My Journey into the wonderful world of Yoga began about 28 years ago. As busy young chartered accountant- work was the sole focus of my life and everything else had taken a backseat, including health and exercise. My overworked body however couldn’t handle the lifestyle anymore and it protested in the form of spondylitis- leading me to forced bed rest and moving about with a collar.
One day, while I was in the process of getting physiotherapy for my spondylitis, my wife Chitra informed me -‘I’ve heard that yoga is good for health, I’ve already paid the fees for a Yoga class- you must start.’ That one decision changed the trajectory of my life.
This was the beginning of the journey with my teacher, Mrs Usha Karnik. During the initial days, I was unable to do many asanas because of the spondylitis. However, my teacher was persistent and soon I was able to do more and more practices and in around 8 months, I was able to practice asanas like head stands which were not permitted for those with spondylitis.
Training in Yoga, with my teacher for an unbroken 25 years has brought about significant changes in my health, vitality and productivity. I even became more understanding and aware, even during moments of anger. When I reached a certain level of proficiency she told me that I now need a Guru to further my development and encouraged me to take Diksha from Paramhamsa Swami Niranjananda Saraswati of the Bihar School of Yoga.
Following the sadhana prescribed by my Guru and maintaining a daily regimen of yoga, meditation and prayer has rewarded me very richly. I hardly ever fell sick and seldom had to visit the doctor. I was able to recover quickly from a slip disk. Even my flexibility and creative abilities were accentuated.
During the Golden Jubilee celebration of the Bihar School of Yoga, I came across a wonderful book on Tantra written by my Guru. That led turn me to numerous other books and resources about alternate therapies that can help us become more attuned to our bodies, their rhythms, needs and help us heal holistically while reducing our dependency on modern medicine.
Two years ago, I gave up my CA practice to focus on Antarang and give back to the community the benefits I’ve derived from Yoga over the years. At Antarang we seek to innovate and develop practices along with traditional Yoga that can provide greater benefits to participants. We introduced Vedic yoga to harness the benefits of energies of mantras in asanas, We have also developed other practices such as Eduga to help enhance the continuous use of right and left brain and improve creativity, Rudra yoga- a sequence of asana practices along with the background chanting of the Rudram and integrating Tibetan and Chinese systems of yantra yoga into regular yoga.
Yoga has also given me an incredible group of friends. In a world that’s turning more and more individualistic, our love for yoga and wellness keeps us uniquely bonded. We’ve visited the Ashram, trekked to the most treacherous mountains and traveled the world together many times. Through Antarang, I hope to create another such community, where our students can support each other in their journeys towards better health and discover meaningful friendships in the process.
I hope Antarang can be an integral part of your wellness journey, whether through classes, personal sessions or even online tutorials.
If you’d like to know more about our classes, collaborate with us or just chat about Yoga and wellness in general, send us a DM or an email at ramesh.l@antarangwellness.com.
