Meet our July Student of the Month, Ram!
Who doesn’t love a calm, kind, consistent and joyful human? Ram’s story is such a beautiful testimony of having been fortunate to be introduced to yoga at an early age. Like most things in life that are good for us, we can drift away only to be brought back to what was taught to us when we were young. Enjoy this sweet testimony..
“I was first introduced to yoga at the age of 12 by my grandfather, who lived a very active and healthy life well into his 90s. That alone should have been enough evidence for me. But like many wise teenagers, I reviewed the facts carefully and then ignored them completely.
He taught me yoga. At that age, I thought the asanas were not too hard. The real challenge, I later discovered, was not touching my toes. It was touching my schedule consistently. As I like to say now, “The hardest yoga pose is not headstand. It is showing up regularly.”
Life moved on. On August 11, 1997, I came to the United States for my master’s degree and during my time I became fascinated by the fitness culture around me: gyms, running groups, structured workout plans, and shoes that seemed engineered by NASA. I made one of my great youthful conclusions: “Why yoga now? Yoga is something we can do when we get old.”
So I ran. Running felt serious. Sweating felt productive. Wearing running shoes made me feel like an athlete even when I was just walking to the mailbox.
But I was always conscious of injury. In running and other sports, the mind says, “Let’s go!” The knee says, “Let’s negotiate.” The back says, “I was not consulted.”
That is when I began appreciating yoga again. I still did a few asanas at home, but I was not consistent, and I was unsure whether studios in the U.S. would have the environment I associated with yoga. Then I discovered Hot Yoga.
That was when yoga looked at me and said, “You thought I was easy? Please come inside this 105-degree room and let us discuss your confidence.”
In 2013, my wife Indu recommended that I try a Hot Yoga studio in Rockville, Maryland, where we were living then. This was one of the few times in almost 22 years of marriage that I listened to my wife immediately—and naturally, it worked out very well. There is a lesson here, but as husbands we are allowed to learn it only slowly.
For one of the first times, I became consistent. I even completed a 30-day challenge. That was a big moment for me. I realized how good my body could feel when I gave it the right routine. I felt healthier, stronger, lighter, and more alert.
Then work took me to Princeton, New Jersey, from 2014 to 2016. I tried to continue Hot Yoga there for many months, but consistency became difficult again. Travel, work, family, and life all started doing what they do best: creating excuses with very professional presentation skills.
In 2016, because of my job at Constellation, I came back to Maryland. I had realized something important: Hot Yoga was one of the best ways for me to maintain my health. It was not just exercise. It was a reset button. I found Columbia Hot Yoga and continued there as a regular student in 2017 and 2018. Unfortunately, over time, especially during and after COVID, that studio closed down.
Around that time, my friend Ram told me about Hot Yoga Baltimore. More importantly, he said it was the best place for people like me in Ellicott City. He spoke about the teachers, the community of yogis, and the serious Hot Yoga Studio environment. That is how I came to know about Lynne’s Hot Yoga Baltimore.
From my first class, I felt something different. The studio had special energy. The teachers were dedicated. The students were committed. And the heat was not a rumor. It was real. I sweated a lot. Actually, “sweated a lot” may be too mild. I looked like I had personally negotiated with a monsoon cloud and lost.
In all my experience with multiple Hot Yoga studios, I have never found the heat maintained so religiously as it is here. The room does not casually suggest warmth. It makes a formal announcement: “Welcome. Your ego will be leaving shortly.”
But that is part of the beauty.
Hot Yoga Baltimore is special not just because of the room, the heat, or the practice. It is special because of the teachers and the yogis. When you walk in, you feel part of a community that is trying, sweating, struggling, improving, and occasionally wondering why we voluntarily paid for this experience.
Over time, I have learned that discipline often begins before class. For me, the secret is simple: keep the yoga bag ready. When my yoga bag is ready, I make it to class almost 99% of the time. When it is not ready, suddenly the whole universe becomes complicated. Emails become urgent. Traffic becomes emotional. The couch starts making convincing arguments.
So now I believe: “A packed yoga bag is a signed contract with your better self.”
Once I am in the studio, everything becomes easier. The teachers guide us. Friends encourage us. The room challenges us. The heat humbles us. The practice takes over. After class, my mind feels sharper and my body awake. It is one of the few activities where I enter tired and leave renewed—although slightly cooked.
My journey started with my grandfather teaching me yoga when I was 12. Then I ignored yoga, rediscovered it, underestimated it, sweated through it, and finally came to respect it deeply. Today, I see Hot Yoga not as just another fitness routine, but as lifelong practice. It gives me discipline, humility, energy, community, and health.
Happy Yoga—Namaste and keep your bag ready.”
