A severe case of slip disc left her bedridden for nearly a decade till she sought help at the Iyengar Yoga ashram in Pune. She recovered and now Nivedita Joshi, 37, is paying back her debt by helping others get fit through yoga. Joshi has opened a branch of Iyengar Yoga in Delhi—the first in the country outside Pune.

Joshi was in class IX when after a Janmashtami puja at home, she couldn’t get up. “I was 15 when I began suffering from slip disc. But the problem was never diagnosed until a few years after,” says Joshi.

“In 1996, I was appearing for my Masters exams in microbiology. By this time I was totally immobile and was under intense physiotherapy. Doctors advised me to go for a hip operation. I had consulted a famous orthopedic surgeon doctor in Mumbai who suggested I get my disc removed. But he couldn’t tell me what would happen after that. I was not convinced and I refused to get an operation done.”

It was then that a friend suggested she meet B.K.S. Iyengar, the founder of the Iyengar School of yoga.

“I met Shri Iyengarji on August 15, 1996. One look at me in my lumber belt and neck band and he knew what was wrong. He made me realise that I needed to help myself. His words gave me courage to do something. That was my independence day.”

Joshi gradually learnt to be more confident. She could not move still, but did gain hope. “Then on my twelfth day there, he asked me to stand on my hands (vrikshasan or full arm balance). I just couldn’t believe what he was saying. I mean I could barely move my limbs. But with a little help from other students I was able to balance on my hands. It was amazing. Weighing 70 kg, I was able to maintain my balance for 30 seconds—unaided. And my spinal pain went away. I was touching my life again for those 30 seconds.” Then on she was on the road to recovery. Finally in 1999, she was walking fit. But what made this form of yoga work for her? “This yoga is same as the roots of other forms of yoga. But it is the sequencing of the asanas that makes the difference. Shri Iyengar has developed a user friendly style.” Since 2000, Joshi has been teaching yoga to people suffering from various diseases.

After years of teaching this yoga at various centres across the city, Joshi finally opened the second centre of Iyengar yoga in India. “It is very satisfying to be able to repay the debts to my guruji. I would watch him wipe off beads of sweat from his forehead and vow to repay every drop one day. Now, I can safely say I have achieved that.”