Yogi Prashant, one of our experienced yoga teachers at Himalayan Yoga Association, shares his personal journey of yoga and what makes a person a professional, great yoga teacher.
Namaste everyone, I am Yogi Prasant. I was born and brought up in Rishikesh, yoga capital of the world. From my birth, I was around yoga practitioner. I was very lucky that I am born and brought up here in Rishikesh, so I get the opportunity to get the knowledge of the yoga from the beginning of my birth. But what I remember the very first time that I get that strike in myself to practice yoga is because of my elder brother. He was a yoga teacher at that time and I used to see him doing various postures like handstand, headstand, Hanumanasana and there are various different postures. And those postures, by seeing them, I was very fantasizing. I also want to do those postures.
I also want to be able to stand on my hands, able to do all the hip splits or all the standing balancing postures. That was the first time, I think if I remember back in 2014, that was the first time I get that strike in myself that I want to do also yoga, starting my yoga journey at that time. From that day. After one or two years, I started practicing yoga because of the only asanas. But after one or two years, I feel certain changes inside me because as an adult, as a teenage person, I was very short- tempered, overthinker, very aggressive. But after practicing yoga for one or two years, certain things change in my personality, certain things change inside me. I get control over my temper.
I get control over my overthinking. I get control over my anxiety levels. I find very much peace within myself and it helps me to get along with all my relations. It helps me to get that thinking capability to handle all the situations that help me in my daily normal life. And it’ s not like yoga, I find that in the starting, when I’ m practicing, when I used to start, it was not like I thought of changing myself. It just happens along my way of yogic journey. And at that time, in 2017, I think, I thought if these incredible changes I can find on myself, I can change that way. So why not? I should be sharing this knowledge across my life.
I should be sharing this knowledge across the world to all the pupils who are dealing with same situations, who are dealing with certain issues in their life. Because for me, yoga changes my way of living. For me, yoga was a way of living. And I at that time, I thought, why should I should be sharing this knowledge, sharing my wisdom, sharing my experience to all across the world? That time is back in 2017. I started teaching yoga. I started teaching my first yoga class. And from that day, I am teaching. I’ m teaching last from six years. And I’ m practicing yoga from last nine years. If you ask me what I love about Ashtanga Yoga is that the repetitive sequence of standing postures, forward folds, twisting, inversions, backbends, hip openers – every part; I feel there’ s no part left in my body that doesn’ t work into that practice, and to focus, to be mentally aware, because in our practice, we have to be not only physically aware during our practice but mentally aware as well. So in Ashtanga Yoga, we have drishtis, the gazing point for every single posture that we have to look at during our postures. And it helps me to not only physically aware during my practice, but mentally aware also during my practice. So it helps me. It helps me to focus more to be aware on my practice. Third point is that the breathe, the Ujjayi breathing that we take throughout our Ashtanga practice. It helps us to rela
x and to soothe my practice and to get more deeper into my process.
And last but not the least, the Bandhas. The energy locks that normally we don’ That’ s how much focus on, but in Ashtanga Yoga, the Bandhas, the energy lock, the Jalandhar lock that is our throat lock, the Uddiyana lock that is our lifting of the diaphragm lock, the Mool lock that is our root lock and combination of all three that is called Mahabandha. So we’ re focusing on the energy locks also, so because why? Because during our Ashtanga series it provides emptiness to your spine also and it opens energy channels throughout our body, so our Prana can move freely inside our body and it helps us a lot during your practice; all the combinations in which I am doing breathing work also, in which I am mentally focused also by providing the Drishti and I am doing postures also.
And there’ s not a single part of my body that left during Ashtanga practice. That is the thing I love a lot about Prana. As I am teaching from last six years there are some qualities that I found that it should be in a yoga teacher that a yoga teacher should come prepared yet flexible in the class. It should be designing their classes according to the level of the students. He should be a humble, very polite; but very important aspect he should be a very good communicator. So okay you should be very good communication skills so you can engage various group classes in which you will be seeing various different different persons so you
need to be have a good communication skills to get along with them you need to be very humble and very friendly at the same time you need to be very much balanced in yourself first of all if because if you are not balanced you can’ t find that balance in others also you can’ t provide them the balance so as a yoga teacher you will be encountering various different different type of persons they will be getting different different emotions different different experiences so as a yoga teacher it’ s your responsibilities to comfort them to be with them so you need to be very good in your communication get along with them and to provide them peace to provide that comfortableness that they can be daily coming to your practice and daily practice yoga in a very peaceful manner
and for the teacher for the students who wants to be a yoga teacher in future please try to apply all the yogic learning all the yogic way in yourself first if you if you are feeling all the yogic path all the yogic rules and disciplines in yourself it will be very easy for you to pass that knowledge to the other persons also to outside the world also so first practice all the yogic way inside you come well prepared to the asanas all the practices try to apply on yourself first try to set an example for them by practicing you in a genuine way in
Currently, Yogi Prashant is teaching Ashtanga vinyasa yoga and alignments / adjustments in our 100 hour yoga teacher training course and 200 hour yoga teacher training course with us. join Himalayan Yoga Association in Rishikesh to get his passionate and professional teachings.
