I had developed a neck issue about 10 years back and a dear friend suggested yoga. I had been an athlete in my school days and was later into Karate — so yoga seemed quite far off and alien.
But with two small children and not much time on my hands, I decided to start with three days a week for an hour. It felt amazing. Not only did my neck start feeling better but there was an overall improvement in my health, posture and stamina levels to name a few.
As I practiced it more and more, I felt completely drawn towards it. And the more I watched my teacher do the difficult and fancy asanas (party poses - my teacher called them), I wanted to be able to do the same. About the same time a few close friends suggested that I start teaching them a few basic asanas just to stay away from back pain.
That led me to doing my first teacher training programme which was followed by another 200 hours of teacher training programme and a number of workshops with different teachers from different schools of yoga.
During this entire journey, none of my teachers ever made me feel that yoga had any religious leanings. Each one of them always emphasised that it was a universal form of exercise for everybody irrespective of age, gender or religion. And it’s the same sentiment that I try and convey in the way I teach.
So when I practice Yoga, it’s the feel good factor of the practice which I seek every single day and which I want my students to realize. Today I have quite a number of students from different walks of life – professionals, home makers, college students, sports kids, seniors and people with specific health issues – who come to my studio for the love of the practice. As an instructor I have seen their bodies and mind benefitting from the practice and that to me is the most satisfying part.
Sakina Raja Kapadia, Yoga instructor, Secunderabad.
