YOGA VIHAR — 5.OG, Germany

A fifth-floor yoga and Ayurveda school in Berlin-Charlottenburg, with retreats from the Baltic lakes to Kerala

Climb to the fifth floor of a back courtyard on Bismarckstraße in Berlin's 10625 district, the pages note there is a lift, and you reach Yoga Vihar. The studio describes itself as more than a yoga room: a space for arriving, learning and growing. Its own line is "Where tradition meets transformation." The school has been running for over 30 years, built around Yoga Acharya Sivan, described as an Indian yoga master with more than three decades of experience. His full name appears on the Kerala page as Yoga Acharya Sivan Namboothiri. The site says the teaching covers the classical paths of Jnana, Bhakti, Nada, Kundalini, Hatha and Raja Yoga, passed down in India for centuries. The curriculum runs through asanas, kriyas, pranayama, bandhas and mudras, concentration and meditation, bhakti and mantra, and the study of jnana. The weekly schedule spans studio classes graded Soft, Medium and Intensive, a prevention course and a class taught in Greek. A second timetable adds in-person and online sessions: a 6:30 am Transformationskurs, meditation, a Training with the Master hour, philosophy, and Ayurveda courses. Teacher training (YTTC), an advanced module (ATC) and an Ayurveda massage training sit alongside, as do personal sessions and consultations. The retreats take the practice out of the city. A three-day autumn weekend, 6 to 8 November 2026, is held in a manor house in the Mecklenburg Lake District, with yoga, mantra singing, meditation, walking meditation and vegetarian and vegan cooking, at 430 euros. A four-day New Year retreat, 30 December 2026 to 2 January 2027, ends each day with an Aarati ceremony and includes Yoga Nidra. Farther afield are a 14-day Himalayan pilgrimage through Uttarakhand, which the site calls Dev Bhoomi, the land of the gods, and a Kerala yoga and culture trip with Ayurveda treatments, running 18 to 31 October 2026.

Traditions: Hatha Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Nada Yoga, Raja Yoga

Programs: Yoga Teacher Training (YTTC), Advanced Teacher Training (ATC), Module 1, Ayurveda Massage Training, Wellness & Yoga Retreat, Mecklenburg Lake District, New Year Yoga Retreat, Himalaya Pilgrimage & Retreat, Yoga Retreat & Cultural Trip in Kerala, Transformationskurs