Having come from a background of investment banking I saw my yoga practice as a time to dissolve tension from my body and release stress from my mind. I used to be a derivatives trader and coping with the time pressure of the job left me feeling very stiff and exhausted. It was then when I realized it was because my mind and body were so disconnected, my mind racing all day and my body completely sedentary at my desk. Yoga helped me to realign the connection by bringing mental stillness and physical agility. It made a tremendous impact on my energy levels and made me feel much more alert at work. I realized by address my body through stretching, strengthening and balancing poses I needed to focus on the subtle rhythm of the breath which in turn freed me from the mental inner chatter that kept me feeling so tight. In the ‘work hard, play hard’ environment of Hong Kong I wanted to be able to share this gift of an inner calm and proper alignment with my colleagues who were burnt out and suffering from chronic pain due to poor posture. Looking back, I am so grateful that now we are invited in different corporate settings to inspire healthier lifestyles changes that sustain productivity and positivity.
A strong conviction that yoga can benefit everyone, you just need to be guided based on your individual needs. I saw that many people didn’t have an access point to yoga because they needed more individual attention for a variety of reasons- they had an injury, were pregnant, felt lost as a beginner, experienced acute or chronic pain, had a specific objective or just didn’t have time to commute to a group class, this alienated them from the standard studio setting. That’s when I decided Inspire Yoga would specializing in personalized private yoga classes where the teacher comes to the client and the class is structured around their individual needs. The practice then opens up to men and women, children and the elderly, executives and homemakers as it is functional at its core, taking a problem-solving approach. With this as my vision I started to share it with other yoga teachers to provide a platform for private yoga classes connecting the best talent to match our clients’ requirements. When I go back to India to deepen my practice this is traditionally how the lineage of yoga styles are passed on: one to one, teacher to student and this is what I wanted to bring to my city.
