Connecting with my south-Asian roots on a traditional Indian yoga retreat in the UK

26.03.2024 - 14:47 / theguardian.com

Often when I’ve turned up at various yoga studios in London, the groups I’ve encountered have been overwhelmingly white, svelte and middle class. Perhaps I’ve not found the right class, but as a south Asian woman, it always felt like I was in somebody else’s space.

Yoga originated in ancient India, and I wanted to connect with my Indian roots, so I started looking for an authentic Indian yoga teacher in the UK. I thought it would be a lot easier than it was. In a 2020 report about UK yoga, 91% of practitioners who responded to the survey were white, and south Asian instructors regularly speak out about the lack of diversity in the industry.

After some internet sleuthing, I came across 36-year-old Ravi Dixit, an Indian yogi born in the village of Ramaipur, in Uttar Pradesh, who now lives in London and runs retreats in the UK. Dixit comes from a long line of spiritual teachers known as Brahmins, and was raised with yoga practice ever since he was a small child. “I lived the Vedic life,” he says, referring to the ancient scriptures of Hinduism. “To me, authentic yoga is based on the values and principles of how it is traditionally practised in India. It is a roadmap to a way of life, not just a physical practice.”

And that’s how I find myself on a retreat in Lincolnshire, alongside 20 other people, waving our limbs about with wild abandon. Still slightly giddy from the 10 minutes of quick, deep nasal breathing that came before, I open my eyes and see people in front of me laughing, crying or dancing ecstatically. Usually this is the moment when I think: “We must look crazy.” But having spent some time with Dixit, “the smiling yogi”, I’m not at all self-conscious. So I close my eyes and continue the unrestrained movement until suddenly the music stops and Dixit begins throwing his arms down with a loud and powerful “hoo” sound.

“Whatever you feel, just let it come out,” he says. “In the outside world, we have to be so polite and keep things in. Here you must let out whatever comes to you.”

No shoes are allowed inside The Vedanta, a grand yet cosy Grade II-listed Elizabethan manor house near Branston, so it quickly feels like home as I lie on the sofa by the fire and run up the wide wooden staircase in my socks. My room has high ceilings and huge windows overlooking the estate’s lake and surrounding woodland. Between classes, many of us take the opportunity to explore the beautiful grounds, as well as the on-site spa withwhirlpool bath. Meals are in line with Ahimsa, the principle of not causing harm to other living things, and so we enjoy three meals a day of healthy and delicious vegetarian and vegan food, with a constant selection of fresh fruit and herbal tea.

However, there are moments during the