Sholinganallur, Chennai 
Identity
"I've done yoga before. At least thought I did. Shady studios with saffron clad men in the Baba Ramdevmould muttering Oms and putting me to sleep. So I wasn't particularly convinced that this would do anything for me. But I was desperate by then and I needed to do something. A broken engagement earlier last year had left me stressed out and extremely depressed. And it showed--acne, insomnia and weight gain (I am an emotional eater and turn to dessert when I am down). I knew I needed to get back to exercising in the morning but I somehow couldn't stick to a gym. I came back from each workout session crankier, frazzled and more annoyed than ever. I know gyms work for most people, in fact I was a bit of a gym rat myself earlier but somehow it didn't work for me this time round. It was almost on a whim that I stepped into the studio. I passed by it one day while walking and decided to simply take a trial session. An Ashtanga class is a bit of a novelty for the uninitiated. What hits you first is the silence punctuated by nothing louder than the sound of breathing. The Ujjayi breath that I later discovered is said to keep the vital life force or prana circulating within the body.I sat down and waited for the class to start. It never did. Instead the people around me got up and began their Surya namaskars. I was a trifle flummoxed and wondered what I needed to do, until Prasad came, sat beside me and told me, "Sit, Breathe."He then led me through the Surya namaskars and a few asanas. I couldn't do too much, I remember but that day I slept like a baby after nearly six months of tossing and turning.And so I came back. Over and over again. Prasad didn't push me-in fact he was almost impossibly slow in teaching me new asanas. It annoyed me at first-- patience isn't a virtue that is has been doled out very generously to me. I want to see immediate results-I want to see the numbers drop quickly on the scale, I wanted to master the entire primary series, I wanted size zero, a six-pack and razor sharp collar bones to happen in a month. That didn't happen-the transformation was an evolutionary, not a sudden one. I dropped a few kilos, my skin cleared up and looked better, I began sleeping better. And because it was a gradual initiation, my body didn't get injured in the process.The real change was the slow, almost insidious awareness that crept in over the last few months. The simple pleasure of feeling the way your body responds just a little better every time you get on the mat. The way you make better food choices-simply because you begin to like your body better and therefore want to nurture and nourish it right. And weight becomes simply a number, not something that your sense of self-acceptance and worth, is hinged on. All forms of yoga is ultimately a journey into the self but for me, Ashtanga was the road that took me there. It manages to combine extreme physicality with a deep ingrained spirituality-it truly is the marriage of the body and the mind. And honestly, I think the reason I love it so much is that both the space and the teacher, Prasad (though he scolds me for talking in class) is brilliant.I must admit, I'm addicted. I still hope for the taut body and all that ( vanity, thy name is woman after all) but I'm also enjoying the process. Which is why, I continue to wake up at five in the morning and get onto my hot pink mat. I've begun to believe that as Sri K. PattabhiJois says, 'Do your practice and all is coming'."
Certified
