About
Of Indian descent, I was born and raised in Paris, France. My Indian grandmother chose my name at birth: in Sanskrit Joti means « light ». Because my Indian family is Sikh, I also bear the traditional name « Kaur » which means « princess ».
My childhood was a strange mix of cultures. On the one hand there was the French culture, inherited from my father, and on the other, the Indian culture that I mostly experienced in London where my mother’s side of the family immigrated to in the late 50s.
I have been practicing yoga for over 19 years and have taught it for 13, but I remain a student first and foremost. I continue to learn and to practice for myself. I’m still terrified of snapping my spine in half while doing a drop-back . I despise Kurmasana, but I still practice it because I know that what matters is the journey to the posture, not mastering it: those distressing moments when we are so far, so stiff, and so stuck that we tell ourselves that we’ll never make it and when we let our minds wander to catastrophic thoughts… I still have those moments often. But eventually, I manage to center myself back onto my breath (long enough to realize I am no longer breathing because my jaw is clenched so tight!), I take a long and deep inhale and exhale hard, as though to chase away all these negative thoughts. And after a while, for a moment (at times quite brief), I surrender, and everything is alright.
Becoming a teacher didn’t hoist me up to the status of Guru or master. It allowed me to teach the discipline of yoga as I know and live it daily: a reminder to come back to simple things such as breathing, positive thinking and calmness, that we all have a tendency to easily let slip out of our reach. For me, joy and happiness don’t lie in the achievement of a posture but in the journey, often annoying and riddled with doubt, that has led me there. This journey is ongoing and continuous, but in time, we acquire the tools to face the obstacles we are sure to run into on the way with much more serenity.
That’s what I teach. Because it’s also my own struggle. I may be a yoga teacher, I am a human being first and foremost. Like everyone I have my bad days, my fears and blocages that I choose to fight through the practice of yoga and meditation, and sometimes with the use of other tools such as astrology or the I-Ching, which have accompanied me since childhood.
My Indian side is proud to have found its place in teaching yoga because the practice is part of my cultural heritage; but my French side is still very much present, in the way I express myself without shame on certain issues (the articles are only available in French as of right now,,, sorry!)
— Sunrise meditation during the 2017 yoga retreat in Portimão, Portugal —
My classes are based on the 8 limbs of Ashtanga which are the 8 pillars that constitute the practice of yoga: 4 branches that dictate the rules to follow in order to purify, rectify, adjust our way of life and behavior, and 4 branches that allow us to deepen the inner-understanding of ourselves through concentration and meditation.
I enjoy explaining things with a touch of humor, a dab of astrology and subtle mysticism, to broaden my students’ vision of the world and of our existence; yet without flying too high into the esoteric realm nor by forgetting the fundamental principles that have made yoga a millennial practice 😉
TRAINING AND COURSES
FEDERATION FRANCAISE DE HATHA YOGA, Paris, France (2011)
1st year of teacher training in Hatha Yoga
Specialization workshop in prenatal yoga
TRIBE YOGA, Spain (2012)
200 hour teacher training Yoga Alliance certified
ASHTANGA SAADHANA with Vijay Kumar, Mysore, India (2013, 2015, 2016)
Mysore Style classes
Course on the Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita
Pranayama courses
PRANA VASHYA with Vinay Kumar, Mysore, India (2013)
Backbending course
AYURVEDIC MASSAGE with LEKHAN LAVA, Mysore, India (2013)
Abhyanga massage
NAVDANYA BIJA VIDYAPEETH EARTH UNIVERSITY, Dehradun, India (2014)
Volunteering on Vandana Shiva’s farm (seed conservation and organic farming)
CHILDBIRTH INTERNATIONAL, UK (2015)
Doula training
BNS IYENGAR, Mysore, India (2017)
Pranayama Training
THETA HEALING with Mitsuyo Kawai, Paris, France (2017, 2018, 2020, 2021)
DNA Base Training (2017)
DNA Advanced Training (2018)
Manifestation and Abundance Training (2018)
Dig Deeper Training (2020)
Intuitive Anatomy Training (2020)
ADN 3 Training (2021)
ASPAZIE, Paris, France (2017, 2018, 2021)
Training in « posture and childbirth » with Béatrice Baby
Acupuncture for childbirth training (theory basics and acupressure)
Hypnosis and childbirth with Jean-Daniel Henry (2021)
PADI, Anti Paros, Greece (2018)
Freediver Certification (free diving)
YOGIC STUDIES (2021, 2022)
Hindi 101 with Dr. Rajiv Ranjan
Yoga and Sikhism with Java Singh
ATMAVIKASA CENTER FOR YOGIC STUDIES, Mysore, India (2023)
Yoga therapy training 300 hours