Becoming A Yoga Teacher! 👩🏫
It all started in 2012 — when I had a few months at leisure, before I was to fly to US for starting with my Master’s education in New York. I knew these were last of my real vacation days and I wished to get most of this time. Of all the things I wanted to do and learn with the time I had, yoga was something that I was naturally attracted to. Fortunately for me, there was a yoga class that was offered by an 80 years old women (we called her aaji — meaning grandmother in my native language) for women in our neighborhood, most of whom were homemakers. Without thinking twice about being the only girl in her twenties for that class (as the rebel I always am), I happily enrolled myself along with my mom. Yes! My mom was my first ever yoga buddy and my love & passion for yoga is definitely one of the many things I got from her 👭
The classes were early morning 6am everyday except Sundays and that never bothered me. Even though not an early riser, I was so excited about learning yoga that I did not mind getting up early in my vacation days. Our class consisted of the standard yoga practice along with some breathing exercises and sun salutations. I learnt a lot about various yoga poses, do’s and don’ts of yoga and also the sanskrit names of the poses. Being the youngest in the class, I was the favorite student of our teacher and she always had an acute eye on how I was doing — was I being sloppy in my practice, was I learning new things and continuing to keep the interest. To be honest, somedays it was annoying but most of the days I felt very happy and encouraged that aaji was being so keen on helping me stick to the practice. It definitely motivated me continue it for longer than I would have, if that had not been the case.
But this was all short lived. My vacation days ended, I left for US forgetting all about it and life just went on. My days got busier and unknowingly I lost track of yoga. Until almost 4 years later in 2016 when I moved to California, I decided to get back to yoga, and this time my yoga buddy was my husband — Neerad. We started doing Vinyasa style yoga following Yoga with Adriene on Youtube. It was a new style of yoga — very different from what I knew from my aaji. I was curious to compare-n-contrast what I practiced earlier with this style of yoga. Vinyasa style is a very popular style among Americans and it is based on flow or rhythm. I continued doing this regularly and following the youtube videos for few months but I did not feel the same zeal I used to before. During this struggle to embrace a new style of yoga, I met Ankita. Luckily for me, she taught Shivananda style of yoga, which is a classical hatha yoga. The very first class I attended — doing the sun salutations, the sanskrit prayers, om-chanting, the ambience of Ankita’s yoga studio, Om Kutir — assured me that this was it! I was extremely happy to start my yoga practice again with a dedicated teacher and with a practice that I could relate to from the bottom of my heart.
I met my next yoga-buddy, Swati, during this time — who was also starting Ankita’s yoga class with me. Given the enthusiasts that we both were, Swati and I happily joined the morning batch at 6.30 am. Initially for a few months, there were only 3–4 of us for this morning class and it felt so special. We were learning all new things about Shivananda practice, and it was a revelation how the very simple sun salutations — which I had been introduced to during my school days — also had a very specific technique to it. This experience was a complete eye opener for me and as I continued further into this practice, I felt a strong urge to dive deeper into yoga (which was all about asana practice to me at the time).
Ankita also took pranayama as part of our regular practice and had recently introduced us to meditation as a natural next step of the 8-fold (Ashtanga) path of Yoga. Being the amazing teacher that she is, she continues to introduce us to various new poses and techniques, and has made us go beyond what we think our bodies can do. I see a significant growth in my practice for the past 2.5 years that I have been doing this. Here are a few glimpses of my asana practice from the International Yoga Day celebrations in June 2020 —
With dedicated practice and a passionate heart, going into 2020, one of my goals was to do a Yoga Teacher’s Training course (YTT). The quarantine period gave me a perfect opportunity to carve out that self-care time and to take the plunge into exploring the depths of yoga. After a couple of months of searching for a good online YTT, I enrolled in Yoga Farm Ithaca’s Online 200 hours Yoga Teachers Training course. (Here’s a separate blog for anyone who is interested in learning what a Yoga Teacher’s Training is through my lens and my experience)
Today, with great pleasure, I am happy to announce that I completed my course and received my certification. I am deeply grateful for everything and everyone who have helped me accomplish this. Being in the midst of global pandemic and restrained in our houses, self-care is the best ever gift I could have given to myself (and extending its benefits to my immediate family) in 2020 ❤
Proud to be a certified yoga teacher! 😇
Going into next decade — I plan to continue immersing deeper in my passion and channeling my focus on all things yoga. With the renewed understanding, I am more pumped about it than ever to go into the depths of this age old Indian science of exercise and healing!
Calling all of you amazing yogis out there to learn and explore about yourself in the ways that you love *Namaste*🙏
