Hi Sunitha! Share with us how you got into yoga!
Initially I was dragged into a class because my mom wanted to try it out and didn’t want to go alone. But that was years ago! I stopped for about 10 years, and started again when I moved to Singapore because I felt like I needed some physical activity in my (boring) corporate life. I joined a gym but I hated going to gym classes (they’re always so loud!). So I went to the yoga classes in the gym, and I got hooked.
Do you feel like yoga has transformed you in some way?
Yes! In so many ways! I can’t imagine what type of person I would be now if not for everything I’ve discovered through my practice.
I used to have lots of control issues. I have always felt the need to be in control of every situation, and that need for control affected various aspects of my life very negatively throughout my teens and my early/mid 20s. Through yoga, I found a safe space to explore the ability to let go - to find that balance between ease and effort. Over the years, it has allowed me to develop a healthy relationship with myself which reflects out through my relationships with others.
What have you learned about yourself through teaching?
I have learnt to share the essence of yoga, as oppose to just the practice of poses. I used to think, as a teacher, we would need to fit ourselves into a style. But that thought process went out the window when I started teaching regularly. I learnt to not only teach what I know, but to also teach what I personally feel is the essence of yoga - awareness. Instead of trying to fit a style of yoga (like hatha, vinyasa, yin, etc.), I find myself going back to what I felt was the reason I personally kept coming back to the mat all these years - awareness of the body, the breath and the mind. Whatever the style or the pose or the movement, without awareness, it’s not really yoga, is it?
Do you have a favourite pose to get into?
I love downward dog and child’s pose. They’re both such common poses, but can be used in so many different ways. It never gets old!
Lastly, what do you usually do to unwind?
Probably like most people - spending it on the couch in front of the TV with my husband :P
