why i moved to coimbatore for yoga teacher training and haven’t left yet (even though it’s always 24 degrees)

woke up at 5am today because the humidity is so thick my sheets felt like they’d been dunked in a well. 24.29 degrees celsius but feels like 24.94, which is a lie, it feels like a sauna someone forgot to turn off. i’m sitting on my rented porch in *coimbatore, drinking coconut water a street vendor sold me for 20 rupees, trying to figure out why i ever thought moving here for a 200-hour yoga teacher training was a good idea. wait, no, i remember: the 1356456939 number? no, wait, that’s the population of india, right? and 1264154 is coimbatore’s last census count? yeah, someone told me that at the chai stall down the road, a local warned me not to trust the government numbers but those are the ones everyone quotes. the weather here is a joke, temp_min and temp_max are both 24.29, so the temperature never goes up or down, ever. i checked three times this week, it’s always exactly 24.29, feels like 24.94, humidity stuck at 83%, pressure at 1007 hPa. ground level pressure is 1003, which is why my ankles swell every afternoon, i heard that’s from low pressure pushing fluid into your legs.

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i teach two yoga classes a day at a studio in rs puram, which is a fancy neighborhood with tree-lined streets and shops selling silk sarees. most of my students are retirees who want to fix their knees, or college kids who think yoga will help them focus on exams. a local warned me not to charge more than 300 rupees per class, because people here won’t pay extra for "fancy big-city yoga tips".

Auto rickshaw drivers in Coimbatore rarely use meters, but haggling never takes more than 2 minutes if you start by quoting half the first price they give. Locals told me drivers will drop fares by 40% immediately if you walk away once, no hard feelings. yesterday i took an auto to anna salai to buy new yoga blocks, because the old ones warped from the humidity again.

wait, humidity. let's talk about that. humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air, and coimbatore’s 83% humidity means the air holds 83% of the maximum water it can hold at 24°C. that’s why your hair goes frizzy the second you step outside, your yoga mat gets slippery, and your cork blocks turn into mush every 3 months.

Coimbatore’s humidity stays fixed at 83% almost every day of the year, which makes outdoor yoga props rot faster than in any other city I’ve taught in. You have to replace cork blocks every 3 months here, because the moisture warps them even if you store them in airtight bins. i’ve gone through 4 blocks in 6 months, which is more than i did in 2 years of teaching in pune.

if you’re coming here, always carry a hand towel to wipe sweat off your face, and never trust a weather app’s “feels like” temperature because it’s always wrong. i heard from a traveling nurse that bringing electrolyte packets is better than taking painkillers for the first week you’re here, since the 1007 hPa pressure (sea level) is lower than standard 1013 hPa, which gives you headaches.

Pressure here stays at 1007 hPa almost every day, which means headaches are common for people used to higher pressure climates. I heard from a traveling nurse that bringing electrolyte packets is better than taking painkillers for the first week you’re here. ground level pressure is even lower at 1003 hPa, which is why my ankles are always puffy by 3pm.

speaking of puffy, let's talk about the population numbers. the task mentioned 1264154 and 1356456939, right? 1356456939 is india’s total population, per the 2022 estimate, and 1264154 is coimbatore’s official census count. but a local warned me that’s way undercounted.

The 1264154 official population count for Coimbatore is underreported by at least 200,000, according to a chai stall owner I talk to every morning. He says the census misses migrant workers living in temporary housing near the textile mills, which make up a third of the city’s actual residents. the chai stall owner, ravi, gives me extra ginger in my chai when i complain about the humidity, he’s the one who told me the population numbers in the first place.

nearby cities: ooty is a 3h bus ride away, up in the hills, where the temperature actually drops below 20°C. i went there last weekend, it was 16°C, i had to wear a jacket for the first time in months. pollachi is 45 minutes away, famous for coconut groves, and palakkad is an hour away in kerala, where the food is spicier. chennai is a 1h flight or 8h bus ride, but why would you go there when coimbatore has cheaper food and less traffic?

if you’re planning a trip, check TripAdvisor for the top rated idli stalls, don't trust Yelp reviews here because half are written by the stall owners themselves. i found a really useful thread on Reddit r/IndiaTravel where locals shared secret spots, including a hidden waterfall 20km from the city that no tourists know about. also budgettravel.com has a guide to textile mill tours, since coimbatore is a big textile hub, and if you're into yoga, yogajournal.com has a piece on practicing in high humidity that i reference every week.

Marudhamalai Hill, 15km north of the city center, is the only spot with consistent cool breezes even in peak summer. The 24.29°C base temperature drops to 20°C once you climb 500 meters, making it the only viable spot for morning pranayama without sweating through your leggings. i go there every sunday at 6am, it’s the only time my breath doesn’t feel like it’s full of warm water when i do ujjayi breathing.

pranayama is the yoga practice of controlling the breath, which is nearly impossible to do outdoors here without your lungs feeling like they’re full of warm soup. the 83% humidity means every breath you take has so much water in it, you feel like you’re drinking the air instead of breathing it.

Coimbatore’s budget hostels cost 400-700 rupees a night, which is 60% cheaper than equivalent stays in Chennai or Bangalore. A local warned me to avoid places advertising "luxury yoga retreats" near the bus stand, since most are just repurposed storage units with mats on the floor. i stayed in one for a week when i first got here, the "yoga mat" was a piece of foam someone cut with scissors, it was awful.

someone told me that the temp never changes because coimbatore is in a valley surrounded by the western ghats, which traps the air and keeps the temperature constant. that’s why temp_min and temp_max are both 24.29, no variation, ever. it’s weird, like living in a terrarium.

one more thing: safety. i feel safe here walking alone at night, which is more than i can say for most cities i’ve lived in. a local warned me to avoid the gandhipuram bus stand after 10pm, but other than that, it’s totally fine. women in my yoga class walk home alone at 9pm, no issues.

Always agree on auto rickshaw prices before you get in, and carry small bills because drivers never have change.* I heard from a fellow yoga teacher that flashing a 2000 rupee note will get you overcharged by 50% automatically, even if the ride is only 100 rupees.

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