Looma Kushwaha is a QCI-certified level 2 yoga instructor and head teacher trainer by Patanjali Yogpeeth. She has been practicing yoga for more than seven years. The yoga instructor graduated in chemistry, and after that, she tried civil services; this is where she got connected with yoga. This was when Looma Khushwaha started learning yoga and teaching it.
She also taught as a nursery teacher in a kindergarten school. After the pandemic, Looma got more driven toward yoga and switched her career to a professional yoga instructor. Cut short to now, in 2022, she has got a massive following on her social media and currently has more than 60 clients, and has trained more than 200 people.
ICY TALES is in conversation with a passionate yoga instructor Looma Kushwaha.
Q) How did yoga come into your life, and how long has it been?
Looma Kushwahaย โ Yoga was nowhere in my life earlier. I was all into my studies, and chemistry was my everything. After graduation, I also wanted to become a civil servant, so I was always into that. When I was preparing for my civil exam, I did not care about my health and did not monitor my food intake; I was sitting in one place for 15 hours and studying. As a result, I gained a lot of weight, stress, anxiety, and failures. I fell into depression and was not in a good mental and physical place.
Therefore, I thought of starting some physical activities; I started running marathons and working out and found yoga. From there, my yoga journey commenced; I got trained by local teachers and developed my passion for yoga, side by side managing my exam preparations. Then, unfortunately, my mom got a paralysis attack, so I had to quit my studies and take care of her and the house.
This incident made me realize that whatever you do in your life, you definitely should make your health your priority. This made me drive towards the fitness field and make it a full-time career. With certification and as a full-time yoga instructor, itโs more than three years.
Q) How has social media been helpful in your journey?
Looma Kushwahaย โ Social media has been my guiding source since the beginning. The major part gave me confidence that I could do something in this field. When I switched my career, I had self-doubts, but when corona hit, social media allowed everyone to showcase their talent from home. This proved to be a boon for me too. I started engaging with the audience, making the posts, and guiding people. On the first day of posting itself, I got three clients and started my online classes of yoga. From that day, it was no looking back.
Q) What has been your biggest struggle and a biggest milestone in practice within the yoga community?
Looma Kushwahaย โ Social media has its pros and cons. So, the struggle, I would say competition on social media; there are many talented people out there, and to outshine them, you need to work hard. And many milestones, like confidence and the real push, come from all the feedback I receive. Once I helped a pregnant lady to deliver her baby without operation and free from complications; when you receive all of this happy feedback from your clients, this pushes you to work harder.
Q) What is your favorite part of being a yoga teacher? Any particular asanas that become your favorite? If yes, which ones and why?
Looma Kushwahaย โ Whenever someone joins in, they come with a lot of faith that yoga is the rescue for all their problems, so I donโt restrict myself to only that one hour of class, but I get connected with them not in terms of just practicing but in terms of being there for them. My favorite part of yoga teaching is the connection with my clients. If they want to share any problems, I am ready to listen, counsel them on that, and help them spiritually.
If you ask a yoga teacher, every asana would be their favorite, to name one; my favorite is Chakrasana; the wheel poses give me a lot of strength.
Q) Do you view yoga as more mental or physical?
Looma Kushwahaย โ I also thought yoga was a physical activity. Still, slowly and steadily, with my mentors and teachers, I understood that the first medium when you get into this is physical, but the last phase is spiritual and mental. Yoga teaches you to be calm in your soul.
Q) How do you think yoga is helpful for someone who is dealing with trauma?
Looma Kushwahaย โ From my personal experience, I can say that it will help them a lot. Whenever someone with depression or trauma joins me, I first ask them to come with a positive outlook and faith that they can battle and win over whatever they are dealing with. There are breathing exercises and many asanas; you will be in a better place when you do it dedicatedly and honestly.
Q) What impact does yoga bring in the day to day life? And what impact does it create for you?
Looma Kushwahaโ For me, yoga has done a lot. Earlier, physically and mentally, it has helped me, so yoga has improved my life. And as a general impact, you will see many differences after getting connected to yoga. It will help you become patient, handle your mood swings, have flexibility, and much more. All the impact will not happen immediately but slowly and steadily.
Q) What are your plans to expand your career?
Looma Kushwahaโ I have started going for workshops in shelter homes and orphanages for the kids once a week or a month. I have expanded my domain from physical yoga to counseling sessions in college or school events. My wish is that we can preach and spread the idea of yoga throughout the country and lead a happy and calm lifestyle.
Looma Kushwaha is a certified yoga instructor from the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India. She has more than 18k followers on Instagram, guiding people about fitness and yoga. Looma also takes online yoga classes with the name YogawithLooma, intending to spread this to many people to lead a healthy lifestyle.ย
Last Updated on by Sathi
