The main final assessment is practical: you plan and teach a class while your teachers watch. Theory is also checked during the course. Ask us for the current format before you book if you want details.

Can a beginner keep up with the schedule?

Yes, if you are reasonably healthy and willing to show up. The first week is tiring for everyone. Teachers give modifications for every posture. By week two, most beginners have settled into the rhythm.

When does the 200-hour course start?

Batches start on the 5th and 15th of every month and run for 22 days. You can move in the day before. Check open dates on the 200-hour yoga teacher training page, or book your place.