We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Pamela Urcid Martinez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Pamela below.

Pamela, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

After some self-exploration on my practice, my intentions and my actions, I kind of went from there to finally chose to be recognized as The Bhogi Yogi.

The terms ‘Yogi’, ‘Bhogi’ and ‘Rogi’ come from the words Yoga, Bhoga and Roga. According to Patanjali (a well known sage in yoga philosophy), the self is guided towards these paths and the mind, intelligence and self choose which ones to take.

The path of Yoga is not as easy to follow, there are twists and temptations in the world that deviates the mind from the consciousness and we end up falling into Bhoga, that later if not well balanced, can turn into Roga.

If you were to describe a Yogi he/she would have discipline to follow a path of a higher purpose, wisdom and excellence of the self… someone full of genuine compassion, humbleness and in constant realization of the source of things. The Bhogi comes and goes, he/she wants to eat the world they think they have discipline… they are constantly in search of the enjoyment of life, looking for pleasure, like to be challenged and take everything amusing. And finally the Rogi is someone who has fallen into disease, they don’t realize they have fallen into it.

Having this said… I find myself in the middle of Yogi and Bhogi, fighting to find moderation in Bhoga and intense attention in Yoga, that is what will guide me to a path of physical, mental, intellectual and spiritual health. I strive to live fully, a dynamic life and loaded with positivity enjoying what life has in store but always keeping myself grounded trying to be the best human being possible with a natural life with the hopes of experiencing a unique spiritual awakening.

So I chose that path, that meeting place where you balance out the greatness of a yogi and enjoyment of a Bhogi… The Bhogi Yogi.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I was born and raised in Monterrey, NL in Mexico, where I first encountered yoga in 2013 is when my passion for it began. After finishing my Major in International Business I moved to the great city of Houston, Texas with my husband, where I started growing my practice.

Experiencing the potential that yoga has to balance the body, create awareness and accepting the true self has been my inspiration to takeoff as a teacher in 2016 in Bali, Indonesia where I received my Yoga Alliance certification with Mahayogi Gokulacandra Das. In 2018 I embarked on my journey to fulfill my 300hr Yoga Alliance certification under the same Guru in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. As of 2020 I have been also trained in Trauma Informed Yoga Therapy as well through Sundara Yoga Therapy, in order to serve more specialized communities.

In a creative way, I enjoy encouraging my students to build a mindful and sustainable yoga practice using a diverse combination of simple and refined asanas (postures) within a proper alignment to ensure a progressive and strong foundation, while I so humbly introduce heart-felt messaging into my classes.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

I never really thought I would ever do Yoga, let alone become a Yoga Teacher. I was in a point of my life where I felt really lonely and was feeling unhealthy in all of the senses, so I decided to join a Gym and yoga was offered, after going for just two times to the yoga classes they gave… I never looked back. I became enamored with the sensations that Yoga gives from the inside out and felt inspired to learn all about it. I knew since early in my years that I wanted to be of service to the people, and so this practice soon became also a way to build my patrimony.
It wasn’t something that happened from day to night. I spent hours back to back practicing, teaching, building community and getting known –I’m not going to lie– it took too much of my mind and body at some point. But thanks to amazing mentors and family members that supported and trusted my craft, I was able to find ways to keep myself healthy and provide a safe space for people around my community where they can also heal and grow through the practice.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I’m very competitive and was thinking I had to be something, needed to look a certain way or had to do certain things to consider myself a yogi. Now, thanks to many mentors, friends and family I see more of this practice than just the physicality of it, It goes beyond anything the body is and it is much more than what the mind can do. Nothing and no one that I’ve done or met before dictates how I want to live through this practice and it gives me so much joy to know that every previous experience I’ve lived haz places me where I am, no effort goes unnoticed… no breath goes unfelt.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thebhogiyogi.com
• Instagram: @thebhogiyogi
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@thebhogiyogi9492

Image Credits
Carlos Rivera Michelle Mounchan Stephanie McCarrey