After years of treadmills and exercising bikes, Indians are now going back to age-old practices of yoga. Especially as gyms shut down amid the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, many turned to yoga to not just keep themselves fit but also to deal with the uncertainty of life and anxiousness.

Allied Market Research states that the yoga industry generated $37.46 billion in 2019, and is expected to generate $66.22 billion by 2027, growing at a CAGR of 9.6 percent between 2021 and 2027.

With players like Cult.fit and SARVA taking the digital route, yoga practitioners and yoga teachers have also taken to social media to conduct live classes.

One of these is Mumbai-based yoga practitioner Namita Piparaiya, who is tapping these online yoga enthusiasts to rekindle the adaptation of yoga in its land of origin.

When Namita was offered a promotion at the MNC he was working at, which would eventually escalate her career exponentially, she refused it. “It was a great opportunity, and probably the best thing that could have happened to me professionally. But instead of feeling excited, I felt weighed down,” she says during a conversation with YS Weekender.

Accepting the offer would mean committing to growing a business that Namita had no particular passion for. “I decided to let go of the security of a monthly paycheck and decided to invest my energy and resources in what I believe the world needs today more than anything else — peace of mind,” she says.

After serving as a senior corporate executive at MNCs like Citibank, Aviva, and Generalli, Namita founded her true calling — yoga. She completed over 700 hours of Yoga Alliance certified training in Hatha Yoga, also studying pranayama, Ayurveda, and yoga philosophy.

In 2018, she took the entrepreneurial route and founded Mumbai-based Yoganama Wellness LLP, which brings yoga and Ayurveda under one roof with the objective of making ancient practices accessible and relevant to all.