Getting Started

Yoga psychology for everyone

- Dr. Atul V. Pednekar

After graduating as a homeopathic doctor, I gravitated towards yoga, so as to incorporate it as a healing modality in my medical practice. My obvious choice to learn yoga led me to the renowned The Yoga Institute. I did my 7-Days Health Camp, and then enrolled for the 7-Months English Teacher Training Course (TTC) eventually completing it in 1997. To make it my lifelong learning mission, I volunteered to teach medical related topics to teacher-trainees at the Institute.

I was fortunate that Dr. Jayadeva encouraged me to take up yoga counselling courses for teacher-trainees. When I expressed my limitations to undertake such a big responsibility, he advised me to learn and teach at the same time, so that I would be on my toes as a lifelong learner as well as a teacher. Dr. Saheb's trust has been greatly responsible to my growth as a master teacher of yoga counselling.

I began earnestly my lifelong learning journey by attending Satsangs at the Institute. Initially, to make my foundation strong, I completed the Basic Counselling Course. Inspired by Shri Yogendraji, I started reading the Vedas corpus. Dr. Saheb led me to diligently study the Mahabharata and Samkhya through the lens of psychology. Hansa Maa's sessions during the TTC were the inspiration behind me learning the psychological teachings of the Bhagavad Gita based on the commentary of Lokmanya Tilak's Gita Rahasya. The Yoga Sutra nonetheless, is the foundational text of yoga psychology that has remained with me from day one.