Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Episode #8 – Yoga in Russia with Ksenia Rasapriya Bodhi

Welcome to Episode #8 of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast! This week, I welcome Ksenia Rasapriya Bodhi onto the show. She is a yoga teacher from Russia, who leads international yoga teacher trainings and yoga retreats in India. 

She studied at Moscow University of Yoga and completed her 200hr YTTC there. At the same time, she was studying osteopathy. Over the last 6 years, Ksenia has continued her education in yoga with her teachers and her guru-ji. In India, in 2015, her project Yogatoursindia was born with the mission to provide authentic yoga knowledge to every Russian speaking practitioner. In 2016, she opened a yoga school and studio in Rishikesh, Yoga Vidya, with her husband Prashant Jakhmola.

I met Ksenia for the first time in Rishikesh in 2018, and we reunited again in Rishikesh in 2019. We’re in the same yoga circles, as I take daily classes at Yoga Vidya, which is the studio she owns with Prashant-ji. 

In our conversation, we dive into the depths of what has called us both to India, the energy of Bhakti and jnana yoga pulsing through India, and how yoga has shaped Ksenia’s life. Get ready for an inspiring episode, dear listeners!

Tell me more about Ksenia… 

Ksenia Rasapriya Bodhi is a yoga teacher from Russia. She first began her yoga journey in 2009, and has been a yoga teacher since 2014. She is the founder of Yogatoursindia, a company whose  mission is to provide authentic yoga knowledge to every Russian speaking practitioner. Each year, she hosts multiple yoga retreats and yoga teacher training courses in India. In 2016, she opened a school of traditional yoga and Vedanta called Yoga Vidya School in Rishikesh with her husband Prashant Jakhmola. She now spends the majority of each year in Rishikesh, India at her yoga studio. She has taught yoga in the Maldives, China, India, Nepal, Russia, and parts of Europe as well. 

What to expect in Episode #8 of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast

Ksenia and I begin the podcast by talking about Russia’s old religious views being similar to Hinudism, the predominant religion in India. We talk about the river gods, the sun gods, and the Ayurvedic similarities of preferring oils and herbs over pills. We then, naturally, plunge into the Ksenia’s story of how yoga came into her life. We talk about listening to the voice of knowing, and trusting that “life itself will show you what to do.” You have to tune into the energy around you, and to listen to the voices that seek to guide you. 

Long ago, when living and working in Russia a voice inside of her said— “Go to where the Ganges begins.” She had no idea where that was. She pulled out a map, and traced the Ganges from the southern tip of India up to the source of Ganges, where it all begins— Rishikesh.

As Ksenia now lives in India, and we both have strong ties to India, we talk about India and the energy of Bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion, is vibrating through the very air in India.  Moreover, the people of India embody Bhakti. They have pure trust and don’t fight with the universe.

Why did Ksenia become a yoga teacher? She feels that if you have something to share, it will come automatically out of you. If you have knowledge or skills, you have to share it as a meditator of the knowledge— not because you own it! She, herself, is a tool, a mediator, for the knowledge itself.

There is so much more in this Wild Yoga Tribe podcast episode! Tune in to listen to the magic that unfolds!

For the skimmers – What’s in the Yoga in Russia episode?

• The spiritual connection between Russia and India
• Samskaras – the imprints from our past lives
• How a person is tuned inside is what he or she will find in the outside
• Bhakti yoga – the energy of pure love and devotion
• Yoga is a spiritual path
• Trust that life itself will show you what to do
• You are a tool, a mediator, for knowledge to be shared
• Who am I to judge? Each soul already has had such a long journey before showing up on the yoga mat

Favorite Quote from Ksenia Rasapriya Bodhi

“This is an absolutely normal situation all over the world, nowadays. People think that yoga is to put your leg behind your ears and that’s it. This is okay, and there’s nothing wrong about that. Because yoga, the real spiritual path of yoga, is very sacred. And it’s not for everyone— and it should be like that. Only the true seeker, she will go through all the deep forests of asanas and breathing techniques, and maybe will find the jewel of true, authentic, traditional yoga.”

