My Story

by Keshav Rupakheti

When I was 17, a poster for Yoga caught my eye.

It was advertising a talk by a great Swami who owned a Yoga Ashram in Kathmandu.

I felt a strong urge in my heart to go along and I just knew that I had to meet him.

I can’t remember what Swami said, and it did not matter.

I had found what I was looking for.

I joined the Ashram and lived there for 2 years living the Yogic life.

Practicing our daily Asanas (yoga Posutres), Pranayama, Yoga Therapy, chanting, meditating, singing, and really enjoying our special time together.

We were self sufficient and grew all our own vegetables and grains.

We used Yoga cleansing to purify our bodies when needed and used Ayurveda herbs and preparations if we were sick.

I look back on those 2 years with such joy and utter amazement.

How different my life is now, living in Belfast.

And yet, in many ways, my life is not so different.

I am honoured to be able to teach yoga to many hundreds of beautiful students each and every week and I am so lucky to have a job that I love so much.

I have been teaching regular Yoga classes ever since I left the Ashram, over 20 years ago now.

We don’t get to do much singing in our regular classes at the Yoga centre, I just leave that for my home life with my dear wife Jennifer and our young son and daughter.

When I was living the Yoga life at our Ashram in the Himalayan countryside, Yoga was just Yoga, A way of life.

We loved our Swami as a brother and we were honoured to share our time together.

When people ask me what style of yoga I teach.

I say that I just teach Yoga.

Namaste,

Keshav Rupakheti