01
7:30 – 9:30 am
Morning Hatha
Santhi Yoga, Chirattapalam
Some mornings the class moves to Secret Garden, Fort Kochi (8:00 – 9:30 am). Message us the evening before to confirm where.
Santhi Yoga · Fort Kochi
Return to yourself.
Traditional Hatha yoga and Vedanta, taught slowly in the lanes of Fort Kochi. Two classes a day, in small groups, for every level.
- Classes 7:30 – 9:30 am & 3:30 – 5:30 pm
- Small groups
- Fort Kochi, Kerala
What Santhi is
Santhi means peace. We named the school for what yoga is for, not for how it looks. We teach Hatha yoga in the Sivananda tradition. Breath comes first, each pose is held long enough to teach you something, and rest is practised like any other skill. We do it here in Fort Kochi, a town that has welcomed travellers, traders and pilgrims for five hundred years.
- Where
- ChirattapalamAmaravathy, Fort Kochi 682001
- Taught by
- Master Aksharanand A SKnown to students as Achu · Sivananda tradition
- Style
- Traditional HathaAsana, pranayama, kriya, meditation, philosophy
- Group size
- Deliberately smallEveryone is watched, corrected and known by name
Ways to practise
Five doors into the same room
Drop in for two hours, or give a month to it. Everything below is taught by the same teacher, in the same tradition.
01
Daily Classes
Abhyāsa · daily practice
Two hours of traditional Hatha, twice a day, every day.
₹600 per classSee the daily rhythm
02
Private Yoga
Ekāgratā · single-pointed
One teacher, one practice, built around your body.
₹1,500 per sessionArrange a session
03
Workshops
Kriyā · the finer work
The practices a class cannot fit in two hours.
Ask for the next dateExplore the subjects
04
Retreats
Viveka · clear seeing
Practice, philosophy and Kerala’s green quiet.
Dates on requestJoin the notice list
05
Teacher Training
Sādhanā · sustained practice
28 days, 200 hours, one quiet month in Fort Kochi.
€899 all-inclusiveRead the curriculum
Scroll sideways
Daily rhythm
The day has two doors
Every day, all year, two two-hour classes. No timetable to decode, no membership, no booking system — turn up, take off your shoes, and practise.
02
3:30 – 5:30 pm
Afternoon Hatha
Santhi Yoga, Chirattapalam
The slower, cooler practice of the day as the sea breeze comes in.
₹
₹600
Per class, walk in
- 30% off when you practise 7 days or more
- Mats are here — just bring water
- ₹700 from November 2026
The method
Five threads, one practice
Hatha yoga in this school is not a class of postures with breathing bolted on. Five strands are taught together, the way the Sivananda stream hands them down, and each one holds the others up.
1 Āsana
Posture, held long enough to learn something
Classical Hatha asanas taken slowly and held with steady breath, so the shape stops being a performance and becomes information about your own body. Strength arrives quietly; flexibility follows breath rather than force.
2 Prāṇāyāma
Breath as the instrument, not the warm-up
Kapalabhati, anuloma viloma, ujjayi and the bandhas that hold them together. Pranayama sits at the centre of every class here — it is the fastest route we know from a busy head to a quiet one.
3 Śavāsana
Rest, taught as a skill
Deep relaxation closes every practice, guided through the body part by part. Most people discover they have never actually let go on purpose. This is the part visitors mention afterwards.
4 Mitāhāra
Sattvic food, Kerala kitchen
Rice, coconut, vegetables, dal, fruit and Ayurvedic tea. Simple, local, vegetarian — the diet that keeps a practice light rather than heavy. On courses and retreats it is cooked for you three times a day.
5 Dhyāna · Vedānta
Meditation, and the ideas behind it
A short sitting practice, chanting, and the philosophy that gives all of it a purpose — the eight limbs, the texts, the Vedantic question of who is doing the practising. Offered plainly, without mysticism.
15+
Years teaching in Fort Kochi
5,000+
Group classes guided
70+
International training batches
20+
Retreats led
4.9/5
Average guest rating
Figures from the school’s own records, September 2026.
Teacher training · 2027
28 days. 200 hours.
One quiet month in Kerala.
A traditional foundation rather than a certificate factory: dawn practice, philosophy in the heat of the day, teaching practice in the afternoon, and a town you can walk end to end before dinner.