Connect with Ksenia

https://yogatoursindia.org/

https://www.yogavidyaschool.com/

https://www.instagram.com/ksenia_rasapriya/

https://www.instagram.com/yogatoursindia/

https://www.instagram.com/prashantjyoga/

https://taplink.cc/prashantjyoga

https://taplink.cc/ksenia_rasapriya

https://www.facebook.com/yogavidyarishikesh

Want more?

https://wildyogatribe.com/thepodcast/

Everything you need is just one click away! Check out all the resources here: https://linktr.ee/wildyogatribe

Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Episode #8 – Yoga in Russia with Ksenia Rasapriya Bodhi

 

Lily: 00:00:06

Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast. I’m your host, Lily Allen Duenas. Together we’ll talk about the world of yoga and we’ll talk to people from around the world. Join us for authentic conversations about the global yoga ecosystem, and we’ll cover yoga philosophies and methodologies, along the way. Inhale, exhale, we’re about to dive in.

Lily: 00:00:40

Welcome, welcome, welcome to episode eight of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast. Today I welcome Ksenia Rasapriya Bodhi, she is from Russia, and she actually lives the majority of her years now in Rishikesh. I met her in Rishikesh so it’s always wonderful to get to welcome a personal friend here onto the show. So I’ll tell you a little bit about Ksenia. She began her yoga journey in 2009, and then she became a yoga teacher in 2014. She’s the founder of Yoga Tours India, a small company whose mission is to provide authentic yoga knowledge to every Russian speaking practitioner. So each year she hosts yoga retreats and yoga teacher training courses in India, and she actually opened a yoga school of traditional yoga and Vedanta called Yoga Vidya school in Rishikesh with her husband, Prashant Jakhmola. So, she spends the majority of each year in Rishikesh, as I mentioned, but she has taught internationally in the Maldives, China, India, Nepal, Russia and in parts of Europe as well. So as you can see she is, wow… just such a special teacher to have on the show today so thank you so much, Ksenia for being here with me today.

 

Ksenia: 00:02:02

Namaste, Lily. I’m very honored to be here and thank you so much for inviting such an interesting and useful podcast.

 

Tell me a little bit more about where you are from?

 

Lily: 00:02:12

Thank you. So would you mind starting and just telling our listeners a little bit about where you’re from?

 

 

Lily: 00:02:20

Yeah. Originally I’m from Russia, and I was born and raised in Moscow. It’s Eastern part, sorry Western part of Russia, so it’s close to Europe. So we have access to European countries and our culture is more westernized. Still, we have lots of culture, and lots of connection with India. Actually, from a very early age I noticed that even our ancient religion, before Christianity is so much closer to Indian religion, as we’ve had many Gods, and we believe in spirits of nature such as spirit of the forest or spirit of Lake Mendelssohn. And we believe in Gods of sun and Gods of the moon. So, from childhood I was inclined to Indian culture and say so. That was a connection I think was the first link between Russia and India.

 

Lily: 00:03:28

Oh, that’s fascinating. I hadn’t realized that the deep deep roots of the ancient kind of old religion and Russia, pre-Christianity, you recognize elements of Hinduism in there. That’s amazing.

 

Ksenia: 00:03:42

Yeah, it’s very interesting and fascinating to find this connection, even if you know something about our weather. So our weather, it’s an ancient science of life. And in our weather we will know about Dashas, and we usually heal people. By using oils and herbs. So in ancient Russia, and even nowadays, we use lots of herbs and oils instead of modern medicine, and common people prefer to buy herbs, rather than by pill, and use them.

 

How did yoga first come into your life?

