At BrilliantRead Media, we always strive to bring meaningful and powerful stories from India and around the world to empower and motivate our growing community. As part of this endeavour, we invited Swapna Priya for an exclusive interview with us. She is an Entrepreneur, Leader, Weight Loss Coach, Mentor, Meditation Therapist, Certified International Yoga Trainer, Wellness Consultant and Change Enabler. She is the Founder of Swasam Yoga. Let’s learn more about her incredible journey, her background, and her advice for our growing community!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Swapna:
Could you please take us through your background and your journey?
After my MBA from GITAM University, I joined ITC Limited, one of the largest Indian FMCG Conglomerates at Kolkata in India in 2007as an HR Business Partner and from thereon I worked in different verticals of ITC as HR –Trade Marketing, Manufacturing unit and Research & Development Division in a span of 11 years.
These opportunities helped me span a wide variety of HR domains from strategy to operations and also developed me as a people person and nurture people to deliver their best.”
I always wanted to start something on my own and it was that phase of my life where I was questioning the purpose of my life and in search of that one thing which gives me the utmost satisfaction in my life.
After working for 11 years in Corporate, it was a very difficult decision for me to leave a stable hefty paid job and set up something on my own from scratch. It took a while for me to come to this conclusion and go with my intuitiveness and guts and quit my corporate career.”
I explored my areas of interest in trading (export & import) of agricultural food products and tried my hands at making skin-friendly personal care products and was also one of the co-founders of a sustainable fashion firm.
Those were lucrative options and are of my interests and hence I wanted to pursue them first and still none of them had given me that satisfaction and I always came back to the thought of pursuing Yoga strongly which was on my top list.
I told to myself that I should go for my calling irrespective of its financial benefits. I went about pursuing Yoga professionally and completed my course in 2021 and I was awarded International Certified Yoga Trainer by Yoga Alliance, USA. I am currently an International Certified RYT 500 hours Yoga trainer, a Weight Loss Coach, Prenatal Coach and a Meditation Therapist.
How did you discover your passion?
Spirituality is always ingrained in my roots and nurturing,guiding and helping people has always been in my top list. I used to guide, counsel my roommates, friends in their life skills starting from my school and college days.
I even started a blog called ‘Catalyst’ in my college days to create a platform for those who are looking for life skills coaching and are in need of help.
Yoga was introduced to me in my college days by one of my roommates, Poorna, who was an advocate and also had a diploma in Yoga at that time. All of us used to practice Yoga in the evenings and it was fun for us to explore how flexible our body was.”
After I left that place, I continued to practice Yoga on my own and have never thought that had made a significant impact on me subconsciously until I realized after working for 11 years in a Corporate as a Human Resource Professional, I was in a path to understand the purpose of my life and Yoga was the first thing which came into my mind.
About the same time, my father was diagnosed with Brain Tumour and I stayed with my parents to take care of my father. During this period, I happened to assist my father who was bedridden post surgery and my inclination towards spirituality has significantly increased.
During this period, I developed a habit to wake up early mornings in Brahma muhurtam and practice chantings along with my mother. My mother played a very significant role in my Spiritual connection and also in building values which helped me throughout my corporate career.”
My father always had given me the freedom to explore my possibilities and never held me back from anything that I wanted to do in my life. This is the period I was exploring the path to Yoga and enhancing my spiritual knowledge. I wanted to make Yoga as a purpose of my life and promote the benefits of Yoga to everyone.
I got trained as an International Yoga Trainer from Yoga Alliance, USA and since then I have been enhancing my knowledge in the path of Yoga. I am a certified Weight Loss Coach, Prenatal Yoga Coach and Meditation Therapist.
How do you manage to keep going despite the challenges? What drives you?
When I told my decision about pursuing Yoga after my corporate career, my dad commended my decision about Yoga and he expressed his happiness that I will be able to help people lead a healthy and happy life and will be able to bring in a difference in people’s lives.
The satisfaction that I get is unmatchable when I receive feedback from my students that my yoga practice sessions are helping them cure their ailments and heal themselves to lead a happy and healthy lifestyle. I will never be able to achieve this kind of happiness even in highly paid jobs or any other lucrative business options.”
