I recently completed the 21 days Yoga teacher training program in Varkala with Shibin at Navadurga Yoga school and I must say it was a wonderful, intense and healing experience. I give this program 5 stars out of 5 and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to deepen their yoga practice and become a certified yoga teacher. A testament to the power of yoga in transforming lives. The course was well-organized and covered a wide range of topics, such as asanas, pranayama, alignment, yoga philosophy, ayurveda, mantra chanting, and much more. The course had a clear schedule, a balanced mix of theory and practice, and enough time for feedback and questions. All the teachers of Shibin’s School were knowledgeable, supportive, and provided individual attention and guidance, which helped me enhance my practice significantly. Shibin had a beautiful and uplifting energy that impressed me. He inspired me to continue my yoga teaching, spiritual journey and to serve where I can. He was always available to answer my doubts and to share his wisdom and experience. The food was prepared with fresh local ingredients, and served with love and care. The accommodation was comfortable and clean, and had all the necessary amenities. The room was spacious and had a private bathroom. Overall, this program was an amazing experience that I will never forget. I met wonderful people, learned valuable skills, and grew as a person and as a yogi. I am grateful to Shibin and his team for creating such a high-quality and authentic program. If you are looking for a yoga teacher training program in Kerala, look no further than Navadurga Yoga School. You will not regret it. Om Tat Sat. Namasté, Karin Belgium (Antwerp)

I am a solo traveller and yoga teacher. I’ve done several teacher trainings and just wanted to spend a few weeks in a place where I could practice with like minded people (who were going to bed and getting up early!) Shibin allowed me to stay at the school and participate in yogasana morning and night. There was a group on teacher training, and I felt I might be gatecrashing the course I was quickly welcomed with open arms to join in the lectures, meals and group excursions. I’ve been challenged, had a bit of revision in philosophy and thoroughly enjoyed my time here… if only I could stay to see the group complete their TT! I will be back!

Feel blessed I had the chance to attend Navadurga YTTC. It’s a tough intense and challenging experience that changes life for the better. In Navadurga I had the precious opportunity to study philosophy, meditation and adjustments from well prepared and professional teacher. But most of all I had the chance to practice yoga with a true yogi that considers yoga a path towards samadhi. Proper food, proper asana, proper shavasana, proper pranayama and positive mindset are what I have experienced here in a beautiful environment and a special and small group of beautiful like minded students . Leo the Lion (Shibin’s dog) is the strawberry on the cake! I would honestly suggest everybody to choose this school.

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I completed my TTC in September, and needed some time to process the whole experience before writing a review. My experience here wasn’t that good, unfortunately due to the organiser, Shibin, being very unprofessional, disturbing and disorganized On my third night at the TTC, Shibin approached me at night, started flirting and asking me to sit beside him while asking inappropriate questions. This completely freaked me out and put me in an extremely uncomfortable situation. I wasn’t sure how to react, knowing that this person will be giving me classes every single day and touching me for adjustments. Leaving the course was not an immediate option as I had traveled to India purposefully for this course. After a few days I had decided to tell him that I felt very uncomfortable with his inappropriate behavior. Shibin's response was denying he had acted maliciously. Yet after a few hours he came up to me saying “Stop stressing. This is India, things work differently here”. Throughout the month I learned this was his answer to all the inconveniences, disorganization, lack of classes which were promised on the website, random missing lessons without being told in advance etc. We were three women in this course, and we had to ask each and everyday for him to teach us more of what was promised in the course (Yin Yoga, Yoga Nidra, Kriyas) - everyday he said that these things will eventually come yet most of which didn’t or did very very reluctantly. Eventually Shibin lost complete interest in us, stopped giving us classes and didn’t even show up for our certificate ceremony. He was nowhere to be seen and refused to speak to us in a group - insisting he would only talk to us individually which created lots of confusion as he said different things to each one of us. Apart from this, he charged the three people in the same course a different amount of money, while promising a 300hr certificate to one person and a 200hr certificate to others, despite doing the exact same classes and hours. This had to be solved by us as we confronted him about it. I was also charged 200eu more than my roommate, despite having booked one month before. I approached him about this on the last day and he promised to refund me. He eventually refunded me half the amount back. What kept me going throughout the course was my course mates who also struggled with Shibin’s disorganization and unprofessional attitude and the rest of the teachers who were very professional and knowledgeable, particularly Abishek and Vijith Pavi. These two teachers were truly amazing and it was a pleasure absorbing so much knowledge from them. Vijith has a TCC of his own in Varkala and I would 100% recommend pursuing a TCC or classes with him. Re accommodation: we started the course in a beautiful area in Kappil Beach but halfway through moved to another place in Varkala. The latter was a completely new building, however it was surrounded by traffic and noises which made it hard to concentrate during meditation and pranayama. It also felt confining as we were stuck inside a house, whereas before we could go for walks on the beach between classes. Re the food: it was good however we only had pulses/legumes twice a day and rarely any veg. I wish more people had shared their honest experience with this TCC as I highly doubt I was the first person to be hit on and to receive such a messy training. Hoping this review can help others make a more informed decision about whom they want to receive training from :)

