CREDIT: Sayan HazraI visited Om Shantidhama multiple times over the course of one year, staying for a few days during each visit. In an age marked by stress, anxiety, and digital fatigue, I was drawn to experience a gurukula not situated within a city, but in a remote and peaceful setting. Om Shantidhama is surrounded by hills, lush green forests, and the confluence of rivers. I later learned that its location was chosen in accordance with the guidance described in the Rig Veda.
That is how Sayan described his overall experience of multiple visits in Om Shantidhama Gurukula. When, in the global fitness industry, yoga as a stylized fitness program earns more than USD 100 million, Sayan’s ‘Roots of Yoga: Learning beyond the poses’ is a counter narrative of that “wellbeing studio culture”. It is a search for him for the connection between mind and body, chants and calisthenics through the rooted path of his own cultural tradition.
This documentary project explores a different kind of learning environment: a fully residential Vedic Gurukula surrounded by hills, rivers, and dense forests in Karnataka, India. At Om-Shantidhama, education unfolds not through screens or structured syllabi, but through silence, ritual, and repetition. Following ancient traditions, students at this gurukula live with their teacher and learn through a lifestyle structured around Mantra Yoga, Prana Yoga, and Dhyana Yoga.
Sayan’s “Roots of Yoga: Learning beyond the Poses” reflects a deep longing for authenticity in a world increasingly shaped by commercialized wellness trends. His work highlights a return to the roots of tradition – beyond the confines of fitness studios and scripted routines, toward a holistic way of living intertwined with nature, tradition and spiritual discipline. In this gurukula, learning is not a pursuit of external validation but an immersion into a way of life shaped by silence, ritual, and the timeless wisdom of the Vedas. His story serves as a reminder of that true well-being, found not just in physical movement, but in the harmony of mind, body, and spirit.
