We had the pleasure and honor to have Dr Hansa-ji as a guest in our Awakin Talk on Sunday 13th of June, the talk was moderated by Rachel Hammerlein, who has been volunteering at the Yoga Institute for around ten years, and Rahul Mehta.

The conversation with Dr Hansaji, was like a relaxed and inspiring trip through her life and the experiences that brought her to the present day as the Director of The Yoga Institute in Mumbai.

Early Life- As a young girl she attended a Catholic school, and it was her decision to change schools when she witnessed a punishment at the school, she told her father that violence was wrong and she wouldn’t take that. After researching her father sign her up for a school with Gandhian principles.

In this school the students would do cleaning and daily chores that she was not used to, but she said that “As a child, when all others are doing something, you flow with it. Though I had never cleaned a spoon before, I began to do it with ease.”

In those days she started spinning cotton and singing the Gita and enjoyed it a lot, this and other chants related to self development had a very big impact on her mind.

The Yoga Institute journey- She started attending the yoga Institute due to asthma and so she met her future husband, Dr Jayadeva Yogendra, who was a bit older than her, but as she puts it “Age does not matter. What matters is what the sub-conscious is full of. We were both focussed on helping humanity overcome ignorance through Yoga and there was oneness there.” They got married when she was 25 years old. “We read several textbooks together. He would talk the language of the sutras and I had to give the commentary, so I would talk for much longer. He would quietly give me a pill then, so my throat could be soothed. He is not here physically now but he is there. The essence is there.”

Yoga was not foreign for Dr Hansaji, as she has been practicing, encouraged by her father, since childhood.

For the founder of The Yoga Institute and the family she married into, the goals of the institution and the base of it it was clear: It should focus on householders, as they are the main pillars of society, it should be a non-profit organisation, it should be non-religious, it should be a place for development, and guru should be helping and being with people.


Mind & Body - Dr Hansaji explained that the steps to take to bring wellness to the mind and the body are: “the sickness has to be thrown out first. Asthma, migraine, heart disease — Yoga can help you deal with it.

Then training the mind - without doing that, you cannot throw out disease. We have to train the mind.How to maintain balance throughout life — that is crucial.”


During the talk she made a great emphasis about the importance of refining the mind and using it to uplift our lives, “Whatever we are doing at the intellectual level, it doesn’t matter much. How are you uplifting your life using that knowledge — that matters.”


Essence of Yoga - She was also very clear about what yoga is and what is not. Yoga is a science that can help us lead more generous and committed lives and encourages to create a better society.“When someone lives with others, you start becoming selfless. Love and charity is inborn in all human beings. This is very natural in us. As we grow, the natural-ness goes away, and the ‘I’ starts. When you live with others, you have to focus on ‘We’.”


There are things that are very clear for her: “If I was called to judge yoga competition, I refused. I still do. That is not Yoga to me. They might think that I am being proud. But we make it very clear, right from the beginning, that every human is potentially divine, there is no comparison. There is no point to competition. Those who know nothing about yoga, today also, they are minting money and offering courses etc. We let them be and we live on.”



On family life- She discussed at length the mind training required to live more fulfilled life and be able to accept others and situations that come our way, this is an ongoing process that lasts our whole life: “When you live with someone, you have to accept them."


A child for example is not going to sit straight. They have too much energy. Expecting them to sit quiet like an adult makes no sense. One has to accept others, love them and care for them, as they are. You will reach salvation in the midst of all people around, not by being a recluse, but as a householder.


There has to be clarity: where to accept and where not. And it comes down to values. The dilemma of how much to adjust and when to stop! As far as material perfection is concerned, it cannot be perfect. So you have to accept people as they are, even if they are of the opposite view. You have to be patient and not impose your view. You become a model and live by your view. Become detached and appreciate others as they are.

On death - When a younger person dies, to accept that becomes difficult. Understand the philosophy though. When it comes to death, you have to accept it within half a minute. Birth and death are not in our hands. Birth, at least, you know — you expect a child. When my son Patanjali passed at 37, his time had come. When the message came to me that he was gone, I asked the doctors at the hospital to harvest all organs - eyes, kidneys etc. Even my husband said — when I told him our son is gone, he said — “Fine, whatever organs can be donated, let that happen.” I had seen so many deaths. I had gone to the cremation ground so many times. ‘Shamshaan vairagya’ comes when you see death that intimately.”

And our life started again. If I can do it, anyone can. There is so much pain in the world. Why add more pain? Add more joy. Let it be death or birth in your life — you carry on.


It was an hour filled with great reflections, stories and impulses and we cannot thank Dr Hansaji enough for her generous, candid and deep sharing about so many aspects of her life!