 

Lily: 00:04:25

I’m glad that in Russia still today people are interested in those homeopathic remedies, because when we can steer clear of the chemicals and put a little bit more of what nature naturally can give us to heal, it just warms my heart knowing that. So I would like to dive in a little bit. Now, if you’re ready to talk about yoga. I would love to know Ksenia how yoga first came into your life,

 

Ksenia: 00:04:52

Oh, thank you for this question. That was a very beautiful experience. I was just, I could say, a common person. I was working in the media; I was trying to build my career in Moscow. I have a degree in marketing, so I was kind of, you can say that I was very office oriented girl, but at the same time, I had the spirit of traveling, and trying to go for something broader…bigger, to find out who we are, what is the reason behind all these, you know. And one day it was just a present, I think, gift for me. I used to go to one fitness center, and one day our coach was sick, and there was no option but to go for yoga, and I didn’t know what yoga was. I didn’t even hear the word yoga before that day. I had no idea what yoga was. So I came to the class and it was full, and we were doing different, different postures. And I noticed that within five minutes, I mean it’s I was the only one in this among all these people who were smiling like crazy and so happy because I was thinking well what is this, this is what I was… I couldn’t even imagine, you know, that it was a very beautiful moment. I felt it was like, “Finally I found the right place”, where to be. And the connection was a body connection was a breath, immediately it came to me like it was before , like I remembered but I forgot to know something strange. It was very beautiful and the next day I went to the yoga studio. I bought abonnement, for one year and then started going for yoga. I think at that time it was almost daily like every second day I used to go. 

 

Lily: 00:06:58

I can absolutely relate to that sensation of feeling like you are remembering something you forgot in a yoga class. I felt very similar during my first class as well and I hadn’t heard about it, I had no idea. It was at a gym, even just a gym in California, but I felt immediately like I was remembering something I’d forgotten or connecting to something, I knew but yeah I had lost and it’s just such a bizarre strange but so spiritual experience.

 

Ksenia: 00:07:30

Yes. Isn’t it beautiful? I remember that when I told this story to my teacher he said that actually Krishna was teaching in Bhagavad Gita that anyone who ever touched yoga in their life. They will never forget this. And in the newborn, the person… Once he comes across yoga again, he will remember, he can actually remember the previous experience of yoga in the previous or previous life. It’s very beautiful.

 

Lily: 00:08:05

It is and it makes sense to that our you know our karmic true. It’s our karmic experience or it’s our ability to connect to those kind of past lives without consciously connecting to it it’s like the sense of, Oh, I’ve seen that before, Or I’ve been that been here before, but having no explanation I think people can write that off pretty quickly thinking out. “Oh yeah, it’s just like I must have seen it on a TV ad or something”. I think there’s a lot more to those sensations and those feelings that we have of connecting to, kind of, something subtler level.

 

Ksenia: 00:08:47

Yeah. This is a very deep connection, this is a deep Samskaras, there are different levels of Samskaras. Samskaras imprint of the mind of this subtle body, and actually when we travel from one body to another body on the subtle bodies traveling right. So, in the subtle body, everything is recorded from all previous lives. It doesn’t matter if it was the life of a cow… the life of an ant or the life of a human being. All Samskaras will be stored. So when you travel in the new body. It doesn’t mean you will remember everything. All of a sudden, but some, some subtle memories, some subtle, you know, touch of something, idea of something. Or even our characters, our personalities; they are based on this and current Samskaras. So, definitely yoga has one of the biggest impacts on human life. It gives the biggest impact on human life. So, this Samskara which is based on yoga is the strongest part. So that’s why we can do it immediately once we touch yoga again.

 

 

Lily: 00:10:04

I’m so glad you brought up Samskaras, that’s… I feel very honored that you shared that knowledge with our listeners because in so far and no other episodes have we talked about that so thank you so much Ksenia for bringing that up.

 

 

Ksenia: 00:10:20

Yeah, we can talk about this. 

 

How has yoga changed your life?

