Getting Back to Basics: How Yoga Changed My Perspective
- Vinay Siddaiah
- Jun 20
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Panel Discussion: Role of Yoga in Community Wellness
During the International Webinar "Salutogenic Approach of Yoga Therapy Across the Life Span" organized by the Institute of Salutogenesis & Complementary Medicine (ISCM), Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, I was asked “After spending more than a decade in the IT industry sir and then moving fully into yoga, what actually convinced you that yoga could make a difference not just for individuals but also for communities?”
When I was asked this during the panel discussion I realized that the answer was actually very simple.
Before I answer that, I would like to thank the organizers, Prof. Dr. Meena Ramanathan, Prof. Dr. Ananda Bhavanani and the entire team for creating such a meaningful platform for this discussion.
Coming to the question...
I spent close to 13 years in the corporate world. One thing I kept noticing was the contradiction between what we were taught while growing up and what we actually practiced as adults.
As children, we were taught:
Early to bed, early to rise.
Eat the right food.
Be active and keep moving.
But once we entered corporate life, almost everything became the opposite.
Late nights became normal.
Lunch meetings happened over pizza.
Hours of sitting in one place became a sign of productivity.
Everywhere I looked, I saw these contradictions.
Unfortunately, I became a victim of the same lifestyle.
Within a few months of joining corporate life, I started developing back pain. As a solution, someone suggested that I start practicing yoga.
To be honest, I didn't get into yoga because I understood its philosophy. I simply trusted my teacher and started practicing. I wasn't even thinking that one day I would become a yoga teacher.
Initially, I practiced only because I was afraid that if I stopped, my back pain would return.
That fear kept me consistent.
Over time, something interesting happened. Yoga didn't just improve my back pain. It slowly started transforming me as a person. That was when I began understanding that yoga is much more than physical activity. Yoga is a complete philosophy of living.
It influences how we think.
It teaches us about food.
It teaches us about sleep.
It teaches us how to live.
Slowly I realized that many of the mistakes I was making weren't because I didn't know better.
I had learned these lessons as a child—from my parents, my teachers and my upbringing.
Somewhere along the way, I had simply forgotten them. Yoga reminded me of those basics.
Instead of trying to do something extraordinary, I started correcting myself. I started getting back to the basics.
The more I experienced the change in myself, the more convinced I became that this message needed to reach others, especially people in the corporate world.
Most corporate professionals don't need completely new knowledge. They need reminders. They need to reconnect with the simple principles they already know.
This is exactly what yoga offers.
Whether we call it Ahara, Vihara, Achara or Vichara, Yoga keeps bringing us back to the fundamentals of living well. Nothing complicated. Just getting back to basics.
At some point, I asked myself a simple question:
"If I want to live a meaningful life, what would I choose?"
That question eventually led me to move away from my corporate career and dedicate myself to sharing yoga with others. Today, that's exactly what I try to do.
I don't believe I'm teaching people something entirely new.
"Yoga doesn't always teach us something new. Often, it simply reminds us of what we already knew."
More often, I feel I'm simply helping them remember what they once knew but forgot in the busyness of life.
Sometimes, transformation doesn't begin with learning something new.
It begins by getting back to the basics.
Watch the video on Youtube uploaded in ISCM of Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth Youtube channel
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