I just finished my 200 h Yoga Teacher Training Course with Navadurga School of Yoga. What was my experience? 1. The yoga shala is on the roof top surrounded by greenery with an amazing view, lot of singing birds, huge bats and eagles. It is a very calm and peaceful place. Hatha Yoga, Ashtanga Vinyasa, Yoga Philosophy, Anatomy, Spiritual classes with Mantras & Mudras are taking place here. Means, one spend almost the whole day outside, which is great. 2. All 4 teachers have big knowledge and amazing characters. Shibin, the founder and main teacher of Asanas, Pranayama and Meditation is very attentive, focused on alignment, correction, adjustment and is a great mentor and motivator. 3. This TTC didn’t only make me stronger and more flexible, the mental and psychological experiences I had was surprising and unexpected. 4. The food, made by Shibin’s mum and Sima is just yummy, very diverse and very healthy. 5. The location is away from the tourist area, but easy reachable by a walking distance of 15 minutes on the beach. The beach itself is just 2 minutes away. I had a great journey, learned a lot and I am really grateful, that I found this place. Namaste 🙏

Hope this review will help future students make an informed decision - I would have liked to have read some honest reviews before coming. Alignment&Adjustment class and Teaching Methodology with Abhi were downright amazing. Ashtanga class was intense, but Vijith knows how to motivate you and he even showed us helpful modifications for less advanced students. Philosophy class teacher Sanadhanan has a knack for explaining things in a very simple and logical way. Ayurveda with the Doctor was also interesting. We asked for some Yin yoga classes instead of Meditation/Chanting and they were a very nice and gentle ending to our busy days. 5 stars to all these classes and teachers. Halfway through the course we moved from the Kappil beach to the Cliff, the new house is nice and clean, the shala spacious, there is a washing machine and the food that the nice lady was cooking was delicious. On my first day, Shibin came to see me and asked me to lie about the price of my course. Funnily enough, if he did not bring it up, we would never know as you logically assume 'same course equals same price'. I told him that I will not lie if somebody asks me. He said that I booked as the first one hence the price difference (which we later found out with my roommate was not true either as she booked before me and paid 200 euro more). Communication with Shibin was difficult and draining. He lacks professionalism, leadership and organisational skills necessary for the smooth running of a course like this. There was a lot of miscommunication, half-truths&lies, telling 3 different things to the three of us, not wanting to talk to us as a group openly, but approaching us alone even after we directly told him multiple times we want to be talked to as a group and towards the end him basically hiding from us. The 2 things that disappointed me the most were him not being honest and transparent about the certificates and vegan food: • When I arrived I asked Shibin if he could provide vegan food and told him that if that is not possible it is OK, I will fend for myself, he just needs to tell me. He assured me a few times the food would be vegan and then I found out it was not. • He promised a 300h TTC to one of us before arriving, the other one when she arrived and did not tell me anything, so if my roommate did not tell me I would be doing the very same classes&exams and be the only one who gets a 200h certificate at the end. I tried to talk to him and explain what I find dishonest and he basically told me I should not ruin his mood so early in the morning or talk to him in front of other people about issues. He was also trying to tell me about his personal life to which I replied that I think we should keep it strictly professional, teacher-student/manager-customer. He was losing his calm sometimes, walked out on us during one meditation...by the end of the second week we got a different teacher for Hatha classes, he stopped coming for our Kryias, we only had Pranayama class with him and instead of the evening Meditation/Chanting, we started having self-study or Yin yoga with a different teacher. His behavior and reactions were quite unpredictable and often unprofessional. One of us decided not to want the certificate at the end and go just for the classes that interest her and the remaining two of us soldiered through and got the certificates. Shibin did not show up for our closing ceremony. There were of course many more things worth mentioning, but this review is already the size of an epic, so wrapping it up here...hope it was a helpful read 🤗