- The full 200-hour curriculum and study materials
- Accommodation in Fort Kochi for the 28 days
- Three vegetarian sattvic meals a day
- Ayurvedic tea through the day
Santhi is not a Yoga Alliance Registered Yoga School. Graduates receive the 200-hour teacher training certificate issued by Santhi School of Yoga & Vedanta Studies.
The place
Fort Kochi, on foot
A peninsula of lime-washed walls, rain trees and spice godowns at the mouth of a working harbour. Practise at dawn, drink tea, walk to the fishing nets, and be back for the afternoon class — none of it needs a taxi.
Getting here
Ninety minutes by taxi from Cochin International Airport. From Ernakulam, take the harbour ferry to Fort Kochi and walk — the nicest arrival in the city.
When to come
October to March is dry and clear. June to August is the south-west monsoon: green, cooler, and remarkable to practise in. April and May are hot — the morning class earns its name.
Where to stay
Homestays and small heritage hotels fill the lanes around Chirattapalam, most of them a few minutes' walk from the shala. Ask and we will point you to neighbours we like.
Guest voices
What people say afterwards
Average guest rating across public review platforms. Reviews live on the platforms themselves — read them there, unfiltered.
You are actually taught
The most common remark is the simplest: someone watched me, corrected me, and explained why. Small groups make that possible, and it is the reason people come back on their second day rather than trying the next studio.
Traditional, not a workout
Guests arrive expecting a fitness class and find pranayama, relaxation, chanting and philosophy sitting alongside the asanas. Several say it was the first time yoga made sense as a whole practice rather than a set of shapes.
Beginners are not left behind
People with no experience regularly say they were nervous and then fine — given a version of each posture they could hold, and never made to feel like the slowest person in the room.
From the blog
Notes between classes
Om shanti shanti shanti: why peace is said three times
Many yoga classes end with “Om shanti shanti shanti”. The school takes its name from that word. What santhi means, and why the Vedantic tradition repeats it three times.
Read
Inside a two-hour Hatha class, minute by minute
Two hours sounds long until you are in it. A walk through a traditional Hatha class in Fort Kochi — breath, sun salutations, the classical postures, deep rest — and why each part is where it is.
Read
Savasana is a skill: learning to rest on purpose
Corpse pose looks like the easiest posture in yoga and is often the hardest. Why the long relaxation in a Hatha class matters, and a simple guided method you can practise at home.
ReadBefore you come
The questions we are asked most
Something not covered here? Ask on WhatsApp — someone who teaches the class will answer, usually within the day.
Where exactly is Santhi Yoga in Fort Kochi?
In Chirattapalam, Amaravathy, Fort Kochi — House No. 1/1790, Chirattapalam Road, Amaravathy, Fort Kochi 682001. It is a short walk from the Chinese fishing nets and the Fort Kochi beach, in the quiet lanes behind the waterfront.
How do I reach the school from Kochi airport or Ernakulam?
From Cochin International Airport (COK) it is roughly an hour and a half by taxi. From Ernakulam South railway station, take a taxi or auto to Fort Kochi, or take the ferry from the Ernakulam jetty across the harbour, which is much the nicest way to arrive.
Who teaches at Santhi?
Master Aksharanand A S, known to students as Achu, founded the school and teaches its classes and trainings. He was trained in the Sivananda tradition, holds an Advanced Teacher Training Certificate (Sivananda tradition), and has been teaching in Fort Kochi for more than fifteen years.
Do I need to book a yoga class in advance?
No. Both daily classes are drop-in. A message on WhatsApp the evening before is still helpful — it tells us to expect you, and it confirms whether the morning class is at the shala in Chirattapalam or outdoors at Secret Garden.
How much does a class cost in Fort Kochi?
A two-hour drop-in class at Santhi is ₹600. If you practise with us for 7 days or more we take 30% off the whole stay. From November 2026 the drop-in rate becomes ₹700.
What time are the daily classes?
Morning Hatha runs 7:30 – 9:30 am and Afternoon Hatha runs 3:30 – 5:30 pm, every day. Both are two hours and both are open to all levels.
Come and take one class.
That is the whole invitation. Practise once, see how the rest of your day in Fort Kochi feels, and decide from there.