I remember clearly that it was a cold and foggy December 2016 morning when I first met my yoga guru -Shri Vedanta Mukherjee in horticultural gardens in Alipore , Kolkata.
He had just started yoga classes in that venue. I was fortunate enough to be one of his first students there.
Though I used to do some physical exercise before but I had never done any yoga and I told him so.He said one does not ‘DO ‘yoga but practises it as yoga is not just physical but also a mental discipline.
Today, after one and a half years of learning this art and science under his guidance,I realise the truth in the statement.
Eighteen months is very short time to even know the basics of yoga,yet I have felt the changes- physical mental and emotional that have come in my life because of my association with this discipline.
I want to share these changes and my experiences in this blog . I hope to encourage you to try it yourself.It is something that has as to be experienced to be believed.
Yoga is indeed a workout- but in the process of working out the body,I have worked out my attitude, outlook and philosophy of life.
Yoga is a work in just as it is a work out.
I will continue telling about my experience in my next post.

It is said that people, situations, opportunities, are sent to us when we need them most or are ready for them.
When I reminisce, I see how true the statement is, especially where my yoga training is concerned.
In December 2016, when I first joined Yoga class, I was going through a difficult time. Both my children had left home -either for a job or for higher studies. I was looking after my Alzheimer’s struck mother. My husband was busy with his business. I had always loved painting, and did it on order basis, but I was not getting enough orders to keep me busy. I was lonely, sad and full of self-pity.
In such a mental state I joined
yoga class .Trying to hold
various asanas, was painful .My physically unfit body was protesting. My muscles were tight and tensed. I was experiencing constant pain and on the verge of giving up.
This was the time I learnt to focus on my breath rather than my painful muscles. This was miraculous. Suddenly, the change in focus ,seemed to make the poses less painful.
That was the time, I learnt through yoga, that everything in life is a matter of focus and priority. I learnt to focus on my various activities rather than my loneliness. I learnt to focus on the fact that I was lucky enough to serve my mother, an opportunity which only a few get and suddenly my sense of self pity vanished. I started painting again and out of the blue, orders started pouring in. I started reading again, a hobby of my youth, which had dwindled to zero with my numerous house hold duties. Suddenly, my days were chock a block with things to do.The feeling of emptiness was gone.
Yoga taught me the importance of focusing at the correct point. Yoga to me is a work out of not only the body but also of the soul. Yoga gave me a new perspective of life for which I will always be grateful.

Wishing you a life full of love , peace and yoga.
Veera Jain,
19.08.2018.