 

Lily: 00:10:24

Yes, we can. I think it’s a great time though, since I’m asking or since we just talked about our past lives, a little bit. Or talked about the connection to the past lives as a possibility. I would love to ask you the question, how has yoga changed your life?

 

Ksenia: 00:10:44

Oh, It’s such a deep question. Hard to answer. It’s like tremendously completely, but at the same time, it didn’t change at all. It’s like part of my path. It’s supposed to be happening and it’s happening, and yoga… But I can tell how it was evolving, maybe. So when I… After that day, when I went to yoga and then I started doing yoga and it was going year by year… but it was just Asana, it was just physical body, yoga was very very basic. Actually, according to Scriptures, physical yoga like Asana, they’re not considered, even as yoga. So basically, those who practice Asana, they can’t call themselves yogi. But I was thinking that I’m doing yoga, and I was traveling a lot, and I was surfing also. I like to surf on the board, and you know like in different countries, where you can catch the waves. And I got a good friend who is my senior. “You’re a free spirit, let’s, let’s go and live a bigger life than Moscow”, and she went to Bali, and she became a surf instructor and she invited me to come with her, and open a Yoga and surf camp. Because I was looking at yoga, and I decided okay let’s try it. But first I need my certification so I went to Moscow University of Yoga. I studied there for four and a half months. And I caught my certificate. 

 

And during that period, an interesting story happened. Interesting story happened. We were writing different assets like different works regarding yoga topics, and one of the essays which I wrote was about Samshrana. Maybe you only be you. Samshrana under headquarter Ashram in Rishikesh. Yes, this is the main Ashram in India. He was actually, he started his mission of creating that big impact of yoga all over the world, because nowadays, Ashrams have Swami Shivananda, everywhere. This is a great person. It’s definitely a great master and it was realized faster, and she was master overdrive. And she wrote more than 300 books. That’s fascinating. And he looks at his roots. He was a doctor; he was very far from something which is mystic magical or is a trick. He was a very practical person and he found this spirit in us in yoga, and to follow that and reach enlightenment. So I was writing about him, and one article, and I was asking myself, where should I go for my next trip. Because I was planning to go to London and like I was choosing the country. And at the same time I felt okay. I have never been to India, so I have to go. Because I’m studying yoga and I’ve been practicing for so many years and I even started teaching yoga but I never visited a country that was impossible. And that day I was writing the article, and just to phrase it. This came into my mind, one simple phrase; “Go to India ”. And I knew exactly that it’s not my friend because I was like, “What is this, who is talking to me?”.  And then I asked myself, “Where will I go? I don’t know about India. ” And then the second phrase came, and the second phrase was, “where the Ganga starts”. So I opened the map, and I looked for Ganga, and I started watching up with gurus, yet from the ocean to Varanasi, up, up, up and then I saw Rishikesh, and I never heard about the city before, can you imagine? And this is how I decided okay, we’ll go to Rishikesh, and after a few months I went. Even so, for me, India was such a country, I thought, you know, if you go to India you need two bodyguards, you need, I don’t know… lots of security, antiseptics, and everything but in… just hour only, hour in India, when we were traveling from Bailey to Rishikesh, and we know this road, it’s, it’s beautiful from one side of you but for other people it might look dangerous, maybe like scary because you can see all this piles of garbage, it is very very dirty, streets, cows, dogs, cats, it’s hard for some people. I went with my friend and my friend said, she said immediately, “Oh, Ksenia let’s go home. Let’s go back to Russia”. And I felt like… I felt completely fine, comfortable, relaxed, and happy. And once I arrived to Rishikesh… it was one day, in the same day at the same day, I met most of my person I met my friend, Preshana I met the next day, and the same day I met a school where I became a teacher after a few months. 

