The sprawling center opened last month in the diplomatic enclave of India’s capital, where students can pick from multiple schools and styles of yoga.
Is the pace of modern life getting you down? Are you experiencing the mundanity of urbanity and struggling every day? Time perhaps, to take a page out of India’s ancient wisdom, and let yoga lead you onto the serene path to peace.
Ensconced in a canopy of peepal and banyan trees, Lifeyoga seamlessly blends into the thicket of Malcha Marg market in the diplomatic district of Chanakyapuri in India’s capital. This immersive yoga center, the first of its kind in India, seeks to enrich urban daily life with a regular yoga practice that’s as much a community activity as it is a deeply personal journey.
At the helm of Lifeyoga are co-founders Dr Varun Veer and Dr Tanu Singh, teachers and lifelong practitioners of yoga with over 60 years of combined experience. Together, this husband- wife duo infuse the brand with their strong, distinct personalities and shared love for the practice.
“All that I have experienced in my journey of yoga has been extremely joyful. These experiences aren’t mine alone, they rightfully belong to every practitioner,” says Dr Veer. Through Lifeyoga, he hopes to share this spiritual peace, supreme health, and way of life with the larger community.
Led by Dr Singh, the programming is as diverse as the community it caters to. “We will do the wonderful work of serving different forms of yoga under one roof, for the very first time in India”, she remarks.
Open seven days a week from the wee hours of the morning until after hours, students can pick from multiple schools of yoga: think Hatha, Hot, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Power, Sculpt, Suksham, their very own Yoga Relay, and so on. There is also Meditation and Pranayama. The programming, inclusive and all-encompassing, caters to multiple intensities — Simple, Moderate, Challenging — and boasts of a benefit-based system that allows students to focus or divide their practice into Grounding, Movement, Release, Balance, or Specialised routines. Whether you’re starting anew, deepening your practice, or exploring a new discipline, Lifeyoga holds space for all.
The sprawling center spans 10,000+ square feet across three levels and is reflective of the nuances of a yoga practice — hidden lighting in coffered ceilings to aid meditation, mirrored studios equipped with Iyengar walls and aerial hooks for a physical practice, and a kriya square on the terrace for deep cleansing from within.
The founders partnered with Studio Lotus, an award-winning design studio, to commit their ethos to permanence. “Our first consideration was always to work with locally produced materials and an Indian aesthetic that weaves into the existing space rather than impose its presence”, says Ambrish Arora, of Studio Lotus.
Nothing short of a sanctuary, the center exudes elegance in simplicity. The five bespoke studios — Ekam, Dwe, Trini, Chattvaari, and Panchah — are named after the Sanskrit numbers, and each studio is kitted out with high-quality equipment and props to enhance your practice. The facilities and services go the extra mile with a Treated Fresh Air (TFA) filter system, shower, changing and steam rooms, lockers with charging points, and a curated lifestyle experience on the ground floor with Eleved, a wellness-led eatery, retail store, and grocery store. While the ground floor is open to walk-ins, the individual studios are exclusively reserved for members and those attending Lifeyoga’s many workshops.
“We believe that yoga is for everyone and every moment,” explains Dr Veer, “and so our goal is to help more people from different lifestyles experience the joy of yoga — physical, meditative, and lifestyle-led.” With the unrelenting pace of modern life and rising stress, practicing yoga is something of a rite of passage in today’s world. It’s time to, perhaps, take a page out of India’s ancient wisdom, and make yoga a part of your every day with Lifeyoga.
For more info: www.life-yoga.com, and Lifeyoga Centres app on Android and IOS.
Photos: Courtesy Lifeyoga Center, India
