We recently connected with Yogi Mandhi🌺 and have shared our conversation below.
Yogi, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. What sort of legacy are you hoping to build. What do you think people will say about you after you are gone, what do you hope to be remembered for?
I always knew I was here to teach but wasn’t always sure what. Currently, I’ve been teaching yoga privately full time to individuals, groups, and businesses for the past five years. In total, I’ve practiced and taught yoga for 20 years after finding it at the age of 18. During my early adulthood, I never thought I could be a full-time yoga teacher until unforeseen life circumstances later showed me the way. While continuing on my yogic journey and deciding to leave my elementary teacher job of 6 years as my life completely shifted, I started my private yoga business thanks to the suggestion of a high school friend. As my life shifted, I felt the call to expand bringing yoga to people in their homes, with their families, and wherever else it is needed. I knew deep down that I really wanted to teach people how to slow down and receive the benefits of meditation. I knew yoga was a way to get there and that’s when I made the connection. After reflecting and journaling down my Ikigai (reason for being); I knew yoga was definitely in the picture. Now, as I look back on my journey and where it has brought me, I see how it was all aligned. There were no mistakes. I didn’t take too long or bloomed too late. I was right on time. Divine time, and I am now preparing to continue being a badass as a private yoga instructor teaching in the Tampa Bay area and beyond! I plan to continue working privately with some powerful, strong, creative individuals, professional athletes, and expanding in the corporate sector. I am really focusing on becoming an expert in my field. I love bringing yoga to the places where it’s needed most all while having fun! If you are not having fun, then what’s the point, right? I plan to hire and train a few other awesome yogis to do what I do and then share it with the world! Private yoga is definitely becoming more popular and accepted in society. It has changed my life completely and am so grateful I get to live the simple yogi lifestyle. I have the time to heal, center, and share this gift with my students. Creating a business doing what I love has giving me the time and money freedom to choose how I want live. It has also given me time to focus on my passions such as singing, dancing, and making music. My legacy will be simply being a light in someone’s path brightening their way. I’d like to leave this world a little brighter and sparklier than I found it if I may! I’d like to be remembered by how kind and accepting I was yet also how ambitious and dedicated am to my practice and my students. I’ll catch you on stage as the Rockstar Yogi Mandhi! For now, I’d like to say thank you and namaste!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
I officially found yoga at the age of 18 when I started attending Shapes Family Fitness for Women in Brandon, FL. I immediately fell in love with the stretching component and how my body felt after each class. I knew there was something special to this yoga and decided to keep it going. I found an amazing teacher named Theresa Clearo that became my “church” every Sunday at 10am. After a year and a half of practice with her, I landed a substitute yoga instructor job at Shapes. I taught a few classes a month but never thought I could make a living teaching yoga full time. I was wrong! I later down the road had a child, obtained my bachelor’s degree, and became an elementary school teacher. All the while, practicing yoga here and there, sharing free yoga for teachers and children, and deepening my practice. Then, one day, my life completely changed including going through a traumatic divorce. I equate it to an accumulation of awareness that was gifted to me while doing mindfulness practices such as yoga and meditation. A high school friend asked me to teach private yoga lessons and a lightbulb went off. I realized I could make a business helping people one-on-one with their yoga practice. I immediately dived into a beautiful distraction from my life circumstances and began creating my private yoga booking service. I started to gain students quickly and by a year was fully booked, ready to move out of my parent’s house and start my life over. I am SO grateful I took that leap. I’ve been teaching private yoga to individuals, small groups, businesses, and special events full time for the past five years. Throughout my journey I have met and worked with hundreds of people including people you would least expect! My most favorite and popular students are everyday average people that want to be healthier but have some health conditions or maybe don’t feel confident enough or capable to go to the gym. This is where I come in and create personalized yoga therapy style sessions to help people begin their yogic journey. Sometimes we start in a chair, sometimes we do more restorative sessions until my students are ready for more. It’s all about doing what you can. Many people give up on yoga because they were doing the wrong style or maybe it’s too intense for their current abilities. My sessions are catered and grow with my student’s goals and needs.