 

So it was this time, and it was a…this was a turning point, I might say. This is how answering your question of yoga changed my life. This is how yoga changed my life because after this trip, I made a decision not to go to Bali, or any other country, and I quit my job and I came back to India after this trip, just with my luggage, without any deep idea of what was going to be happening, I just lost it, because that school, the manager of the school. His name is Manmohan Singh, at the time, he was a manager, who just invited me, he said, let’s… “you just come, we’ll see you have the marketing degree, you’re a yoga teacher, you will have to develop the school”. And I came, started working there. Sooner or later I became a teacher. And then the story started.

 

Lily: 00:17:52

It is amazing how yoga has changed the whole course of your life, you know. Just the path of it, the trajectory of it. Yoga has shaped the course of it. And I agree that when I arrived in India as well. We’re here… I’ll backtrack, when I was little, or a teenager and when I heard about India, it just seemed so bright and colorful, but also very foreign, you know. Just almost impossible to imagine going there. And also when I felt called to go to India. It was very similar to your sensation that I just remembered getting in the taxi when I first arrived. I arrived in Delhi, then I took a flight to Rishikesh. And so then I, you know, went to the Dehradun Airport. So then from Dehradun, I took a taxi to Rishikesh, and I just remember smiling from ear to ear just feeling like I was glowing, just, just the energy of India. I mean, it’s just for our listeners to know it’s not like Delhi, it’s not so chaotic, it’s not so cramped, with cars and noise and people knocking on your taxi cab window. It’s nothing like that in the north in commercial projects. Sure. And, you know in Rishikesh or near the Himalayas, it’s going to be very mountainous and more peaceful and a little bit more quiet. You still do get the elements of India, the cows in the street, and the… a lot of people on the streets as well but it’s at a different level, and for me that being close to Ganga and being close to just these peaceful mountains. It just felt absolutely incredible. 

 

Ksenia: 00:19:45

Well that’s very interesting. Actually, India has an impact on everyone but in a very different way that people… who are terrified, or scared cannot accept the rules or non existing rules, you mean there, the cows, the cows; can also mean that it’s very hard for them. And there are absolutely different people like us, who find deeper knowledge, deeper wisdom. And the thing is that, how the person is tuned in sight, this is what he will find outside. For example, India is vibrating with the energy of Bhakti yoga, and Bhakti is pure love. It’s completely complete devotion. When, when you are not asking questions, you’re just, you’re full of trust. You’re full of love, and you see all the good; outside inside everywhere. You see God everywhere. So, most of the people why they’re melting, because they feel this Bhakti. Every person, most of the people. I mean not everyone, but most of the people in India, they are very great debaters. They are full apart…. They are full of this trust to the universe and to the Gods. They pray from morning till night. They always have full trust. And that’s why they are not fighting with destiny. If the destiny is hard, if they have to leave, even more all over, but except because we trust all things will come and what is coming this is possibly good enough. And the second thing is, [unintelligible 00:21:50] This is deep knowledge, or true knowledge. Yes, the Saptiya, the truth. The absolute truth about the universe, about God, which India is full of… scriptures which you can still find, and because of the teachers, which are also existing till now. We can go to them; you can find this knowledge. So this energy, it’s in the air. India is vibrating this energy. So the one who was already tuned with this energy because a seeker of this energy who created that fire inside of me, which is calling him or her with that love and supreme knowledge, they find it in India, they can. They can’t understand what’s going on. Maybe the first few days or even months but they feel from inside that this is the right place. I will find the answers here. I will find what I’m searching for. This is, I think this is a secret why people love India so much. 

 

Lily: 00:23:10

I think you’re right it is the secret. It’s also the surrender. I am glad you mentioned the Bhakti and just accepting what the universe gives with pure trust and devotion. For me too I feel like being in India is the ultimate… Being in India it’s just complete surrender for me, instead of trying to control the situation or analyze or think it’s like you have to just release, and be present and then allow it to come. I think it’s so gorgeous Ksenia that you first found Rishikesh by just listening to the voice inside of you and hearing the words go to where the Ganga begins. Oh my gosh, like that’s so moving. Wow. 

