IN WHISPERS

How a Globe-Trotting Musician Found the Rhythm of Life in Hatha Yoga

Explore the transformational journey of a Norwegian musician turned Isha Hatha Yoga teacher. Rav Sira’s life took an unexpected and exciting turn when he came across Sadhguru’s YouTube videos, began Isha Hatha Yoga practices, and soon got inspired to join the Isha Hatha Yoga Teacher Training.

On a Musical Journey

Rav Sira comes from a family of artists in Oslo, the capital of Norway. Music, football, and fishing became an integral part of his life during his school days. His greatest passion was music – so much so that he chose to pursue music full time. In 2014, he joined the world music department at Codarts Rotterdam, University of the Arts, specializing in Brazilian music. His love for music and his zeal to imbibe its various forms took him to faraway lands.

During his graduation days and soon after, he spent months in Brazil, El Salvador, Mozambique, Scotland, and the Netherlands, learning different instruments and performing at major music festivals. “I was pursuing music not as a mere hobby, but as a career option. I knew that I’d found my calling, and this is the thing I wanted to do,” he shares.

His passion for music allowed him to explore the historical connections between Scotland and his native Norway. In 2019, he formed a music troupe with two other musicians in Scotland, and began performing gigs across the country, including a particularly memorable one at the historic Edinburgh Castle. Rav’s last formal engagement with music before coming to Isha was as a substitute music teacher in a Sami village in the upper reaches of Norway during the pandemic, from August 2020 to June 2021.

While people’s warmth and silence made the stint easy, the cold waves and 24 hours of darkness put his physical and mental limits to the test. “Hatha Yoga practices came as a huge, invaluable support,” recalls Rav.

Of Twists and Turns

Rav has been inclined towards Yoga for as long as he can remember. At the age of 16, he started taking lessons in “twisting and bending” from a family friend in Oslo. “What they refer to as Yoga in the West was an opportunity to stretch my body a bit. I was seeking relief for my stiff joints and sore muscles – a consequence of regularly playing football,” he says with a smile.

Whenever his travel schedules permitted, Rav signed up for Yoga classes to learn a few postures. “It was helpful but didn’t grab my attention despite my interest in Yoga in its true sense,” he adds. But then, Rav discovered Sadhguru. “I would regularly watch him on YouTube. His words resonated with me so deeply that I was hooked on his videos. Soon, I stumbled upon some of his videos about classical Hatha Yoga. That’s when I felt for the first time that classical Hatha Yoga is something that I must experience,” shares Rav.

After a few months of lockdown, Rav had the opportunity to attend a Yogasanas program that a Finland-based Isha Hatha Yoga teacher was conducting in Helsinki. Rav immediately enrolled and flew to Finland to participate. This was his first tryst with classical Hatha Yoga, and perhaps the decisive one too, as he soon felt that Hatha Yoga would be his path for inner exploration.

“The program was so different from anything I was exposed to until then. The way Yoga was presented, the way the teacher conducted himself, and above all, the experience of the practices I learned were deeply touching,” says Rav. “Despite long and hectic days, and the menacing flies and mosquitoes of the Nordic summer, I always managed to wake up early in the morning to do my Hatha Yoga practices, even while on the road,” shares Rav.

Time for Transformation

For Rav, a perfect combination of intensity and relaxation, of balance and energy, came naturally within a few weeks of Surya Kriya and Yogasanas practices. This was the main motivation and the deciding factor for why he chose to keep his love for music aside to fly over 7,500 km to join the 21-week Isha Hatha Yoga Teacher Training program. “I wanted to experientially understand the intricacies of Hatha Yoga, and how it brings about a gradual transformation,” explains Rav.

Rav arrived at the Isha Yoga Center in Coimbatore two and a half weeks before the training began. It gave him and his body the much-needed time to come to terms with the Indian monsoon and spices.

During the training, his first learning came from Sadhguru himself, who emphasized that the trainees had not joined the training program to become teachers but to imbibe Yoga in as much depth and profundity as possible. “It changed my outlook towards the training, and helped me involve myself deeply into the practices,” Rav shares.

Soon, he discovered that the training was carefully designed in such a way that it slowly picks up momentum and intensity, allowing participants to fully absorb each practice before they move on to the next one. Rav says, “For instance when we started with Angamardana, every muscle and ligament in my body was aching. But it helped prepare my body for Yogasanas. It built a lot of resilience and strength in me.”

A Deeper Experience of Life

During the training period, Rav got the opportunity to explore various aspects of the Isha Yoga Center and its offerings. One of the most notable ones to him were Bhava Spandana and Shoonya Intensive – advanced residential programs. Shoonya meditation offers Rav a big relief from incessant “mental diarrhea.” “Shoonya was intense,” recalls Rav. “The meditation gives me a taste of emptiness – something I was truly longing for. Ever since I started practicing it, my daily sleep quota has come down to four hours a night.”

While Shoonya instilled a new dimension of stillness in him, the Bhava Spandana program brought him an experience that was “indescribable.” “I could experience a deep sense of love and gratitude for everybody and everything around me, even for complete strangers. I was on a high without drink or drugs,” says Rav.

Gradually, Rav’s experience of the Hatha Yoga practices evolved to a point where he was able to experience states of high energy and vibrance, particularly in the Dhyanalinga, and Ekadashi[1] would pass effortlessly without a morsel of food. “It was amazing to notice the enhanced levels of flexibility and focus during Yogasanas on ekadashis,” he shares. The most remarkable aspect of the training, he shares, is that strong compulsions have come down dramatically.

[1] Eleventh day of the lunar calendar, a fasting day in the Indian tradition

Reuniting with Music, the Yogic Way!

Though Rav had very few opportunities and very little time to practice or perform music during the Hatha Yoga Teacher Training, the whole experience also enhanced his relationship with music. “Whether listening or performing, I feel more involved and connected with music now,” he says. He recollects several of his limitations melting away during Bhakti Sadhana. “The Bhakti Sadhana music brought tears of tenderness and gratitude, and the process has made me a gentler human being,” says Rav. “I can notice a certain harmony with people and things around me,” he adds.

More than a week before it was scheduled to conclude, Rav successfully completed the 21-week Hatha Yoga Teacher Training, including 1750 hours of intense classical Hatha Yoga practices, and passed the hugely demanding recitation sessions that entailed memorizing tens of hours of class material, and conducting mock sessions for weeks. Now he is set to return to Europe to offer classical Hatha Yoga in its full depth and possibility in places where Yoga has taken on different forms and meanings.

“I feel I’m ready to impart Hatha Yoga,” he shares. Together with the only other Isha Hatha Yoga teacher in Norway, Rav will be conducting his first programs in the new year.