I am currently working as a Research Analyst in California. I met Shani on Instagram as she maintains a great page which is very informational, and her videos are super helpful for anyone who wants to begin the yoga journey. After following her page for a while, I reached out for trial classes and I have her as my yoga teacher for 5 months now. Before Shani’s yoga classes, I used to go to gym and dance classes regularly. For many years, I did not consider yoga as a routine for myself as I enjoyed gym with my motivational playlist on my headset. However, in the last 2 years, I have become inclined towards understating my inner self: beyond my body and mind. I knew Yoga (which means union) is the answer and the right path for me to take. However, my initial approach was to look at the online yoga videos (like yoga 101, yoga for beginners, etc.) and then try them but it was not great as such videos lacked details about the pose: how to approach it and I needed someone to correct me and my pose.

 

I knew I needed a teacher to lead me and be part of my yoga journey – someone who can share her experience and learnings. After looking at Shani’s Insta page and attending a few initial classes – I knew that she could help me. I think all my beliefs about yoga are changing with each yoga class I have with Shani. She explains about everything – meaning of yoga, how to approach a pose, which part gets affected with each pose, benefits of a pose and much more.

 

Shani and her yoga classes have definitely impacted my life in a big and positive way – after every class I am full of energy yet calm from inside. I have become aware of my body, breathing and my mind – it is now easy to observe my mind as a third person (which Shani taught me). This is something I plan to continue to practice throughout my life as now I am able to get more out of my days. Also, before these yoga classes, I experienced bad stomach aches during my periods and used to be on medicines but now I am pain-free and stopped my medicines (which is a great deal for me).

 

There are a number of reasons why I always recommend Shani’s classes to my friends and family and to everyone in general – she mindfully designs each class – the class starts with a short meditation practice and ends with Gayatri mantra (it can’t get better than this); each class is dedicated to a theme – like hatha yoga, flexibility, upper body focus, etc. and her attentiveness towards each student – she never miss out on correcting me – which is the very important for me as a student! To sum up – I feel super lucky to have her as my yoga teacher!