The gift of yoga
February 5, 2015
Before I go into why I want to be a yoga teacher, I would like to share a little bit of a personal journey that led to this realization.
Growing up my father was my role model. ( I love my mother too very much 🙂 . I took after him, when I started my career after completing my MBA in Marketing. Over the last ten years my focus had been to grow in my area of expertise and lead a multi national company. I worked with organizations like BBC’s Radio One and my final stint was with Paul Mitchell , as the Chief Head of their Operations. I quickly realized the connection between working with people, staying focussed and delivering results . This realization helped me grow faster and reach my goal of heading a multinational company. This journey was exciting yet full of challenges that I am happy to say that I overcame, but at the cost of my health and some personal relationships.
Being a successful professional as a woman, where only 5% of the total working population consists of women and of which only 0.01% make it to the top, is a journey that was perceived as one of stress, aggression, and competition not only from outside the organization, but also within. Being a feminist was seen as being necessary to be taken seriously. Add to this the long working hours, addictions like smoking and a general mind and body routine of poor lifestyle choices, I landed with multiple health issues like
1. Myopic CNVM : which almost got me blind, inspite of the 13 eye surgeries involving steroid injections given straight into my eyes .
2. PolyCystic Ovaries and insulin resistence, which is still an ongoing battle
3. Thyroid and a small tumor in my pituitary area of my brain (Cushing’s syndrome) which I was most lucky to mostly overcome with a steroid again.
4. Bad knees that were due for surgery
5. Severe vitamin D deficiencies that affected my thinking.
I was sick and my body was attacking itself in an effort to keep up with my ambition. I reached a point where I couldn’t work with clarity anymore and I was in a very weak place physically, mentally and spiritually.
It was at this time that I started considering Yoga . I still remember my first yoga class 2 years ago and can actually feel the peace of that class to this day . I also read several books on the mind and body connection . I reconnected to the practice of Buddhism of Soka Gakkai International, a lay Buddhist organization that I had been apart of for almost 8 years, but didn’t take seriously for the longest possible time. I had a few realizations that stuck with me to this day
1. The environment is a reflection of who I am and everything that happens to me is because of me. I am fully responsible for the good and the bad in my life and for the life of those around me .
2. My body is the temple of my mind and I learnt that the body had an internal pharmacy that took care of itself.Hence respecting and taking care of both was essential
3. My world did not have to be limited to me and with determination and focus I could reach out to others and help them out in any way possible.
4. Yoga worked ! I grew stronger both mentally and physically.
Within days of these realizations, my life’s purpose became clear to me and I was more focussed and determined to make a difference in every aspect of my life and that of others. My intention moved towards a larger and more selfless purpose. After a lot of reading, interaction and introspection I knew yoga was the way for me to go.
So in conclusion , I would summarize on why I want to be a yoga teacher with the goals below:
1. To deepen my understanding and explore the connection between mind and body and share these discoveries with the world
2. To help people in leadership positions to create a positive example to everyone by taking care of themselves and through that, do the same for those around them
3. To share hope, joy, well being and happiness with everyone I come across.
