Survival instinct

Amarjot Kaur

Mandeep Kaur Sandhu was 21 when she got married. Only after 11 months of her marriage, she lost her husband in a road accident. With remains of his loving memory, a three-month-old son, and constant nagging of in-laws, this Haryana girl (from Yamunanagar) wielded enormous strength and courage to become the first in her family to go to Los Angeles and represent India at Bishnu Charan Ghosh Cup in 2007. She graduated from Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Haryana, to later pursue a two-month-long course in Bachelor of Naturopathy and Yoga Science (BNYS) from Bikram Hot Yoga in Las Vegas and today owns a hot yoga studio in Andheri West, Mumbai where Bollywood celebrities, including Ekta Kapoor, Deepak Tijori, Neetu Chandra, Sudhir Mishra, and Rakhi Sawant add to the list of her students.

In Chandigarh, as a part of Himalaya Purifying Face Wash campaign titled My first pimple, Mandeep quashes the idea of embarrassment associated with pimples. “Never let the scars hold you back,” she says. As she reminisces the past, she explains all that provoked her to become a yoga instructor, and mind you, body issues weren’t a propellant.

“As a 22-year-old widow, I was devastated after my husband died in an accident in 2007. My in-laws thought I was a villain of some sort and one year later, I was down in the dump. But that year was also the turning point in my life. Misery can also motivate you. In my case, it took me to yoga as I was already studying it in college,” she shares. Soon after she returned from the US, Mandeep clinched a job at True Fitness in 2010. “It was, at that time, one of the biggest gyms in Asia and I worked there for a couple of years, but it shut down and I was left with no choice than to do something of my own. Also, I was tired of staying away from my son, who was in Haryana with my mother and I wanted him back,” she says.

Determined to start a yoga studio of her own, Mandeep shares that she used up her savings and borrowed money to rent out a place on the second floor of the same place where the gym was. “We had many celebrities coming to True Fitness, who later joined my yoga class as I would train them at the gym too. I then brought my son here, and now my entire family is settled in Mumbai. I guess good things happen to well-intentioned people,” she smiles.

Star talk

Mandeep talks about her star students and tells us about their choice of asanas. So, here’s what the stars say and do at Mandeep’s Hot Yoga studio 

Sudhir Mishra

Pet phrase: He always says, “Mandeep, tell me what you need me to do today!”

Works on: Everything, he’s open to all kinds of asanas

Ekta Kapoor

Pet phrase: “Sorry I am late today, boss!”, and that happens every day.

Works on: Ekta loves Utkatasana

Neetu Chandra

Pet phrase: “Mandeep, please kill me in the class today.”

Works on: She’ll stick with the ‘balancing stick’.

Deepak Tijori

Pet phrase: He’s so quiet and calm that he doesn’t speak much.

Works on: Everything.

Rakhi Sawant

Pet phrase: She’s always excited and each time she says, “I want to practice. Back to back classes today.” 

Works on: She’s a pro at ‘standing bow pulling’.

amarjot@tribunemail.com