Paromita Chakraborty
Founder, The HappyYogii
Founder, The House of Zonira
Meet Paromita, a dedicated yoga practitioner and proud alumna of Samyak Yoga. After completing her training at Samyak Yoga, she has been sharing her passion for yoga with thousands of students. Her journey exemplifies the transformative power of yoga.
What was your life like before joining the Yoga Teacher Training at Samyak Yoga?
Life before my TTC at Samyak Yoga was filled with uncertainties & self-doubt. I had recently quit my successful career as a TV Show Creative Producer & Director, and had started a small online business. The business wasn't going anywhere & it made me feel like a failure professionally. I was borderline depressed as I was not okay being financially dependent on my husband. I was missing working on things that made me happy and gave me a sense of purpose.
Through this very tough phase, my husband's unrelenting support & my Yogasana practice kept me sane & gave me hope that things will get better. Yoga became my guiding light. I loved Yogasana practice and was itching to know more about the philosophy of yoga as I could see how positively it was impacting my life. I wanted to know more about this ancient practice and help share the magic with as many people as I could. That's when I decided to go for my TTC at Samyak in November 2019.
What inspired you to pursue Yoga Teacher Training at Samyak Yoga?
Two of my Yogi friends on Instagram recommended Samyak. And once I started researching the place & spoke with Yogacharya Rakesh, my gut told me that this was it. And my instinct was right.
How was your experience during the training? Any particular memories or challenges you overcame?
I only have happy memories of Samyak - the course was very well designed, the Acharyas were excellent, the food was delicious and the river front was such a stress buster. I've spent countless hours by the river, studying, meditating and just being.
Samyak Yoga, with their guidance & encouragement, honed my teaching skills and set me up for success!
In terms of challenges, I was really scared of falling while practising Inversions. Yogacharya Rakesh made it easy by encouraging me and telling me that I could do it. Sometimes, you just need your teacher's trust to do amazing things!
How has your life/career evolved since completing your training at Samyak Yoga?
When I decided to do my TTC, my main goal was to help people rather than have a successful career because honestly, back then I had quite low expectations from Yoga as a career. Based on what the teachers around me were charging and the number of students they had, I thought that being a Yoga teacher wasn't a lucrative profession, but definitely a fulfilling one! And I was okay with that. I just wanted to have a few students and earn 20-30 thousand rupees per month - in the process be happy and be able to support my husband a bit financially.
How wrong I was!!!
Right after my TTC, I started taking a few personal yoga classes by visiting the clients at their home. Within a couple of months, I started working for an online platform and took one-on-one classes. I started with 2 students who trusted a brand-new teacher like me. Within a month’s time, through positive word of mouth, I had more than 20 students. I was taking 6-9 classes every day!
This is when the pandemic was at its peak and everyone was at home. With that many classes a day, life was busy but I was gaining experience and confidence, learning how to be a good, empathetic, effective and efficient teacher. I was setting some business rules, policies & boundaries in place for myself, and I was making more money than I ever had imagined!
Soon, the platform asked me to start taking group classes which I absolutely didn't want to. I was too scared to handle a group... but I went ahead and did it anyway. My first class had 121 students and to my surprise, it was a raging success! After that there was no stopping.
I soon quit the platform completely and started on my own, again. This time, I decided to go online completely & take only group yoga classes. I started The HappyYogii Yogshala - an online studio. I reached out to the entire world through Whatsapp messages, Instagram and Factbook posts. Eventually I figure out how Meta Ads work and started to run ads extensively.
The HappyYogii Yogshala started with 10 students in the first month and had 120 students within 6 months. This was all within the first 2.5 years of me becoming a teacher (Dec 2019 - Jun 2022). After the pandemic, once the world went back to its normal work schedule, my student count did go down a bit but by then I had evolved as a teacher and a business woman.
With 12-15 classes a week, I was personally teaching 4-5 online group batches with a total of 80-120 students per month.
This year, I started Pre-Natal Classes too and hired 2 highly skilled teachers for the same and those classes are also doing very well. So far, I've taught more than 5000 students and 4500 hours of Online Group Yoga Classes.
In short, life after Samyak has been successful and fulfilling beyond my wildest dreams! I've never thought it was possible to change as many lives, earn as much money as a Yoga teacher and be this happy!
How have you evolved as a teacher over time?
From the first class till now, I've changed a lot as a teacher. I've gained confidence, my instructions have become better/clearer, more precise, I understand human bodies better, I have learned when to push someone and when to let them be, when to praise and when to scold (oh yes, I'm a very strict teacher!), my class curriculum has improved drastically, I've become more compassionate but also become better at running my business.
I have some very strict business policies, ethics & boundaries and I stick to them even at the cost of losing clients because I believe that in the long run, it's only going to be beneficial and help me run my Yogshala smoothly. I am still a very old school Yoga teacher - I don't pander to my students' wishes/expectations or follow trends.
I stick to the basics of Yogasana - focus on alignments and mind-body-breath connection, and treat Yoga as a life-changing tool where you show up on the mat to be better, do better!
How has Yoga transformed you personally?
I started practising yoga regularly during a very dark phase in my life. I was borderline depressed and life seemed pretty hopeless. Yoga helped me come out of it and gave me hope, helped me heal my heart, gave me purpose and made me feel confident again.
With a steady practice of Yoga (on and off the mat), I've become a happier person - more optimistic, more confident, less angry. I've stopped being bitter and judgemental. I've become compassionate and more understanding.
Yoga has made me a better human being in every way possible and it has completely changed my life in terms of professional success.
What advice would you give to someone considering a Yoga Teacher Training?
Please do your research before you enroll in any TTC and make sure that the values align! And once you've chosen, go all in with an open mind. Be ready to learn, unlearn and relearn! Be ready to change. Be ready to evolve.
My TTC at Samyak was a beautiful experience as it helped me understand yoga in the purest form and also understand myself. It made me realise who I was and who I wanted to become.
Reach out to me for Yoga Classes here
My Instagram profile is where I share my yoga journey as a student and a teacher
