We were lucky to catch up with Priyanka Gupta recently and have shared our conversation below.
Priyanka, appreciate you joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
My mother sent me to learn yoga in 1994 from the Sivananda Lineage as a way to handle the stresses of being a teenager. The epiphanic moment didn’t come until I did a 10 day vipassana meditation. This allowed me to take both my personal yoga practice and teaching to a deeper level.
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 back background and context?
I incorporate mindfulness into my yoga classes and meditation sessions; whether its chair yoga or prenatal/post natal sessions.
I want to facilitate everyone’s yoga journey on the mat in a way that they are able to bring yoga into thier life.
for example, when you hold a yoga pose for 30 seconds to a minute – what are the thoughts that pass through your mind?
are you waiting for the next pose or can you just enjoy the moment there by being in the present, cultivating patience and learning to appreciate the moment as it is.
This is what sets my classes apart for a practitioner who want to inculcate a deeper, more wholesome aspect to the physical part of thier practice.
And I realize that some people may not want these ques, as it can be intense to face ones thoughts, feelings, emotions and sensations that arise during a practice – and i do appreciate that mindfulness may not for everyone – but i like to offer it to everyone – in the hopes that when the time is right, they might find it will resonate at some point in the future.
Being mindful can lead to a great acceptance of the self and a happier, more content future – since this is what i have helpful when I have gone through difficult times.
How’d you meet your business partner?
Tracy and I are embarking on offering Yoga Teacher Certifications for people online starting this fall.
We met on an online portal where we were hired to teach yoga and meditation, and instantly clicked.
We signed up for each others yoga and meditation classes and enjoyed the style and this cemented our mutual respect and friendship for each other.
When we came across the lead trainer opportunity, we decided to join forces and offer YTTC’s together (yoga teacher training certifications) of which we have 2 participants signed up to start this fall. so very exciting and also hope to offer retreats in costa rica.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I was really able to build my brand and reputation from word of mouth referrals in India.
When I moved to Canada in 2019, I was already teaching a handful of clients in Europe via skype, and so once the lockdowns occurred, I moved fully online and offered my services for free by recording and uploading yoga and meditation videos to my youtube account so that everyone could handle the stresses.
I hope that with the help of these interviews, I can build my brand on this continent and also garner some form of steady income.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.yogawithpriyanka.ca/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yogawithpriyanka/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yogawithpriyanka/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yogawithpriyanka/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/yogawithpriyanka
Image Credits
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