 

Ksenia: 00:23:56

We did but it was not my voice, you know. The most beautiful part of it was not me. And it was not even my subconscious. I know exactly that. It was not my words. And the thing is that, as a practitioner of yoga, as a follower of the spirit of course I think you also believe or maybe even know. yeah, certainly know that there are subtle energies which can basically Buddhas, they can tell us where to go and what to do. Just we need to be. You can say that we need to, first of all, yes; surrender, and to accept that this can happen . There is a voice, which can come and tell you what to do, because it happened to me, not once but a few times in my life. There are angels, there are spirits that are detritus, and they’re all looking at us, watching, and they’re leading us. And that’s the beauty. Once we, once we believe in this with trust, that it is there in the universe that we are not alone. Only human beings, but there are so many beautiful, interesting creatures in a subtler body, which can show us the path. I think life would become more interesting.

 

What does teaching yoga bring to you and to your students?

 

Lily: 00:25:34

Absolutely. Yes. So I also wanted to ask you about Ksenia… So we’ve talked a lot about your journey as a yoga teacher and why you practice yoga and what yoga has changed and brought into your life. I would love to ask you why you teach yoga, and what teaching yoga brings to you and to your students?

 

Ksenia: 00:25:58

Thank you for this question, this is…Yoga, first of all for me, yoga is a spiritual path. It’s not just the practice of some Asanas, breathing exercise or meditation. They are tools, but we are all on this spiritual paths. We’re trying to reach the union… is supreme. And on this path, we’re getting knowledge. Yes, the mind goes, the layer of mind grows thinner and thinner and thinner, and you’re getting more ideas, understand what is the real reality. Instead of this mild reality, illusion reality. And who you really are instead of this ego-centric idea of who you are; what is your body, what is your mind. So once this knowledge comes more and more to feeling you, out of love, out of. It’s like… for example, sunlight will come inside the way. The beautiful ways, which is empty inside, which made of glass, and the ways start shining. So this shine, comes… not from the face, the shine came from the rays of sun. So the same about the knowledge of the true self, the same about the Nyan which comes on the spirit of us when it comes to you, you cannot stop yourself from not to share with others, yes. And others, they also come to you because they feel this light, they feel this glory of true knowledge. So they come and they ask you questions. 

 

So it becomes very natural for you to share. All the times when I had to become a yoga teacher or when I started moving my yoga to India mission, it happened not because I wanted to, but because people came to me. My first yoga student, she forced me to teach her. But my first school was in Rishikesh. When I became a yoga teacher, I was forced to teach. They actually said that you have to give this class, and I didn’t want to, but I…okay, I just said okay, let’s do it. So, nature and life itself will show you what to do, I believe. And if you have something to share, it will come automatically. So, basically, if you have true knowledge, or if you have some skills, not necessarily it’s about spirituality, it can be any skill of any knowledge. We don’t have rights not to give to others because they’re not our knowledge. We are not owners of this knowledge, we should be mediators. So, knowledge comes to you and you have to give it to someone else, as a medium. So I take myself as a tool. So as a mediator, so I’m passing the knowledge, whatever comes to me I give to other people by request.

 

What is yoga in Russia like?

 

Lily: 00:29:41

Now that makes complete sense. That to be a conduit for the knowledge to let the knowledge or the experience or whatever you have to share kind of passed through you. Because I love that you told Ksenia that you’re not the owner. Yeah, that would be very ego. Ego-centric to believe that we’re the owner of these truths or these things that we begin to realize in ourselves, in our practice or in our journey. So I think you said that really eloquently. So, I know you’ve taught yoga, all over the world, as I mentioned in your bio, but could you tell our listeners a little bit about what it’s like to teach yoga in Russia, or what yoga in Russia is like?

