It’s one thing being a certified yoga instructor; quite another being one from the world-renowned BKS Iyengar School of Yoga in Pune. Chennai-based Gayathri Ramesh knows and values that. Counted among the most sound and effective schools of yoga, and recognised among the most effective methods in alternate medicine, sustained practice of Iyengar Yoga not only ensures health and well-being, but also has the scope and potential to address and treat a slew of ailments that range from angina and asthma to sciatica and slip disc. Which is exactly why Gayathri is not your run-of-the-mill yoga instructor who doles out a few instructions and guides you into a few asanas and meditation techniques that let you glide through your day and its challenges.
“It’s a lot of work, no doubt,” Gayathri says, referring specifically to the small-group medical classes she handles at her five-month-old centre, Yoga Dipam Iyengar Yoga Centre of Chennai (www.yogadipa.com), housed on the third floor of an apartment block at Chennai’s Eldams Road in Alwarpet. Gayathri lives on the second floor. “While dealing with patients—and there are all kinds; those with heart-related disorders to people with a frozen shoulder, Parkinson’s, knee problems, swelling and injuries—my first step is to curtail the pain and then make a cure happen. This involves a great deal of study, research and of course understanding how generic principles can be applied to treat specific issues. The other thing is, no two bodies are the same. Plus, people come to you because they are looking for relief, so the effort needs to be substantial; you need to be able to release them of their pain and instill a sense of confidence and belief in the fact that they are on the right track to a cure.”
From a student’s perspective, it probably helps to know that Gayathri understands pain and its many manifestations. “I had acute sciatica for a long time,” she recalls, “And this despite the fact that I was extremely physical and flexible.” Gayathri is, by the way, trained in Kalaripayittu. “So I often wondered why the pain wouldn’t go away even after I did the right things in the right way.” Her moment of epiphany occurred at the Iyengar Institute in Pune in 2002, on her first, two-month-long visit. Having the good fortune of being initiated into yoga by Guruji (BKS Iyengar) himself, Gayathri also learnt what was to become one of her own guiding principles—“flexibility and resistance should go hand-in-hand”.
When Gayathri got home (to Chennai), she felt the pain fading away. “I think the turning point was the fact that I was not only seeing an array of people feel relief but also the fact that I felt relief myself,” she says, “The more I practiced, the more I wanted to learn.” She did. And continues to. Every year, since then, Gayathri spends two months or more soaking in the science and art of Iyengar Yoga, encountering phenomenal learnings that she brings to the table while tackling patients at her centre. In addition to patients, general classes appeal to people keen to “keep well”, but also interested in studying the form seriously. In addition, Gayathri spends time with a group of dancers in Kilpauk, letting them understand and appreciate the practice of yoga in the context of dance. Perhaps, like the Iyengars—Guruji and Geetaji (BKS Iyengar’s daughter), themselves: “They taught me the difference between practicing and practicing intelligently according to one’s condition. That makes a world of difference.” On the mat and off it too.
