A SPACE TO ‘OM’ IN ROME

Tiberina Island, located on Rome's Tiber River, is renowned for its healing powers and is a good place to meditate.

There’s a saying that “the difference between prayer and meditation is that when you pray you are talking to God, and when you meditate you are listening.” So amongst the chaos of busy streets, duomos, cathedrals and the Vatican City, how do you find a space to ‘OM’ in Rome? For the Rome chapter of the Holiday Goddess Handbag Guide to Paris, London, New York and Rome, I caught up with local Kundalini Yoga teacher Uttamjit Kaur, for some local knowledge on the best drop-in meditation classes in Rome.

Close to the Vatican, Budokan In (via Properzio 4) offers drop-in yoga and meditation classes as well as interesting workshops and courses with local and international teachers including renowned teacher, trainer and author, Sadhana Singh. At Budokan In you can also experience Shakti Dance lessons with Sara Avtar. The ‘yoga of dance’ integrates dance and yogic wisdom as a means to enter a mystic, meditative state. Guru Dev Singh, acclaimed in the Americas and Europe as ‘one of the greatest healers of our time’ also calls Rome home. His teachings combine the ancient Mayan, Totanac and Curandero traditions of Mexico with Kundalini Yoga, yogic healing and Re Man meditation practices. His yoga center in Rome (Via F. Corridoni, 15 – 00195) is renowned for producing some of the finest healers in Europe.

If Kundalini Yoga is not your thing, Instituto Samantabhadra (Via de Genrosa 24) teaches Tibetan Buddhism; Essere Pace offers Zen meditation with Vietnamese master Thich Nhat Hanh; and Nives Yoga (Via S. Onofrio) offers classes in Jivamukti Yoga and meditation. For updates on classes and workshops in Rome, visit Italian Yoga Journal.

Uttamjit’s favourite ‘sacred spaces’ in Rome are the Villa Celimontana – a peaceful park close to the Colosseum – and Tiberina Island on the Tiber River in Trastevere,  renowned for its healing powers and is a good place to meditate. In the city, Uttamjit recommends walking through the colourful morning market stalls and cafes of Campo de’ Fiori to find the wisdom in Yogi Bhajan’s words, ‘If you can’t see God in all, you can’t see God at all.’

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This is an excerpt from The Holiday Goddess Handbag Guide to Paris, London, New York and Rome published by HarperCollins. For more information about where to buy a copy, visit the Holiday Goddess website here.