Meet the man who is making yoga sexy in New Delhi!

Richa Taneja/iamin

​Ram has become a ‘youth yoga magnet’ and attracts a lot of youngsters to the discipline of yoga. He is not a traditional yoga teacher, his unique lingo, quirky comments and tongue-in-cheek humour keeps the class motivated throughout the session.

Even if you hurry up and show up early for this class, chances are that a packed room will greet you! At Delhi’s prime centre – Hamilton House in Connaught Place, yoga instructor Ram Kumar can be seen totally engrossed in taking the session. He’s not like a traditional yoga teacher, his unique lingo, quirky comments and tongue-in-cheek humour keeps the class motivated throughout the session. A 60-minute intensive yoga session would thus pass like a breeze, leaving one totally revitalised.

Every pose and aasana suggested by this 35-year-old Canada-return Sivananda teacher has an added incentive for the class. Sample this: “Girls, if you want to wear short skirts, this stretch will tone up your thighs.” “Gentlemen, if you’ve pumping a lot of iron, this spinal twist will ease down your back.” “Ladies, the benefit of Sarvaang Aasana is that it massages your thyroid gland and keeps you away from any thyroid problems in your life.” “Listen, friends, this shoulder aasana will relieve you from the 12-hour of ‘Whatsapp stress’ in your neck and shoulder!”

It is for candid instructions like these; Ram has become a ‘youth yoga magnet’ and attracts a lot of youngsters to the discipline of yoga. He is able to connect with the youth because he understands why they will not be attracted to it. He shares, “I grew up as a sportsman, playing soccer, basketball, swimming and skipping is what interested me the most. Before my initiation into yoga, I was someone who used to make fun of yoga. To me, lying down, breathing exercises seemed boring, but today, yoga has become an integral part of my life and on the days I am not teaching, I feel something is missing in my life.”

To Ram, the presentation of the class matters the most and he tries to personalize it by taking names of the members, checking and correcting their postures, asking trick questions in between and keeping the level of interaction high. He subtly instils humour in every session he conducts and that’s what makes him a big draw.

Tryst with Yoga

To call Ram one of the highly educated and qualified yoga trainers would not be an over-statement. Ram was schooled in Mussourie’s Wynberg-Allen School and then came to study Economics Hons. from Sri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC) in Delhi University. He went on to do his M.Sc from UK and then MBA from Canada.

For Ram, who also runs his own business in Delhi, Yoga happened by chance and soon took over as his life’s passion. He quips, “I never thought I would be a yoga instructor. One day, I visited a temple in Montreal, Canada. The temple was Sivananda’s headquarter, one of the biggest brands of yoga. I became curious to know about yoga and bought some books which inspired me to pursue a 35-day teacher’s course. Initially, it was a struggle to lead a proper yogic life without proper beds, hot water, mostly performing aasanas, chanting and meditating, but with passage of time, I started enjoying it more and more and that’s how yoga became an integral part of my life and I became a Sivananda teacher.”

Ram’s quest for yoga didn’t end there as he wanted to feel connected to the authentic Indian yogic experience. This brought him back to India and he visited Sivananda temple in Madurai to do the teacher’s course a second time. Here he got a lot of personal attention and he fine tuned his postures, techniques and learnt the benefits of each aasana. As the word spread about his certification as a yoga teacher, a lot of big corporate bigwigs in Cananda, Toronto, US called him to conduct yoga seminars. After moving to India, he was recommended at Fitness First Club and now he regularly conducts yoga sessions for club members at Connaught Place.

A serious affair with yoga in Delhi

Terming his experience of teaching in Delhi, fascinating and humbling, he confesses, “To be honest, there are days when I don’t feel like taking an early morning class, but once I enter the club, I see the members waiting for me, my exhaustion goes out of the window and I am filled with enthusiasm as I do not want to let them down. I understand that each member has come here with a dream for a better, healthier, fitter body and since they look up to me, the seriousness comes to me automatically.”

In Delhi’s fast-paced life where traffic, weather and short-temperament of people takes a toll on a person’s physical and mental health, he encounters people with two major problems, one is software side of the body that refers to anxiety and blood pressure and the other is hardware side of the body that includes spine and joint-related problem. For this, he advises, “A 50-year-old cannot be doing exercises meant for a 20-year-old. A lot of people come to me after doing some exercises they are not supposed to be doing. It has either hurt their back, neck or knee. I feel individual attention is the key here as each body is different and needs to be addressed differently. Thus, in yoga, the role of teacher is very important and one must seek guidance from an instructor whom he/she fully trusts.”

Magical medical benefits of therapeutic Yoga

There is a pyramid of Yoga which includes right diet, right thought process, right workout, right relaxation and positive thinking. All these elements must be covered for a therapeutic yogic experience. Talking on the importance of breathing in yoga, Ram emphasises, “When you do breathing exercises, there’s a large intake of oxygen. In our day-to-day lives, we breathe through the lungs and we breathe fast. The faster we breathe, the shorter we live. What yoga does is, it helps you breathe slowly and long that helps you increase your life’s expectancy. As more oxygen goes inside the body, the overall immune system improves. The Red Blood Cells, White Blood Cells would increase, Haemoglobin would increase and cholesterol levels – LDL, which is because of stress, will reduce. So, only through various Pranayams (breathing exercises), tremendous health benefits can be achieved.”

Weight loss, de-aging with ‘no-short-cut’ Yoga

Most of the people come to fitness clubs want to reduce weight and the motive of spending money is to get desired results quickly. Going against the pre-conceived notions of some ‘magic wand’ around yoga, Ram questions, “Weight is accumulated over a passage of time, how can there be short-cuts to a long drawn wrong lifestyle lived in the past?” He further adds, “Yoga is a natural body workout which is slow but sure process. For weight reduction, one needs to do more vigorous yoga. Surya Namaskar is an all-body work-out that affects every muscle of the body and if followed religiously, it will tone up one’s body. A toned body is a long-term athletic body and when added with breathing exercises will delay the decay process of cells, making one feel younger, fresher, with a natural glow on the face. When does one become old? It’s because of the decay of human cells. Yoga delays that process.”

Thumbs up to International Yoga Day

International Yoga Day on June 21 is a path-breaking event in the world. Ram gives thumbs up to the event and says, “This is an excellent opportunity for brand marketing of yoga as people need to understand the importance of yoga. I feel that it needs to become popular with the younger crowds and should become part of their school curriculum.”

“The way youngsters are growing has me worrying. Their lives only revolve around smartphones, laptops, tablets and zero physical exercise. This is a serious cause of concern and yoga needs to be instilled in their lives early for their well-being,” he adds.

Mutual benefits of Yoga teacher-student relationship

Yoga is done with awareness and consciousness of the human body. In yoga, one syncs one’s mind, body and soul. While it is believed that a student draws health benefits from a yoga teacher, for Ram, student-teacher relationship is the one with mutual benefits. He gladly accepts, “Teaching yoga is something I love, enjoy and it makes me immensely happy to help others. It gives me discipline and getting up early for the class becomes a joyful experience, something I look forward to.”

“To be frank, yoga makes me feel less lonely, but lastly and most importantly, when I’ve helped people overcome their health fears; they are highly appreciative and express their gratitude, in turn filling me with immediate gratitude for them. Yoga has given me immense benefits and above them all is gratitude for each other,” he concludes.