Who am I
I was born in Rishikesh, India, where I was surrounded by gurus, sadhus, yogis, monks and saints from a young age. I saw many different spiritual ways: the soft and the hard, the different kinds of yoga like karma yoga, bhakti yoga and raj yoga. I was born as a Brahmin, which is not simply a caste but a way of living. From the beginning of my life people around me were talking about the Hindu gods, praying and performing rituals. When I was five years old my father started bringing me with him to his guru and other sadus, the holy men that live outside of society. I saw how they lived close to nature with very limited means. My mother performed ritual twice every day. She lit candles and burned incense, recited mantras and prayed to the gods. When I was twelve I would sit on the floor as my mother performed the rituals. I was not praying but just sitting with my eyes closed, turning my attention inward. I knew it was important to know myself and connect with what’s inside.
Traditionally, male Brahmins perform priestly services and for a time I was a priest in a temple, explaining people about the gods, showing them ways of praying, performing rituals for peace, happiness, money, or the deceased. But slowly I started to realize that we don’t have to pray, not for anyone or anything, because we are part of god, universal energy, soul, spirit, however you want to call it. God does not sit in the temple. He is everywhere and in everything, but to find him you need to turn inward and look inside yourself. I decided it was time to leave to temple and start learning more about myself.
In 2005 I met a doctor and teacher of yoga and naturopathy who was also a tantra practitioner. He told me about yoga, a subject I knew little about at that time. I did not know that what I was doing, the sitting and turning my attention inward, is part of yoga. I became his student and lived with him in the forest for a year. We built a hut and slept on dry grass. It was the first time I really connected with nature. I learned about myself and the philosophy and practice of yoga. My guru explained to me that nowadays people focus too much on the physical, on their bodies and the material world around them, while a true yoga practitioner will use his practice to become aware of the deformities and problems inside him. Your problems are not outside of you, but inside. While we were discussing all the different subjects I could hear birds, leopards, elephants. Among others, I killed my fear of snakes, something that had been bothering me from a young age.
When I came out of the forest in 2006 I found a job in Dheradun with a non-governmental organization that was helping poor children with their education. I worked as a yoga teacher but first and foremost I was learning. I still did not understand myself fully so how could I understand another person’s needs? The principal of the school introduced me to the famous Iyengar teacher Rajiv Chanchania. From him I learned more about the asanas, alignment, adjustments and how to establish which postures are suitable for a particular person. Yoga is not a ‘one fits all’ practice, on the contrary, it is very personal what someone might need and as a teacher you should always pay attention to the individual needs of your students.
In 2009 I returned to Rishikesh to learn from another very good teacher called Rudra Dev Gaura, who was practicing real hatha yoga. Hatha yoga is thousands of years old and its philosophy and practice have been passed on throughout the centuries. It is designed to take you out of your comfort zone and show you what is really going on with your body, your mind and your emotions. Nowadays people often get stuck in their pain, their frustration and their ego. Hatha yoga helps you to bring your problems to the surface so that you can deal with them and get rid of them. That is the purpose of hatha yoga and it takes courage and hard work. It is not an easy process and it isn’t meant to be. Nowadays many people are practicing ‘feel good yoga’, which isn’t yoga at all but just physical exercise.
In 2011 and 2012, I studied naturopathy for a year in Gorakhpur, a small town between the Nepali and Indian border where I studied in the famous Gorakhphur School of natural therapeutics school called Arogyadham. Since then I have been teaching yoga, training yoga teachers and giving treatments in many countries across the world. When I teach I am not your enemy and not your friend. As a teacher I can only show you the path, but I cannot walk with you, and it is my task to challenge you to find out more about yourself, about your body, mind and spirit. Practicing yoga is not always a pleasant experience, but if you stick with it you can reach places you never thought was possible.
Here's my personal training and teaching path:
- Yoga Certificate in 2007 after 1 year learning with my guru in Rishikesh and then a 6 month training in the Vishwa Shanti Mission in Rishikesh
- Master degree in REIKI method of natural healing (in 2010)
- Doctor of Naturopathy (one year diploma from the GORAKHPUR SCHOOL OF NATURAL THERAPEUTICS in 2013)
- Yoga Teacher at the Purkal Youth Development Society school in Dehradun, India from 2007 to beginning of 2009
- Yoga Teacher at the KASIGA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL in Dehradun, India in 2009
- Naturopath and Yog teacher in School of yoga and Naturopathy in Pushker, Rajesthan from 2010 to 2012
- Naturopath and Yog Teacher at “Silent forest yoga research center”, near RishiKesh, from 2013 to 2014
- Currently Yoga teacher and Yoga Alliance schools teachers’ trainer
