As I try to pen down a few thoughts in this memoir, I am certainly not at ease, unlike my usual self where writing comes naturally to me and the flair for penning down words into thoughts is never dimmed like a flare.

Yet there are reasons for this and one of the most important one is that I am not writing this about any historic figure or someone whom I never meet but only see in channels or television, but it is about someone who has made a profound influence on my life, yet seems to be very simple and next door individual whom I meet literally everyday.

I am talking of Mr Sunil Trikha, whom I address as Sunil Bhaiya, a Senior Yoga Teacher and in charge of Ludhiana Center of Himalayan Yoga Institute.

Sunil Trikha

A pleasing personality, giving almost a saintly appearance though he is fully taking care of his family and worldly responsibilities as well.

First of all I must say that Sunil bhaiya will be least pleased on seeing this memoir as he always discourages to write anything related to him in any manner and passes on all credit of whatever he knows and teaches to the Great Teachers of the Himalayan Tradition, which is true, but at a personal level, I get to learn a lot from him everyday so am still writing down my thoughts.

I get to meet him every day at 6am when me and my husband go for daily Yoga training to his center. We dont expect any mercy or lineancy irrespective of the weather, or anything and just like a military commander he is ready to train his soliders for the battle of life, which is for their own good. This strict practise forms the very basis of the discipline which is very necessary to instill in oneself if success in Yoga has to be achieved.

Starting out with light yogic exercises we proceed to the more difficult asanas slowly and steadily. I will write about the detailed routine in a separate article as that would be too much of material to be covered in one shot. Later on, as time progresses, the intensity of the asanas and the enthusiam certainly increases and gets into a different rhythm altogether with the entire class working out in sync and trying to achieve their best.

This is followed by a light sequence of breathing exercises and pranayams and finally the asana which I await the most, the savanasa or the pose of the dead. This is a very relaxing asana and takes away all the stress and strain of the body and making it relaxed and filled with energy and vigor which is actually activated as a result of the exercises performed earlier.

On Saturdays and Sundays we have a ligher schedule with meditation of some form or the other, and even though I use the term “lighter” in a lighter sense literally speaking, it is actually more strenous and sometimes difficult to sit still, and even more difficult to calm the mind, than doing physical Yogic postures. But after all meditation is the end goal of most of these exercises and the ultimate purpose of that is to bring the mind under control and make it totally calm and quiet.

I sincerely hope to progress on the long and arduous journey constantly and reach the higher planes of existance in the physical and non-physical realms.