Often after I’ve turned up at numerous yoga studios in London, the teams I’ve encountered have been overwhelmingly white, svelte and center class. Perhaps I’ve not discovered the correct class, however as a south Asian girl, it all the time felt like I used to be in any person else’s area.

Yoga originated in historical India, and I needed to attach with my Indian roots, so I began on the lookout for an genuine Indian yoga instructor within the UK. I believed it will be rather a lot simpler than it was. In a 2020 report about UK yoga, 91% of practitioners who responded to the survey had been white, and south Asian instructors recurrently converse out in regards to the lack of variety within the business.

After some web sleuthing, I got here throughout 36-year-old Ravi Dixit, an Indian yogi born within the village of Ramaipur, in Uttar Pradesh, who now lives in London and runs retreats within the UK. Dixit comes from an extended line of non secular lecturers often called Brahmins, and was raised with yoga follow ever since he was a small youngster. “I lived the Vedic life,” he says, referring to the traditional scriptures of Hinduism. “To me, authentic yoga is based on the values and principles of how it is traditionally practised in India. It is a roadmap to a way of life, not just a physical practice.”

And that’s how I discover myself on a retreat in Lincolnshire, alongside 20 different folks, waving our limbs about with wild abandon. Still barely giddy from the ten minutes of fast, deep nasal respiratory that got here earlier than, I open my eyes and see folks in entrance of me laughing, crying or dancing ecstatically. Usually that is the second after I assume: “We must look crazy.” But having spent a while with Dixit, “the smiling yogi”, I’m under no circumstances self-conscious. So I shut my eyes and proceed the unrestrained motion till out of the blue the music stops and Dixit begins throwing his arms down with a loud and highly effective “hoo” sound.

“Whatever you feel, just let it come out,” he says. “In the outside world, we have to be so polite and keep things in. Here you must let out whatever comes to you.”

No footwear are allowed inside The Vedanta, a grand but cosy Grade II-listed Elizabethan manor home close to Branston, so it shortly seems like dwelling as I lie on the couch by the fireplace and run up the large wood staircase in my socks. My room has excessive ceilings and large home windows overlooking the property’s lake and surrounding woodland. Between lessons, many people take the chance to discover the attractive grounds, in addition to the on-site spa withwhirlpool bathtub. Meals are in keeping with Ahimsa, the precept of not inflicting hurt to different dwelling issues, and so we get pleasure from three meals a day of wholesome and scrumptious vegetarian and vegan meals, with a relentless number of recent fruit and natural tea.

However, there are moments throughout the weekend’s eight hours of hatha yoga after I assume my physique has reached its limits. From Friday night to Sunday afternoon, Dixit leads us by 4 yoga classes, each round two hours lengthy. I’m a newbie, and whereas it’s a variety of yoga in a brief period of time, Dixit builds the classes up from small, repetitive actions to stretches, to extra energetic flows and holds, earlier than ending with the phrase that seems like a well-earned reward: “savasana”. This is the corpse posture, the place we lie on our backs and Dixit tells us to “surrender” our our bodies fully for 10 minutes. “The surrender is such an important part of the practice,” he says, explaining how accepting and observing stillness is important mindfulness.

The retreat caters for all capabilities, ages, ethnicities, physique varieties and backgrounds – not my expertise of many mainstream yoga lessons in London. There are a number of different south Asian girls there, in addition to three males. During our remaining class, Dixit explains that in India it’s historically males who practise yoga, slightly than the female-dominated lessons within the west.

Part of what makes the classes really feel so genuine are the Sanskrit mantras Dixit chants. It seems like a ritual that’s been unchanged for 1000’s of years. As incense fills my nostril, and I take heed to his throat vibrating as he thanks totally different deities, I’m transported out of Lincolnshire to India. “Knowing all of the history and why you’re doing different postures makes it so much more fulfilling,” says fellow attendee Narlep Kaur.

Classes within the west typically focus extra on the bodily ‘asana’ facet of yoga slightly than the broader, holistic follow, provides Dixit. “Many western forms of yoga only work on the physical side of the body, to reduce weight, get a fitter body, sweating out while we’re being quite hard on ourselves, and that’s not what yoga is. Yoga teaches us to not be hard on ourself, but to be kind to ourself.”

A key message from Dixit is that yoga ought to be for everybody. “Although the practice has roots in Asia, yoga does not belong to me or you; it’s for everyone. You don’t need fancy clothes, an expensive mat, a long class or to meditate for hours. Yoga is about connecting with yourself in any place at any time.”

I left feeling related with my physique, thoughts, and tradition in a means I haven’t earlier than. I didn’t look in a mirror all weekend however really feel like I noticed myself higher than I ever have.

A 3-day retreat at The Vedanta value £550 for a single-occupancy room, or £450pp in a shared room. Ravi Dixit runs common on-line and in-person yoga lessons in Richmond, London, and is opening a brand new boutique yoga resort in Goa in November 2024