After every session, not just only my students, even I feel so refreshed and lively and it keeps me so energetic and happy all throughout the day. Yoga has helped me mould into a person with a very positive outlook towards life and I’m able to handle difficult situations gracefully and yoga has been my saviour and lifeline.
I would like each one of my students to experience this through my sessions and I want to make that positive impact in their lives through Yoga. Yoga is the one and only solution for a happy, healthy and peaceful life.
Who do you believe has been the biggest source of motivation in your daily life?
My mother has been playing a pivotal role in motivating me to head on with challenges and be consistent in performing and delivering results. She has been there in this phase as well.
There were days when I was demotivated in the initial phase and it was her motivational words which kept me driving to be persistent in this journey. My father in spite of his being on his deathbed, had always tried to give me ideas to promote my classes to everyone.
Another important person who has been playing a major role in the back end motivating me every day is my husband, Subash, who has always helped me build my dreams into reality. He has been there with me in my tough times and has given a beautiful shape to Swasam Yoga’s social media presence and we have been able to automate the backend operations to a large extent and he played a key role in strategizing this and finally made it happen.
What are some of the strategies that you believe have helped you grow as a person?
There are a few:
> Helping each student experience the benefits of Yoga is the main purpose of my yogic journey
> Even if I have 1 student in a session, I am always available to start a session and bring that difference in one person’s life
> Do not be in a rush to finish the session – let students experience the magic of yoga and take them to that peaceful, calm and refreshing state of mind that they get addicted to that magic.
> Do not run behind money – keep in mind the impact that am able to make
In your opinion what are the keys to success?
I will say it straight that there are many factors but if you really have to have the key elements then to me these are the ones:
– Accepting, Loving & Believing in myself.
– Be ready to fail – But never give up – Open to learn – Review your experience and change your strategy – Start again
– Focus on the action than worrying about the outcome
– Consistency is the key
– Keep upgrading your knowledge
– Positive Outlook
What advice would you give to our readers?
I believe that each individual is capable of limitless possibilities and through the practice of certain Yogic Practices and Kriyas, one can tap that potential within.
Each of you goes through stress in different wavelengths and frequencies and the stress that you absorb largely is related to the busy lifestyle, extended work timings, irregular sleeping patterns, competitive work environment, constant need for the breakthrough of idea, monotony of work, stagnancy in career, need for generation of creative ideas, strained relationships, etc which are showing up as various ailments in our body & mind.
Amidst all this, if you need to have a healthy and happy life, it is required to build/ develop certain healthy lifestyle changes and have a routine for yourself which can cater to de-stress/unwind and keep you healthy and active all the time.
One should develop a routine to start the day which helps them kick start a power-packed and positive day and be ready to face the day with confidence, smile and calmness.
Last but not least, what about your journey makes it satisfying/exciting?
Getting great feedback from my students through my daily practice sessions and workshops boosts my energy levels and motivate me to deliver more value to them.
I guided and trained working professionals, Homepreneurs, students, entrepreneurs to practice Yoga and helped them transform their lives and experience positive lifestyle changes on both the personal and work front. Each of them has benefited from the workshops and daily practice Yoga Sessions conducted by me.
I have dedicated my life to the Yogic path and spirituality and want to deep dive into this yogic journey. I have taken a Sankalpa to promote and spread awareness about Yoga and encourage, motivate and include Yoga as part of every individual’s daily routine to help them experience the numerous mental and physical benefits of Yoga. My objective is to reach and make a positive impact in everyone’s life across the globe through this ancient Yogic path.
I founded Swasam Yoga with the intent to promote physiological, psychological and spiritual well-being through various ancient traditional practices of Yoga. Swasam Yoga aims to create and build healthy habits and positive lifestyle changes as per the ancient scientific knowledge of Yoga.
At Swasam Yoga, I design various workshops and programs to cater to the current needs of everyone keeping in mind the stressful and busy lifestyle people are going through and helping them cure their lifestyle ailments.
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