After a fulfilling 40-year career in the telecom industry spanning both India and the US, I made a profound decision in 2005 to transition into a new chapter of my life dedicated fully to the practice and teachings of Yoga. My journey into Yoga began much earlier when I completed my formal Yoga teacher training (RYT200) at the esteemed Swami Satchidananda Institute in Yogaville, VA, back in 1996. Ever since, yoga has become my passion. Witnessing the positive impact it had on my own life ignited a deep desire to share this beautiful practice with others.
Today, I combine my extensive yoga training with ongoing learning and exploration (swadhyaya) to guide students of all levels in their yoga journey. Whether you’re a beginner seeking stress relief or an experienced practitioner looking to dive deeper into self exploration, I offer a variety of classes including weekly ongoing classes, special early morning programs focusing on specific aspects yoga – asana, pranayama, meditation etc. and many other workshops, retreats etc. These programs are designed to fulfil your unique needs and goals. You can see a description of all these special programs on my website here.
Based on my training at the Swami Satchidananda Ashram at Yogaville, my teaching style is inspired by the Integral Yoga style. Over the years, I have been exposed to many of the currently popular yoga styles including Iyengar, Power yoga, Ashtanga Yoga, Vinyasa/Flow yoga, Kripalu etc. I have also been deeply engaged in learning the philosophy of yoga as given in classical yoga texts like the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Hatha Yoga Pradeepika and Bhagavad Gita. So, over time, I have been able to introduce elements from all this learning both in my personal yoga practice and my teaching style. In essence, one may characterize the yoga that I teach as classical/authentic/traditional which has been adapted to suit the modern life-style. You can read more about my teaching philosophy here.
My endeavor in teaching yoga is to help my students develop their personality at all levels – physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. In my classes, I try to sprinkle the basic concepts of the yoga philosophy in very simple and practical terms which can be applied not just to yoga on the mat but to life in general. I strive to create a welcoming and supportive space where everyone feels empowered to explore their practice with joy and connection.
Mission Statement
My goal is to help my yoga students develop every aspect of their individual personality: physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. In my teaching, I use different aspects of yoga – physical postures (asana), breathing techniques (pranayama), relaxation, meditation, chanting and an understanding of the underlying philosophy of yoga – in an integrated approach. I encourage my students to develop a regular home-based practice so they can achieve: a body of optimum health and strength, senses under control, a mind well disciplined, clear and calm, an intellect as sharp as a razor, a strong will, a heart full of unconditional love and compassion, an ego as pure as a crystal, and a life filled with supreme peace and joy.
– inspired by Swami Satchidananda
Teaching Philosophy
As stated in my mission statement, my objective in teaching yoga is to help my students develop their personality at all levels – physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. As yoga has gained in popularity, its original message has been watered down to make it more accessible to larger and more diverse groups of people. As such, for most practitioners , yoga involves simply practicing some physical stretching (asanas) and deriving benefits only at the physical level.
“Yoga is not about how good you ‘look’ in a pose but how good you ‘feel’ in the pose”
My Yoga Training
My yoga training began in my early childhood while watching my father practice a few yoga poses every morning. I started practicing these poses myself in my late teens. Essentially this routine consisted of a few warm-up stretches and some simple asanas like forward and back bends and some triangle type poses. One of the main asanas that my father practiced regularly was the Shirshasana (head stand). He used to stay in this pose for about ten minutes. My father always talked about this incidence while he was travelling from India to UK in a ship, a 21-day journey. While on the ship he would practice his shirshasana every morning out on the deck. People would later come by and tell him, "what are extraordinary feat! We have trouble standing on our feet on this boat and here you are standing on your head!".
My Journey from Technology to Yoga
One of my friends who lives in Pune, India and teaches business management programs, asked me to write a guest post for his blog. In this post, he wanted me to write about my transition from a professional, corporate career to a life devoted to the study and teaching of yoga. Here is a link to that post – hope you will enjoy reading it.
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