 

Ksenia: 00:30:27

Can tell mostly about the western part of Russia, like most is good, because if you compare yoga practitioners or yoga development, all over Russia, it would be hard. Because Russia is one of the biggest countries in the world, and far in the East, it’s absolutely different. And in the East I think people are closer to the roots. So, I believe most because they’re connected to nature. And contrary, in most consensus, as it’s big cities. People are a little bit far from nature so they think we’re going in a very technical, very practical way. And mostly to us and us, and very rarely they do meditation. And some of them still have this, see the puck and they follow the Jnana yoga. Yoga. But very few. So actually it’s, it’s, this is absolutely a normal situation all over the world. It’s like this nowadays. People think yoga is Asana, people think that yoga… just to put your leg behind your ears. This is okay, and nothing wrong about that. Because yoga, the real spiritual part of yoga, is very sacred, and it’s not for everyone. And to be, and only the truth seeker, you will go through all this, you know, deep forests of Asanas and breathing techniques and maybe we’ll find a true authentic traditional yoga. So, as a yoga teacher, I believe we should attract people to yoga in all different ways, and if they want Asana at the beginning… because I also came to yoga. For many years I didn’t know until I didn’t come to India, I didn’t know what yoga really is. So, this is not a bad thing to come to authentic or true knowledge is all wrong ideas. Anyhow, they will go away, and we will stay visible to see what is true. So, we teach Asana as well. There are no options. Teacher, this is good to help people assume that they have many physical issues, psychic issues, emotional issues. So, those elements of yoga, they can help, and they can prepare the future practitioner for the spiritual path because until you will not solve your physical issues, emotional issues, it’s very hard to, like, it’s almost impossible to go to deep spiritual practice. So we’re trying to give traditional knowledge, but mostly we are still coping people with Asanas, Pranayamas, and teaching meditation as well. Very basic.

 

Yoga can serve any purpose

 

Lily: 00:34:03

Yes, I’ve had the question before, where people say oh are you frustrated when people come to your class and they just want it to be like a workout?” They want the Asana, or the yoga class to just be very you know, hot and fast and athletic and I’ve had other yoga teachers asked me, “Oh, does that, like, really bad, does that make you mad or upset” and my answer and how I feel about that is you’re welcome to come to yoga for no matter what, you know, no matter what purpose or what calls you to the practice. I’m just glad you show up and you’re curious and interested and if I can plant seeds in you or if you have receptive soil for those seeds to sprout and that’s beautiful or view over the years. Slowly things will shift. I mean, of course, like that, everything’s changing constantly, but I don’t personally I don’t find it wrong to come to yoga practice for any purpose. Do you feel the same?

 

Ksenia: 00:35:09

Yes, I agree, I totally agree with you because, as well. Who are we to judge, because everyone has their own very unique, very beautiful parts. Yes, and we need to remember each soul, each spirit here. Already did such a great, great long journey, many many different costumes, many different bodies and different manifestations. So who are we to judge this soul? It’s so much hard work to come on this yoga mat. And if you’re maybe [inaudible 00:35:58] It’s not good because there’s no high, no lower. There’s no hierarchy… direct spirituality, just deeper questions. It’s very personal. So, it’s beautiful if we can help, like if we can be a mediator, manage that’s just… Basically what I believe, as I do, I need to focus on my Dharma. And just, just keep doing my Dharma, that’s it. Focus on my part. 

 

How can listeners find you? 

 

Lily: 00:36:38

Again, you said that very well and I agree, focus on your Dharma, on yourself, on your path, and look at others with that, compassionate lens of, Wow, you’ve already been through so much just to get here, and we don’t know all of the, we don’t we can’t even imagine all of the past that has gone into it. So I’m glad you brought that up as well. So I would love to hear a little bit of Ksenia about what you’re offering, courses , training, or do you have anything in the works right now, of course, our listeners will be listening to this episode as it’s launched here in August 2021. But we might have listeners long into the future. So, are there any, you know links or any places they can find you, that would be great to share as well. 

