How Yoga came into my life

Namaste and Welcome to my Yoga World !!

First of all, thank you for being here and reading my blog. I don’t know if I’m writing it the right way. Because I believe there is no right way or wrong way unless you are writing from your heart. I don’t know if yoga came into my life or I found it. Whatever it was, I am very grateful for that. I used to be an introvert, shy, and very quiet girl. If people who know me now and like me the way I am. I can bet you would’ve hated me if you would have met me earlier. I always felt like something is missing in my life and wasn’t sure what it was.

In my high school in 2011, I was a conservative less talkative girl with few friends, more into studies, far from the social world. I didn’t have a goal back then. I was just going in one direction without thinking of the destination. After high school, I got into an engineering college in 2013 because of my friends. It wasn’t my choice, it doesn’t mean they force me to choose that. It was my choice because I didn’t have any choice, I had no goal. I completed my graduation in 2017 from Jodhpur, Rajasthan in electronics and communication engineering. It was a four-year course and I was living away from home.

So many people came into my life. And I’m thankful for everyone. Because everyone that comes to your life is for a reason. With some people you have bad experiences and with some, you have great experiences but in the end, you learn something, so I would say nothing is bad. Isn’t it?

Yoga wasn’t a part of my life at that time. I wasn’t even doing anything. Emotionally I was very weak and less confident with my speech. And I wasn’t able to express myself. I had so many fears and some bad memories. And I don’t think I’m the only one with these issues. Because all of us have something we deal with every day. We all have our struggles and problems. And we can’t run from then. It’s not possible. I’m not saying that if you practice yoga and all your problems will be solved, no that’s not true. But yoga will change your perspective of seeing things, that I can assure you.

So back to the story, when I graduated I got a job straight away but I wasn’t happy with it. So I decided not to do it. I came home confused with so many thoughts. Am I ready to start work? Is it all about money? Is this what I always wanted to do? Can’t I do something else? It was too much to think of. At some point, I thought my mind is going to explode. I was struggling with anxiety and depression. I wanted to escape from my problems. At this point, I completely stopped taking care of myself. I ate whatever I wanted, I didn’t exercise, I didn’t do anything that I actually loved, and I followed whatever path was handed to me. I ended up wasting the next 2 years of my life just going through the motions using the phone all day and binging on Netflix. I had no idea where I was going in life but I knew giving up on myself wasn’t an option although I thought about it many, many times.

One magical day in January 2018, I was scrolling through my Instagram feed and I saw a video of one girl doing yoga. It was a little flow. I just thought I should give it a try and started practicing. At first, it was just for a few days but then I was hooked and my yoga journey started. Before I wasn’t able to control my emotions but I realized that I may not be able to control my emotions but I can control my body. So I continued my yoga journey and kept practicing every day. I sweated out my fears, anxieties, depressions, and felt so much lighter every time. It amazed me how much a physical practice could be so much more. Could uplift me mentally, spiritually, energetically. It could allow me to work through my shadows, to let go, flow, and become one with who I really am and work towards my highest self.

I became calmer and focused. With the practice, I gained a lot of strength and flexibility and the ability to be rather comfortable in inversions too. Yoga became an essential part of my life as food. Achieving asanas I thought my body could never attempt is a satisfying feeling as well as the ease it brings to the mind as you focus on clearing your thoughts and balancing. If I skipped yoga even for a day, I would get miserable.

A few months later, I got a job in Jaipur in 2019. So this time I decided to take it. I started working finally but wasn’t getting enough time for my practice. Everything was going great but still, I felt a void in me like I don’t belong here. So I listened to my heart for the first time in my life and decided to quit the job. It was a big risk of quitting a job which was a dream of so many people. Now I feel it was one the best decision of my life. And I decided to do what makes me happy. Money was never my priority. I believe that following your heart makes you happy.

At that time, I wasn’t sure what I’m gonna do next. I started looking for a yoga teacher training school in Rishikesh. So after searching for months, I found one. It was all new for me, a new place, new people but it turned out great and became one of the best experiences of my life. I did my teacher training in June 2019. Not only I learn so much about the actual physical yoga practice but I also learned about yoga sequencing, yoga philosophy, anatomy, energy healing through the chakras, Patanjali’s yoga sutras, pranayama, meditation and so much more.

Practicing Yoga in Rishikesh is out of this world. If you haven’t visited Rishikesh before, I would definitely recommend you. Because this place has a different spiritual energy, you will never find anywhere in the world. After my teacher training, I started teaching in a small studio in 2019 in my hometown, and on the weekends I used to go to Udaipur to teach yoga to the travelers. After a while, I felt like I have some u0nfinished business left with Rishikesh. So I came back in February 2020 and started working here. Now I am teaching in different schools in Rishikesh which I really like.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-q4Nq1DLnF/

I always loved to teach and lead. And seeing what yoga has done to me and how it has completely shifted my mindset, I feel grateful to be able to help others and to show them the path to their highest selves through yoga practice. I also learn from my students, examining and correcting their bodies, how differently we move in search of our balance.

The amount that I transformed was something that would’ve taken me a lifetime to do by myself. I can proudly say, “I love my job” although I know very fewer people can say this proudly. I always stay enthusiastic about what comes next. This was my life in a nutshell. I don’t know where I will be next as I don’t have plans. I believe in my destiny and hard work. If something is meant to come to me, it will come to me. I believe in flowing like Ganga (The holy river) without getting anxious about the future and grabbing everything along the way. I don’t make any future plans for myself not because I am messed up. I believe in God’s plans because he has better plans for me.

I used to get upset when things didn’t work out the way I wanted them to but then I realized it was best for me. I thought so much about it and it took me a lot of courage to write all this. Because I realized when we open up our true self and share our struggles and demons, we realize we are not alone in our struggles, we realize that vulnerability is an act of strength and courage, we realize that speaking on what holds us back allows us to regain our power and take control of our lives. Because it is true WE ARE IN CONTROL OF OUR REALITY. We just need to learn how to work through our blocks first and become clear on our purpose.

Yoga has taught me so much about who I am as a person, how to treat my body, and also how to treat those around me. It has taught me how to surrender and grow into myself as a human being. It is a way to live my life, to feel connected to myself and to nature, to be one with the universe. Yoga is my teacher and my friend, it’s one of the most important and precious experience I´ve done in my life. Yoga shows me the path, when I feel lost, gives me lessons, when there are too many questions to answer, gets me centered when the world outside seems to be wrong and destructing. Yoga is my life’s philosophy. My motive is to share my love for yoga to as many people as possible and make this beautiful practice more accessible to everyone.

If you have come this far, I am sure you want to know more about my yoga experiences. I promise to help you all as much as I can. Thank you for reading. If you want to get notified for my next blog post, please subscribe to my newsletter and I will see you next time.

So much light and love 🙂

Pal