YogaLife's Sanjeev Bhanot teaches his own brand of yoga to a dedicated band of followers.
Talking to Sanjeev Bhanot about yoga isn’t a passive activity. Midway through our conversation, Bhanot says to me, “Can you sit down and touch your toes?” The question is Bhanot’s way of illustrating an important point, one which is the fulcrum on which his style of yoga rests. Continues Bhanot, “I look at what stops a person from doing an asana or what is the trigger that will make a person do an asana. If your mind doesn’t support what you do, that will decide whether you will succeed or fail.”
In my case, the touching of the toes is hanging between success and failure. I just about get to them, but I point out my cervical spondolysis problem due to which bending forward is fraught with danger. Says Bhanot, “The human neck is meant to move forward and backward. There are ways in which I work with the body so that these limitations are removed. I work locally with the body as well as with the person’s mind.”
Bhanot was born in Dungargarh in Rajasthan and started learning yoga at the age of six. Says Bhanot of those early years, “I started doing asanas to make fun of my teacher, a kind of what-you-can-do-I-can-do better.” The other early influence on Bhanot were gurus who would pass through Dungargarh. He says, “I would be the kid running around doing errands for these gurus. In the process I learnt a lot of things without my realising it.” Even then, Bhanot did not see himself as teaching yoga for a living.
After finishing his education in Rajasthan and doing several different jobs in Delhi, 18 years ago Bhanot realised that he could be a yoga teacher. His marriage to a German lady, who is a management trainer, opened new vistas for him. Finally, says Bhanot, he realised that there was a synergy between yoga and management training. He then started corporate yoga. In this, there is special emphasis on stress management or, as Bhanot would like to put it, energy management. Recalls Bhanot, “The kind of atrocities that professionals working in the UN and Red Cross see are unimaginable. Initially, I did not understand that fully but now I have designed programmes that address this kind of high level of stress.” Bhanot has conducted workshops at the UN headquarters, UNHCR, UNICEF, World Meterological Organisation, the P&G offices in Geneva as well as at the WHO headquarters in Geneva and regional headquarters in India.
His organisation is called YogaLife and has 200 teachers around the world and is part of YogaAlliance, the certification that gives official recognition to yoga schools around the world. Bhanot is also getting ready to start a school in China.
Another turning point in Bhanot’s life came when, after reading Deepak Chopra’s book, he got in touch with Chopra. He says, keeping his yogi-like composure intact, “When I read Deepak Chopra, I said this is what I am teaching as well. I immediately got in touch with him.” Chopra reciprocated Bhanot’s gesture and today they work together, pooling in their expertise.
Bhanot says that his years working at Moolchand Hospital in Delhi, hanging out with friends who were studying medicine, as well as the early interaction with gurus along with his learning of yoga has helped him develop a unique way to understand each person who comes to him. Says Bhanot, “You have to understand a person holistically.” He elaborates further on how he arrives at the right yoga programme for each person, “I look at a person’s medical history, then I watch his physiology. I consult a doctor if the person has medical problems or is on medication. Then I customise yoga for him accordingly.” Bhanot then adds, “The body reflects what is going on in your mind. Yoga is about becoming aware.” A lack of self-awareness, according to Bhanot, is doing a great deal of damage to humans in urban areas. He says, “We are not teaching internal communication. We need to learn to be non-violent with ourselves.”
Bhanot, who works with doctors like Dr Alok Chopra, of Ashlok Hospital in Delhi, says that asking everyone to do cookie-cutter asanas is counter-productive. Therefore, even when Bhanot’s class can include as many as 25 people, he makes sure that he simultaneously works with them on an individual level as well. Having learnt accupressure as well as naturopathy, he also works with his hands on each individual.
Bhanot has devised, apart from corporate yoga, innovations like couples yoga and sports yoga. While yoga purists may frown on such categories, Bhanot is clear that this is helping people enjoy and derive maximum benefit from this ancient practice. And legions of his followers, the rich and the famous as well as ordinary everyday people who keep coming back for more, are testimony of his faith in his brand of yoga. In the meantime, my hamstrings are more flexible, my body, after some manipulation by Bhanot lighter. Bhanot responds to my question about the most difficult asana, “Meditation and shav asana are really tough.” Mastering one’s own mind and body is after all the goal of yoga.