 

Ksenia: 00:37:30

Yeah, we do have many different programs starting from the teacher training course, which are actually called as a teacher training course, yeah. But they are for everyone else and I prefer to call it a transformative course, because within one month, and if it’s an online program, six weeks. You learn about 15 different subjects regarding yoga, and it really brings such a big change in a personality because we dive into yoga for the six weeks, or if it’s an offline course for four weeks, and it’s not any more about becoming a yoga teacher, it’s about becoming a really good yoga practitioner. And we have many different programs like short programs now, more online programs nowadays due to the worldwide situation. And some of them just complete beginners like… There are brands like my husband that created amazing brands, and he’s also giving many courses for free. Like one of these programs recently, he started his free classes for ancient traditional yogic scriptures. So he’s really teaching that traditional yoga which is not even sometimes available in English. All the scriptures they’ve mostly written are Sanskrit and so he’s sharing this knowledge, absolutely. And we have courses, mostly in English and also with Russian translation. So, I think, there was Spanish and yes we have recently started courses…this translation into Spanish language. So many many options. I can’t tell you about all of them. But you can go on the website that has an English website yogavidyaschool.com, and Russian speakers, yogatoursindia.org.  Or you can just come to Rishikesh and find out. We have a school there so you can come and join me in any class for other courses and programs you can find on my Instagram, ksenia_rapriya, or prashanta yoga. Instagram, you can come, you can find.

 

Lily: 00:40:12

Absolutely, and I will definitely link to everything here in the show notes as well as on my website wildyogatribe.com and on all the social platforms for a Wild Yoga Tribe too. So make sure that you definitely visit the show notes so you can link up with Ksenia and Prashant-ji and check out these offerings because yeah the chakra courses, the breath detoxes, the TTC’s or those transformational TTC courses, sound really incredible. So definitely don’t miss out and check out the links below. Alright, so I wanted to say, Ksenia, thank you so much for joining me, and on this episode of The Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast. It has been a real joy to get to listen and share with you.

 

Ksenia: 00:40:58

Lily, thank you so much and thanks a lot for the great things we are doing, because I think that it’s amazing that everyone now has access to different, different , interesting people, interesting masters of yoga and other, yes fields of life. And they can share your podcast, they experience their knowledge, that’s that’s great, 

 

Lily: 00:41:25

Thank you so much.

 

Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Outro

 

Lily: 00:41:31

So thank you everyone for tuning into this episode with Ksenia Rasapriya Bodhi from Russia. I really hope that you found this conversation to be just inspiring and something you can really think about and ruminate on and process because we talked about some very powerful things; Samskaras, and how yoga shapes and can kind of influence the course of your life, we talked about Bhakti yoga and Yana yoga and also about Swami Shivananda, which is also an important, you know, amazing realized master of yoga, whose mission was to serve humanity through yoga. So that was really special that we got to talk more about all the topics today and I hope again that you found this episode interesting. If you’d like to share it with someone you think could benefit from it, please do and again make sure to check out the show notes and link to Ksenia and her husband Prashant Ji. Thank you and be well.

 

 

[Music Outro 00:42:38]

 

Lily: 00:42:46

Feel like getting social, connect with me, and the Wild Yoga Tribe on social media, on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, head on over to the wildyogatribe.com to tap into some pretty awesome resources. Meditate with me on Insight Timer, a free app on Apple and Android devices, and join me for a yoga class on YouTube. Jazz up your week and get a bit of yoga in your life. Remember to hit subscribe so that you never miss an episode. And if you feel called please share this episode with someone that you think could benefit from it, leaving a review would also be so appreciated. Thank you again, dear listener for being with me. May your day be light and bright. May you be peaceful and happy, and lead on the right path, free of suffering and free of sorrow. Be Well dear one, be well.

 

 

[End Transcription 00:43:36]

 

[Music Outro 00:43:36]

 

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