Throughout my five years of private yoga coaching, I have helped students learn how to practice yoga with various health conditions including heart transplants and other heart related issues, metal rod surgeries, previous injuries, Parkinson’s disease, Arthritis, Diabetes, high/low blood pressure, thyroid issues, you name it! Yoga therapy helps balance all dis-ease in the body bringing one back to homeostasis, our natural healed healthy state. I just love family sessions and the time I got to bring yoga to a cat sanctuary!! Currently I am working with professional athletes including players from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, lawyers, and business owners. I want to be creative with my work and have fun. I love change and new terrain and I can’t wait to see where my yogic journey brings me next! I help people start their yoga practice, extend, and deepen their confidence and abilities within their minds and bodies. Sometimes we just need a personal cheerleading from a trained professional! What sets my business apart from others is how flexible it is, how creative, and how fun our sessions are. I want to be known as Yogi Mandhi the Rockstar Yogi! I have a heart of gold, I am here to serve, and I am so grateful to share it with the world through yoga, deep breaths, meditation, and singing and dancing! Let’s go baby, baby!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
When one enters a yogic practice, they begin to create resilience from day one. Yoga is a practice that teaches you to go inward and work out your deepest core wounds so that you can balance them and come back to your natural healed state or homeostasis. Sometimes unwanted things come up, but that is exactly what we are meant to go through in the present moment. However, it depends if we take the time to slow down and listen to the messages, signs, and learn from the lessons. This is what yoga teaches you; awareness. And with this awareness you know you can always choose your path. Yoga is a continuous practice and philosophy and provides infinite amounts of inner awareness, not just physical prowess. This is not something that can be achieved with simply working out. Yoga is a practice that slows you down and challenges you on all levels. What you learn on the mat you use out in the real world. For example, when things get a little uncomfortable, you know you can always take a deep breath, relax, and ease into the pose at the best of your ability. If I had to pick a time that illustrated my resilience, I would say it would be the time my car was hit at a red light a year and a half ago. Six of my vertebras were bulging due to the accident. I am so grateful I practiced yoga for 20 years because my spine was strong prior to the impact. As soon as it happened, I intuitively knew to straighten my spine, take a deep breath, and relax as I saw my car float across the intersection. Yoga is number one for spine health in my opinion and backed by many medical studies. I used my own yoga therapy to heal super-fast. I used a brace for a short while, found gentle belly dancing to help, went to the chiropractor weekly, did yoga therapy every day, and used all the tools I knew to heal quickly. Being a private yoga instructor means you need to be on almost at all times serving others. It was a real test, but I healed in just a few months and I am only stronger than ever! Yoga gave me the physical posture and strength to withstand this occurrence with resilience and also have the mindset to keep going. I also learned the lessons about protecting your energy and slowing down. Yoga’s main goal is to help one remove pain and suffering from their body and mind so they can unite their mind, body, and soul as one: connected and whole. I am so grateful I get to share this gift with the world! Yoga does the mind, body, and soul SO good!
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson I had to unlearn would have to be being too trusting and open with others. After re-entering the world post-divorce and changing careers from school teacher to full-time yogi, I had another chance to experience life. I thought if I shared my light, others would do the same. This wasn’t always the case. Unfortunately, I had to learn there was a dangerous side to being a private yoga instructor. There is a lot of weird things going on out in the world and it is especially important to be protective of yourself and your energy in this field. I used to be naïve and blindly gave my love and assistance to anyone who asked or needed it. I found myself overworking and not taking care of myself as I should have. I even got temporarily entangled in some violent situations; I am glad to be relieved of now. Never again! These lessons have forever changed me and have built even more strength and character within myself. I learned that it is okay to be picky with who I help, that I can’t save everyone, and we can always raise our standards and turn people down. As I have deepened my practice and skills, I have found my worth and have created a beautiful business around my specialized niche. I am learning the more intentional, focused, and precise I am, that is what I become and bring into my life; just like everything else. I believe in the saying “energy flows, where attention goes.” I know I am not desperate, I am loved and taken care of, and I get to help others on my terms. I take care of myself filling my bucket up first. Then, I pour out my love unconditionally into to the world, but with strict standards! I love the new sassy version of me and always welcome unlearning something that isn’t going well in my life. Awareness and perspective can set you free from any misery; this is what yoga teaches us.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.yogimandhi.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/yogimandhi
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/yogimandhi
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/yogimandhi
- Youtube: Yogi Mandhi
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/user/1228712529?si=wN1wvHcOTY2CCu0JUEtoIQ
Image Credits
@nacovizionimagery on Instagram