We spent years dreaming of an Indian ashram, but we didn’t realize the gates locked from the inside.

The spiritual "high" of arriving in Rishikesh, the yoga capital of the world, was met almost immediately by a jarring reality: the total surrender of our freedom. After months of nomadic independence, being nailed down to a gruelling, dawn-to-dusk schedule felt less like a sanctuary and more like a beautifully decorated prison.

The romanticised vision of yoga teacher training quickly evaporated as we were introduced to traditional Indian yogic cleansing techniques—rituals that challenged our dignity just as much as our physical limits. We found ourselves pushed to the edge of our will, grappling with the mental and physical toll of a discipline that demands everything you have.

It turns out that when you ask  ...