Yoga didn’t just help me cope, it helped me rebuild: Mandira Bedi

For someone who was once best known for her fast-paced fitness routines and trailblazing TV roles, it may come as a surprise that Mandira Bedi finds her deepest strength in stillness.

Mandira, who has always been vocal about her love for fitness, admits that her early relationship with yoga was purely physical. “I used to think of yoga as a way to stretch, to recover from a run or a workout,” she says. But over time, especially during emotionally challenging periods, she began to tap into yoga’s more profound dimensions: mindfulness, breathwork, and emotional healing.

In a deeply personal exchange with Rajan Navani, Mandira reflects on how yoga evolved from being a form of exercise into a philosophy that shaped her resilience, especially in moments of personal upheaval. Today, she views yoga as a way to slow down, not just the body, but the overactive mind. It’s not about bending more, but about breaking less.

Yoga became a key part of Mandira’s routine after the untimely loss of her husband, when she was navigating grief, single parenting, and public life all at once. “There was a time I didn’t want to get out of bed,” she says. “But just showing up on the mat, even if all I did was breathe, that was enough to begin again.” The practice gave her permission to sit with pain without letting it consume her. And that, she says, is what true strength looks like.

This year, as conversations around wellness grow louder, Mandira Bedi’s perspective cuts through with simplicity and honesty. You don’t need to be perfect, flexible, or even consistent to benefit from yoga. “You just need to show up. Some days it's a full hour, some days it’s five minutes of silence. Both count,” she shares.

She also reminds us that yoga isn’t a competition, it’s a companion. Whether it’s calming anxiety, releasing guilt, or simply carving out a moment of peace in a noisy world, yoga can meet you exactly where you are.

In a world that glorifies hustle, Mandira’s journey reminds us of the power of pause. Yoga isn’t always about mastering a pose, it’s about learning how to hold yourself together when everything else is falling apart.

So this Yoga Day, roll out the mat. Not to perform, but to breathe. Not to stretch further, but to feel deeper. And if all you can manage is to sit still for a moment, that’s enough. Mandira would agree, that’s yoga too.