Ranju

Although I grew up in England, I was born in Udaipur, Rajasthan; my father is Bengali and my mother is English. The interweaving of 2 cultures has been a constant theme in my life, not just intellectually but personally. We kept in close touch with the Indian side of the family and it was my Indian grandfather who gave me my first book on yoga when I was 15. He was a very keen practitioner of yoga and encouraged me to take it up.

After graduating (in English Literature and Fine Art) from Exeter University in 1984, I moved to Bristol and began to attend yoga classes - something my mother suggested (she also teaches yoga). These early classes were Iyengar based and introduced me to a wide range of postures. The classes ignited my passion for yoga - they taught me a lot about precision and rigour in asana. However, I also felt that something profound was missing - there was minimal teaching on the philosophy of yoga, the purpose of yoga or the role of the breath in yoga.

I met Paul Harvey (www.yogastudies.org) in 1987 and a new world opened as he introduced me to the teachings of TK Krishnamacharya and his son TKV Desikachar. I had heard of Krishnamacharya because he was BKS Iyengar's teacher; I had heard of Desikachar because he had taught yoga to J Krishnamurti. Paul deepened my understanding; yoga was put into a context. I studied chanting, the Yoga Sutras, the role of the breath, concepts of modification in asana and much more.

In 1990, Lindy and I first visited Chennai and studied at the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM) (www.kym.org) Again, our understandings and practice were deepened as we studied with a number of senior teachers at the KYM. When we returned to the UK, I started Paul's four-year teacher training programme in 1991.

We also both started work as art therapists in the psychiatric services in 1991. Juggling work, family and yoga training had its own challenges, but gave us a good understanding of how to integrate yoga into modern daily life, with all its pressures and constraints. Used skillfully, yoga is a support - not a retreat from life but a way of embracing it.

Since that time, I went on to do Paul's post-graduate yoga training and have returned twice to Chennai for further courses. I have also attended many workshops in the UK. In 2004 I met and began to work with Peter Hersnack, another inspirational teacher and student of Desikachar's. My teaching career has slowly developed too and over the last fifteen years and I have taught many workshops, retreats and courses as well individuals and group classes. I love teaching - not only is it a way to help others, it also helps me to clarify my own understanding.

From 2002-2006 I was the Executive Director of the Association for Yoga Studies (aYs) and worked closely with Paul Harvey and others to develop the organization and the courses that aYs offered.

In 2004 I began to work with my close friend Dave Charlton (www.livingyoga.org.uk). We ran a series of very successful retreats together and in 2005 started our first 3 year Sadhana Mala yoga training course in London (www.sadhanamala.com). We start a new course in Dublin in 2007. It is our vision to create rigorous and thorough trainings which are both rooted in traditional ideas and wisdom, and are also contemporary, user friendly and fun.

Yoga has been a background pulse through my life. At times I have felt joy, clarity, peace, faith, confidence, frustration, desire, confusion, anger - but yoga has always pointed to something beyond all the dramas: the stillness and space between the thoughts.