How did you adopt yoga into your life?
I don’t remember a single day until the age of 35 when I was free of leg pain. Known as restless leg syndrome, it would escalate to the point where I sometimes couldn’t sleep all night. I would have to wake my mom or sister to massage my legs in the middle of the night. I saw many specialists, did many tests, but everything came out as normal.
One day, I went to see a podiatrist who diagnosed the problem as “flat feet” and prescribed special orthotics. For a couple months, it worked miraculously as, for the first time, I was experiencing a painless life. Unfortunately, that happiness was short-lived; it wasn’t even 6 months before the pain returned.
With a friend’s suggestion, I went to see a chiropractor who quickly diagnosed the condition as fibromyalgia. She advised me to take pain killers, which didn’t seem like a solution as much as just temporary relief.
After my first delivery in 2000, I developed severe pain in my back, so debilitating that I couldn’t even sit on a chair. The joy of being a mother, nursing and caring for my baby, became onerous with my condition. One of my doctors suggested that I start with gentle and traditional yoga.
I started attending yoga classes run by Yoga Bharati in Sunnyvale Hindu Temple. Within just a couple of months, I started observing a number of changes. My back pain was alleviated, I lost weight, I felt energized and, best of all, my leg pain was gone. Overall, my entire body thanked me for introducing a new medicine, a natural way of healing.
How did you become an instructor?
I came to know that Yoga Bharati had decided to start an accredited Yoga Instructor Course taught by SVYASA teachers from Banglore. Having transformed my life with yoga, the decision came naturally.
Teaching was initially a requirement for certification, so I started giving free classes to adults at the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple and at my home studio. My daughter was around 2 years old and tagged along most of the time, so I decided to teach kids to specifically target her age group. At that time, yoga was not seen as an activity for little kids, but I wanted to take a shot at it. I started teaching kids at Stratford Elementary School and within a year had expanded to 5 campuses—2 in Stratford and 3 in Challenger. I enjoyed teaching kids and still do.
For Adults, I taught at Curves, Santa Clara Adult Education, and my home studio. With a year of teaching and training, I obtained my certification in 2003.
How did you become a Therapist?
In 2009, my husband started suffering from severe back pain. That was alleviated with physical therapy and some strong narcotic painkillers. However, it spiked again three years later while visiting Europe. He had to travel in a wheelchair and was bedridden for 3 months. It took him 6 months of physical therapy, pain killers, and muscle relaxants to get back to his normal routine. Despite of his skepticism around yoga, my unyielding persuasion encouraged him to attend Yoga Bharati’s therapeutic classes in lieu of the potentially hazardous cortisone injection.
This was a turning point for him. He could perceive the changes almost immediately. Within a year of regular practice, he was completely pain-free.
The effective results were all the motivation I needed to begin my Post Graduation in Yoga Therapy in 2013. Even after obtaining the diploma and reflecting on my accomplishments, I knew my journey in learning the therapeutic aspects of yoga had just begun. Each new client comes to me with their problems, and nothing gives me greater joy than to see them leave with a smile on their face, knowing I have helped someone and made a difference in their lives.
How was yogamaze started and why?
Over the course of my teaching, I came across many people suffering from a variety of illnesses, pain, discomfort, and depression. My students come to me with back pain and I cure not only that but also manage their weight, stress, blood pressure, sugar, and cholesterol levels. Results are most pronounced in students who practice regularly and understand how the mind and body function in harmony.
Yoga is classified as “alternative medicine” in the West, but it should actually be the primary path for healing. yogamaze is just an means to drive this message forward, to encourage more and more people to adopt this into their lifestyles and reap the immense benefits.
My goal is to communicate to people that there is a non-invasive, natural way to cure yourself. With the help of experts in yoga, ayurveda, and naturopathy, you can avoid the side effects of traditional medicine.
Namaste