Know your neighbour: This beauty queen healed herself through yoga, and now runs a yoga school

By Chandrima Mazumdar

From fat to fit, from winning a national beauty pageant to quitting her corporate job and becoming a yoga trainer, Prathima David’s work-life balance instantly inspires you. She faced two major accidents, and only yoga came to her rescue. She struggled with weight issues and lost 37 kilos, thanks to yoga again. That’s not all. The 38-year-old Hatha yoga exponent beat 4,500 people to take the second place at a national beauty pageant last year. Today, she is a member of WICCI Karnataka Sector Yoga Council, and runs a successful yoga studio in Koramangala.

Work-life balance

Prathima was working as a Program Manager in an MBA institution. However, after her son was born, she couldn’t continue with her corporate job. She needed a profession which would give her time for family and more scope to grow as an individual. She practiced yoga quite regularly, and soon decided to take it up as a profession. She graduated in an internationally-certified yoga teacher’s training course. By then, yoga had become her passion.

Yoga helped her recover from knee injuries

In November 2015, Prathima was involved in an accident that damaged a major ligament in her left knee. The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) was almost completely shattered, and it was impossible for her to jump, walk or even do the simplest asana. She had to go for a reconstruction surgery. It was tough for her, both mentally and physically. “I was devastated,” she recalls. “I was the highest scorer in a class of students from nine different countries, and now suddenly my world had stopped. Something as basic as walking was a challenge to me. I had to start from scratch again.” She had just completed her teacher’s course and was supposed to start taking classes the next day.

For any orthopaedic surgery, only 50% of the job belongs to the surgeon; the rest falls on the patient. Prathima took it upon herself to handle this. She attended only a few physiotherapy sessions, and was only revived through yoga. “Yoga works much more on your mind than your body,” she says. “Whatever happens in your body has its roots in your mind, and Yoga activates, what is known as chakras (energy points) in the body, which in turn, cures the imbalances that are the root cause of diseases.”     

Prathima took regular classes. “After every class I could feel myself getting stronger,” she says. Finally, after about 8-9 months, she began feeling normal; her knee was almost back to its prior condition, thanks to yoga. Today, almost five years later, she hardly remembers the problems she had faced with her left knee.

The story does not end here though. Prathima had another accident in 2020. This time, her right knee was damaged much more than her left knee. This happened in the beginning of the lockdown and there wasn’t any scope of attending any advanced exercise or physiotherapy classes. She worked on her injury by herself. “Today, after about seven months, I can go for short distance running and do advanced asanas; all this has been possible only through yoga,” she says.

First runner-up at ‘Mrs India Pride Of Nation Ravishing 2019’

“It was a different experience for me,” says Prathima. “I am not a person who is fond of makeup and fashion as I prefer simple things.” As the pageant was about creating awareness on breast cancer, she went ahead with her husband’s idea. After being shortlisted for the finals, she went to Delhi for a week. “It was quite a challenge for me as this wasn’t something I had ever tried before.” Walking with a four-inch pointed heel during the grooming sessions and at the grand finale of the pageant was a big challenge, especially after the knee surgery. 

It was a sleepless challenge. Usually, Prathima sleeps at 8pm and wakes up at 4am. But this contest dramatically upset her schedule. “The practice had to go on till 1:30am, and they would give us the next slot of 7am,” she recalls. “We hardly got any sleep for one week. Before the finale, we slept only for two hours.” However, her hard work paid off, and she won the sub-title of Mrs. Catwalk, besides taking the second place at ‘Mrs India Pride of Nation Ravishing 2019’.

From 92 kilos to 55

Prathima’s ‘before-after’ story is truly remarkable. In her earlier avatar, she led a carefree life, with little attention to what she ate and how much she slept. However, when she began training as a yoga teacher, she realised the importance of a healthy lifestyle. That’s when she made simple changes, such as sleeping at a particular time, and eating only what was required for her. “I started seeing changes in my body, and felt better,” she says. “If you have the determination to follow through, it becomes easier to accomplish any goal.”

Enjoying what you do

When Prathima weighed 92 kilos, she realised that her health was preventing her from doing many things that would otherwise be easy. “It is important to enjoy what you’re doing, and that’s my focus,” she says. “Once you start feeling happy with what you’re doing, it becomes easier to embed it in your day, and it doesn’t feel like a chore anymore. As a result, you start seeing the changes.”

Prathima started running (something she had stopped after the injury on her left knee), and enjoyed the boost of energy to start her day. “Yoga became interesting for me,” she says. “Every day, we take challenges, try to improve the asanas, learn some new advanced asanas, and set small goals.” The idea is to keep things interesting and enjoy the journey.

Changing the mindset

Some people are yet to recognise yoga’s many benefits. Prathima has met individuals who object to paying for learning yoga, but are perfectly fine to spend more money on a doctor’s fee when they fall sick. “Once they start seeing the benefits, they change their mind,” she says. Majority of her students came with several ailments, such as PCOS (Polycystic ovary syndrome), migraine, joint pain, weight issue, gastric problems, and insomnia, among others. Such problems can easily be managed with regular yoga practice. “Yoga needs to be given a priority in everyone’s lives,” she says. Prathima is proud that she was able to coach more than 90% of her students to adopt a better lifestyle.   

Online yoga classes after COVID-19

After her knee surgery this year, Prathima took a break of 20 days. That is when her students talked to her about conducting online classes. They convinced her that they were fine with receiving instructions and working according to it. What began as an online class just for them soon led to many newcomers joining them as well. The students referred their family members and colleagues, and the numbers grew. She now has people who are keen on learning yoga not only from across Bengaluru, but also from other cities.

Prathima’s yoga studio, Abhisarga, is one of the few sectors that didn’t suffer during the lockdown; it has grown to twice its capacity of students before COVID-19. She has now begun taking online classes for international students as well.

Simple living

Glass bottle paintings done by Prathima

The Kodagu-born’s family also follows a disciplined lifestyle rooted in yoga and simple living. They sleep by 8-8:30pm, refraining from eating anything after 6 in the evening, and wake up at 4am. For Prathima and her family, yoga is a way of life, and her children are evolving with it. When she’s not doing yoga, Prathima can be seen reading books, watching movies, gardening, cooking, and painting on glass bottles.