Rise & Shine Yoga! With the added stress of my day [and yours], yoga might just be the right way to start it up. I’ve always thought of yoga as a method of achieving balance physically and mentally – and balance is good!
I was particularly impressed with the instructor and the way he was able to make us flow from one position to the next with such grace. He seemed more focused on the journey than the destination. I’ll clarify – he ensured that we enjoyed the benefits of getting into the poses. He made it fun and not a competition among who was more limber. This inspired me because I had always thought that the major goal in yoga was being able to [literally] fold your body into tough poses. I decided to get a bit more information from Dr. Abhishek Jain (yoga instructor) over breakfast at Cariblue.
It turns out that he has an extensive background in yoga. As these stories often begin, he started yoga as a child, drawing inspiration from his father. He smiled as he recounted stories to me of how he copied his father’s yoga movements and poses as an eight year old. Another fond memory for him is of his time at the National Institute of Naturopathy in India. While studying at Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, he had to practice yoga daily at 5:30am – almost like a ‘no yoga no breakfast situation’ he joked. It’s this early start that grew into the passion he has for yoga today. We went on to speak about his extensive yoga related work history and his current job as the Senior Leader at the award winning wellness centre at The BodyHoliday. At that point, I decided to stop enquiring about his history, as he seemed to be getting very nostalgic! The main point he wanted to drive at me is that yoga has always been and still continues to be part of his work and he enjoys that.
To bring him back to St. Lucia and The BodyHoliday, I enquired about his approach to yoga. He tries not to compartmentalize yoga. He explained that he doesn’t conform to a particular style of yoga, but he simply teaches traditional Hatha, modern Hatha and Indian Meditative yoga. His traditional and modern Hatha yoga are done on two levels – beginner and intermediate. Indian Meditative is a lot deeper and more profound so he recommends it for advanced yogis. He then said to me ‘yoga has to be done at your own pace and should not be forced…there should be no compulsion’.
Moving forward, he is highly enthused about the release of The BodyHoliday’s yoga DVD series featuring him. The best part, he comments is that it is designed to facilitate self practice at home, in keeping with The BodyHoliday’s promise of being a lasting holiday.
‘Yogah Na Hathat Na Balat.’ – ‘Yoga neither by force nor compulsion.’
