Sivananda ashram in Bahamas

If you want an inexpensive yoga retreat, this is the place to go to. I've researched yoga retreats and ashrams on the Internet and so far the Sivananda Ashram and Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas (Paradise Island) is a great value for your money.

What I liked:

1) Price - accommodations: $59/night (tent space) to $89/night for a shared ocean cabin, which includes 2 vegetarian meals per day, 2 yoga classes per day and 2 satsangs (meditation, chanting and discourse). The ashram has introduced recently an additional yoga vacation rate on top of accommodations: in the off-season (june1-nov22), you pay $15/day. in the peak season (nov23-may31) you pay an extra $25/day.

2) Yoga classes - classic hatha yoga is offered at the ashram. There's a focus on pranayama breathing and include lots of rest and relaxation in between asanas, so if you're looking to unwind, this style of yoga is fitting.

3) Location - situated on Paradise Island, beautiful white sand beach and turquoise water.

4) Food - the sattvic vegetarian meals were delicious. More food selection in the peak-season.

5) Walking meditation - walk along the beach from the ashram to the beach close to Atlantis - there you sit on the beach to do the chanting and discourse as the sun rises in the horizon - quite a magical experience.

What I didn't like:

1) Saturday night noise - each Saturday night, there's a party boat on the bay side that blasts music from 10pm onwards that you cannot tune out unless you have ear plugs.

2) Communal bathrooms - at the time of this review, the Sivananda Ashram didn't have any rooms with private bathrooms, thus you have to share the bathrooms with all the other guests and staff. In the peak season, you can experience wait times.

3) Food - Meals are served only twice each day (10am and 6pm), so bring snacks from home or go to a local supermarket. Also, in the peak season, the ashram opens their boutique store which sells snacks as well as yoga related stuff. And because of the ashram's close proximity to Atlantis, you can easily fix your cravings there. That said, from my experience, most days I was satiated in between meals. Some further things to note: in the off-season, there's not a lot of food selection. Also, in both peak and off-season, there wasn't a lot of fruit.

4) 5:30am wake-up call - Each morning the bell rings at 5:30am to wake you up for the 6am satsang, so if you're not a morning person, this might be a problem. However, meditation is quite effective in the very early morning.