Yoga practitioner and noted cartoonist Samita Rathor is one among a few who thinks with her head and heart.
Samita Rathor, founder and teacher at Yogarpanam, a centre that provides individualised yoga lessons, reflects: “I can’t really remember when I started teaching yoga. But I do remember my teacher Sri Desikachar (son of Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya) and his daughter Mekhala asking me to share all that I was taught. I never for a long time differentiated between teaching and learning. For me the two have only a very thin line between them.”
She elucidates, “I practice what I have learnt. My yoga practice started in the tradition of Sri Krishnamacharya. He said, ‘Teach not what is inside you, not as it applies to you, but as it applies to the other’. This has had a very strong impact on my own practice. For me it’s a complete and holistic approach towards yoga. Each person is configured differently, so it’s obvious that he or she requires a different yoga practice. How can you have 10 people in the same room and give them the same thing to do? This is the foundation of Krishnamacharya’s teachings. Eventually yoga is a practice to be done with your own self.”
With students from all over the globe, and ranging from the age of eight to 80, Samita fondly recalls the ones who with the help of yoga have overcome their dependence on medications, dealt with conception issues, and been able to manage severe cases of anxiety and panic attacks with utmost ease as compared to before. “However success stories are never to be credited to the teacher. It is always a joint effort between the teacher and student,” Samita says in all humility.
A counselling psychologist and clinical hypnotherapist, and a former student of the Dalai Lama, Samita believes that diet and counselling are a vital part of a yoga practice, sometimes even more that an asana regime: “Yoga is so wonderful that it contains psychology, hypnotherapy and more. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is the grandfather of all Western psychology texts put together. But I don’t believe in forcing my ideas. The student should be comfortable and ready to accept it.”
Samita is also one of a small group of professional female cartoonists whose works have appeared in leading news dailies and other publications. Most recently, a compilation of her cartoons will grace the Civil Society’s calendar for 2013. She says of this medium, “What appeals to me is to be able to translate my thoughts into this art form and send out a thought-provoking message.”
Then there’s her Pablo Dog Adoption Foundation on Facebook where dog adoption cases can be shared and dog lovers worldwide can network to find homes for abandoned dogs. The focus is primarily on getting Indian dogs adopted.
If you’re trying to figure out the commonality between her diverse vocations and interests, Samita reveals it’s “Love, of course. All are fun and totally me. One supports the other. Compassion, love, honesty and humility’s what my yoga practice has taught me. Though it may not be easy all the time and I’m after all human, I try as much as possible to be in the moment deep inside and celebrate life.”
More on Samita at www.yogarpanam.blogspot.in/.
