There are various modern forms of yoga today, mutated from the original source. Sivananda Yoga Centre, Gurgaon (SYCG) has been offering the traditional and holistic lineage of Sivananda yoga in its pure form for the past 16 years. “Our main purpose is to spread the teaching and practice of an authentic and ancient system of yoga, thereby promoting health, well-being, a stress-free lifestyle and more balanced and visionary individual,” asserts Arun Pandala, Co-Founder, Acharya and Joint Director, SYCG.

SYCG is registered with Yoga Alliance, USA, the global certifying body for quality standards in yoga, and holds an RYS 200 and a RYS 300 accreditation. The founders, Arun Pandala and Deeksha Jain Prasad are ERYT 500 (Experienced Registered Yoga Teachers 500 hours). Under their expert guidance, SYCG conducts regular programmes of daily yoga classes, corporate (50 institutions in Gurgaon and NCR) and group classes, and private classes at home. In 2011, to give people an authentic experience of living and learning Yoga in the true Gurkula tradition, they also started Yoga Retreats and Yoga Teacher Training courses, Level 1 and Level 2.

“Our centres offer a yogic environment. You will find our teachings just like in a traditional Gurukul. Our main focus is education and training. Practitioners are called students, not

customers or clients. Karma yoga (voluntary service) is our operating principle – only through genuine service can you help other people. All our yoga teachers are volunteers,” says Arun.

“The Sivananda Open class is taught all over the world. It is one of the most popular and beneficial programmes to maintain good health, and also reverse chronic health problems. In Gurgaon, we have gone beyond this, while maintaining the fundamental standard. We have expanded on the basic programme to help meet the needs of modern practitioners.” he adds. There are special courses for weight loss and back pain, for teenagers and for reversing PCOD in women. They also offer day long health seminars.

What makes SYCG unique is a bundle of benefits put together – from accessibility, availability, affordability, consistency, to being systematic and traditional

The Growth Story
The first SYCG Centre was opened in 2004 in Gurgaon. Since then there has been no looking back. Today, it has seven Centres in Gurgaon and over 400 certified Sivananda Yoga teachers. “We have brought yoga to over 50,000 people in Gurgaon on a daily basis. We teach on an average over 20 yoga classes a day, 365 days a year. Including special courses, we offer over 7,500 classes a year. More than 1,500 people start yoga with us every year,” explains Deeksha.

What makes SYCG unique is a bundle of benefits put together. From accessibility, availability, affordability, consistency, to being systematic and traditional, the advantages are innumerable. Offering regular open asanas and pranayama classes, meditation, advanced classes, workshops and seminars to over 1,000 people every week, SYCG also provides yoga classes for pregnant women and special yoga for children. Addressing such diverse group of clients requires the Centre to provide different time slots so that they can practice at the time of their convenience.

Despite this, the Centre has kept its fee affordable. “We offer discounted fees for quarter, half year and annual membership, so that people commit to a longer period of practice. For teenagers and children, we have even more attractive and nominal fees to encourage the new generation to adopt yoga at an early age,” explains Deeksha.

As it steps into its 17th year, SYCG’s mandate is to use technology and new media, to spread the Yoga movement beyond geographical boundaries. They will use an online classroom presence for this, 2020 and beyond.