Why am I qualified to recommend Yoga?

I have been drawn to the wisdom of India since I was a teenager, and doing Transcendental Meditation, but didn’t start taking regular Yoga classes until 1993. I went twice a week to the YMCA in Toronto, where I was taught by a small-but-mighty Kundalini teacher named Simran, who hailed from Scotland. A few years later, after I experienced a series of devastating losses, I threw myself into Yoga to recover from depression, and religiously attended Bibi’s three classes per week for 10 years. In 2004, I completed a year-long Yoga Teacher Training program with Yoga Space in Toronto and became a certified Yoga Teacher.

Yoga was one of the main reasons I felt compelled to journey to India in 2005 for six months. I did a one-month Yoga intensive course at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai, visited several ashrams throughout the country, and found my spiritual home at Aurovalley Ashram near Rishikesh in May 2006. Since that time, I have spent many months at Aurovalley Ashram, and also at Anand Prakash Ashram in Rishikesh, and I am devoted to this practise. Yoga is a huge part of my life – in fact, I lived in Rishikesh, India, which is called the Yoga capital of the world, for four years.

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Studying Yoga in India was eye-opening to say the least. I realized that though I was deeply involved in Yoga in Canada, I was swimming in a pond. In India, I discovered the ocean. The Yoga ocean is a vast repository of wisdom and experience. And it’s not about being flexible. Yoga is so much more than what is generally presented or understood in the west; it is so much more than a system of exercises. It is way to self-realization, to peace, to increased consciousness and connection. In India, while studying Yoga, my mind opened up to ideas I never imagined. And this is a common experience for many people who make the journey to India for Yoga.

What is Yoga … and what it is not

Yoga is Sanskrit for union or yoke. It means to link, to connect. It is the experience of connecting to yourself and the nurturing source reality that you cannot be separated from. The purpose of Yoga is to still the mind so that you can experience this connection. Yoga is not actually something you do – you cannot “do” Yoga. Yoga is an understanding.

This may not sound exactly like what you are taught in Yoga classes and Yoga studios around the world. But as you proceed on your Yoga journey, you may find yourself wanting to try and understand the original intentions of yoga, without the overlay of western thinking, ideas, and culture.

You may start doing Yoga with the idea of getting in shape, looking good in Yoga pants, or gaining more flexibility. You may invest in all kinds of Yoga clothes, props, and accessories, and may have an ideal or goal in mind – such as attempting to look like the cover of Yoga Journal.

But this is not Yoga. Yoga is not about achievement and it’s not about props. Yoga is not a systematic, linear process intended to get you somewhere. That is western dualistic thinking. Yoga comes from an ancient non-dualist tradition.

I like the way Yoga teacher Mark Whitwell explains it. “Yoga is intimate participation in the given reality, it’s the embrace of ordinary reality, the celebration of intimacy and attachment. It’s an interior process where you consciously breathe into your body and experience an intimate relationship with the marvel that is you.”

T.K.V. Desikachar said, “The success of Yoga does not lie in the ability to perform postures but in how it positively changes the way we live our life and our relationships.”

For Yoga, you just need a body and breath. Yoga is available at any time, to everyone. It doesn’t take money, skill, flexibility, special equipment. It’s an attitude adjustment more than anything else, and it just requires your breath and your attention.

Yogrishi Vishvketu said, “The essence of yoga is to bring freedom. And to believe and trust, to practice, and to help people to connect to their true nature of being fearless, blissful, joyful and playful.”

How can I find out about Yoga for beginners?

Yoga students from the west are very well received in India and there are lots of programs developed specifically for them. Sincerity is the only requirement; experience is not necessary. If you are a beginner to Yoga, never worry. Yoga should be taught in such a way as to appeal to beginners as well as advanced students.

Is Yoga popular in India?

Yes … and no. Yoga in India may not be what you think, and it’s wise to leave preconceived ideas at home. The idea of Yoga classes and styles is new to India – that’s largely a western development – but the philosophy of Yoga is deeply ingrained in the culture.

India has its own Yoga gurus, and some are well-known such as T. Krishnamacharya, B.K.S. Iyengar, K. Pattabhi Jois, and Swami Sivananda. But many of them focus more on spiritual philosophy, like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar or pranayama, like Baba Ramdev.

However, Yoga in India is gaining in popularity in part because of the worldwide interest and in part because of the Indian government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated International Yoga Day in 2015 and the resolution was supported by 177 nations at the United Nations General Assembly. International Yoga Day takes place each year on June 21.

Why study Yoga in India?

I have a strong opinion on this and others may not agree with me (and that’s okay). But I feel, if you have not been to India to study Yoga, you cannot possibly know or understand the depth or the truth of this ancient art and science.

Yoga is part of the culture of India, it is one of the six schools of Hinduism (and the majority of Indians are Hindu). In fact, in some ways, you cannot separate Yoga from the culture that gave birth to it. In the attempt to transplant Yoga to the west, we have seen what happened: it became focused on the physical practise of Yoga, asana, and achievement. The essence of Yoga was lost in translation.