A New Start - Yoga Teacher


Namaste, My name is Ajay. I was born in a small town cum village called Dumariya Ganj in India. It is located on the border of India and Nepal in the middle of Lumbini (Birth Place of Buddha) and Ayodhya (Kingdom of Rama). I was born in a Hindu family raised by a father who doesn’t practice any rituals. But my father is a very strong believer of Ishvara and Karma. He is a man of principles. He taught us the law of Karma. He always tells us that never hurt anyone and never do anything bad to others, Karma will come back to you. 

During my childhood I heard and read stories about stories about spiritual figures, gurus and deities such as Shiva, Rama, Krishna, Hanuman, Saraswati, Durga, Lakshmi, Kaali, Buddha, Mahaveer, Kabir, Vivekananda and many more. These stories inspired me. Be it Rama’s path of truth, commitment and good governance. Be it Buddha’s path of peace and non-violence and his journey of enlightenment, Be it famous poet Kabir’s poetry on humanity and divine.  Be it Mahaveer’s pursuit of spiritual awakening or Durga’s fight with Mahisasur for justice. Do I follow any religious faith? I don't know but I respect other people's faith and belief system. 

I left home when I was just 16 years old. Since then I have been travelling for academic education and employment. I have lived and travelled to various parts of India in towns and cities. First time out from India I went to Toronto, Canada, I lived and worked there for about a year.  I came to New Zealand in the year 2013 as a new immigrant and I fell in love with this country.  Beautiful nature of Aotearoa also brought me back into yoga and spirituality. 
My association with yoga:  
In school, Yoga was part of our curriculum and in many aspects yoga was part of our life style.  We did yoga asana almost on a daily basis except on extreme hot days in summer and rainy days. Chanting mantra and meditation were part of our daily routine and eating sattvic Ayurvedic diet meals of Daal, Rice and locally produced fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables; cleansing through fasting were part of lifestyle. But I don’t think at that age I understood the meaning and the importance of yogic lifestyle. 

Breakup with yoga:
I finished school and I went to university. Now I am in the real world at least some part of the real world and its problems. And during this very busy time of chasing my dream I don’t have time for my yoga practice. Few years passed I completed university, graduated in Computer Science and Engineering. Later I started working as a Software Engineer. I am still out of touch with my yogic lifestyle.  

and re-association with yoga:
I got back into yoga practice since last three years. In start I noticed that I have lost flexibility of body, focus, concentration and discipline. I was worried what I did I to myself. When I recall last 10 years of chasing my dream. The dream which is sold to all of us. Going to university, Get a job, buy an apartment in a big city and pay mortgage all your life.  All of these materialistic needs. All these years during my disassociation with yoga practices,  I was going through a lot of physical and emotional instability, I used to be unhappy, stressed and unsatisfied with current situation of life. I was disconnected from myself. 

Don't get me wrong I am not implying to be a monk here. I do want to have a house one day with a small farm. I want to have my own family. I still use a smartphone for communication, information and taking pictures. I also like trendy clothes. What I am trying to say is, I am satisfied with whatever I have with me and I am coming to this realisation about the purpose of my life. I wont say that I am fully there but I am getting there and yogic lifestyle is helping me. These 9-10 years had been very difficult. I was continuously running and chasing. After reaching one milestone, I will start running after the second one.. and the third one.. the fourth one.. and so on... It was never ending. I am not saying that I don't have aspirations but my goals for life are different now. I feel the stillness and calmness in my life. 

I remember my school days, there were so many problems at home. Those who know us they know what we have been through. They wonder how we survived. It was tough and painful but I had a sense of fulfilment and satisfaction. I wasn’t bothered about the future. I was living the moment. Nowadays we forget to live in the moment. Now I can say, it was the yoga practices which were helping me to go through that difficult situation, the pain, the hunger.  

Now when I find myself back into my yoga practices, I started to realize that I was lost somewhere in this materialistic world. My worries and my hustle of chasing dream had nothing to do with my body, mind and soul.  

We all go through problems in our life at different levels. I am not saying that yoga would solve all of your problems but it brings stillness and calmness. Calm mind helps you to think. You develop the courage to accept the problem; over a period you witness the change and you have enough strength to handle difficult situations in your life. Yoga practices help to keep our mind and body healthy, which is also backed by so many scientific researches.     

Reasons makes me to love yoga. 

Union of my body, mind and soul - Yoga makes me to relax and observe myself. It connects me with myself. It brings stillness in my mind and flexibility to my body. It also helps me to be grounded and coming out from the  “Mayavi” (delusional)  cloud. It reminds me to “be here and be now”. 

Utsav (Celebration) - One of the most joyous things for me is to chant and sing mantra with fellow yogis. I was never sure about my favourite music but I think chanting and singing mantra is the music I definitely enjoy. 

Seva (Service) - I teach classes as a service to the community. I also lead a small session of yoga practice at my workplace. When I see the expression of my colleagues. They tell it feels great after the session, that expression gives me immense pleasure to serve. I think “Seva Bhav” (Intention of service) is one of the very important factors for me be a Yoga Teacher.

In start I mentioned that I had lost flexibility and concentration when I stopped practicing yoga. But yoga is phenomenal, when you start practicing; over the period you notice the improvement. As the meaning of Yoga contains “join”; I can definitely feel the union of mind, body and soul. 

I would recommend you to bring yoga into your lifestyle.  Take a mat and visit any yoga classes happening nearby. Give it a try. 

Thank you so much for reading. 


नमस्ते
Om shanti shanti shanti 
 शांतिशांतिशांति:  


Ajay Agrahari is a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) with the Yoga Alliance, which acknowledges the completion of a yoga teacher training with a Registered Yoga School (RYS) Kawai Purapura, Albany, Auckland, New Zealand.

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