The yogi: Ajith Shankara
The location: JBR Beach, Dubai
The pose: Camel (aka ustrasana)
The benefits: Camel pose is great for reducing anxiety and keeping stressful thoughts at bay. Doing backbends not only increase flexibility in your spine and lower back, but they encourage you to breathe deeply and open your chest and lungs, creating a sense of fearlessness. Ustrasana is said to alleviate mild depression, open your heart chakra and boost your confidence.
About the yogi: Ajith, a certified Hatha yoga teacher from India, grew up surrounded by a yogi family – his grandparents were respected yogis – and so from a young age he was chanting mantras, doing daily asanas and living a yogic lifestyle. “Yoga has always been part of my life – there are eight yoga teachers in my family so how could I not get into it?” says Ajith. When he was 12, he attended the summer yoga kids camp at Sivananda ashram in Kerala and that’s when his practice really took off. “Being a true yogi has helped me stay stress-free and deal with my emotions in a more positive way. It has also taught me how to make real human connections and live life with far less worries. Overall, I’ve learned how to be happy with what’s happening right now.” Ajith’s biggest obstacles on his own yogic journey were his impatience and anger, although thanks to all his gurus including his grandparents and his students, who he says are his true teachers, he has learned how to overcome them.
“While yoga is common all over the world now, most people just focus on the postures, which is just a small fraction of the bigger picture,” says Ajith, who eats a vegetarian, Ayurvedic-inspired diet. “Hatha, for instance, is only one dimension of many other practices including Kundalini, Bhakti, Raja and Mantra Yoga. Unfortunately some yoga practitioners are misguided and think that by doing asanas alone, they will find their Shanti (inner peace).”
Off the mat, Ajith is passionate about photography, travelling, cooking and painting. He is also gearing up to be a dad for the first time. “My wife and I are really excited about being parents, we don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl; we want it to be a surprise.” Ajith’s mantra in life is, “Live and act like a real human being and be happy!”
To book a class with Ajith go to www.ajithyoga.com or www.yoga-ananda.org
