• Priyanka’s personal story of How Inner Empowerment at Isha Foundation helped her blossom and gave her a sense of balance to deal with the ups and downs of life. 

“I wish I met Sadhguru in my 20s” is a common lament I hear amidst my fellow sadhakas. A lot of people discover Sadhguru and his spiritual practices in their 40s and 50s. The new found wisdom makes many of them regret their past choices. 

Listening to them, I reflect on my own life where I did meet Sadhguru in my early 20s. It was in my 3rd year of BSc Maths, in 2005, when I did the Inner Engineering with Sadhguru.

Recently, parents from Coimbatore filed a court case as their adult daughters chose Brahmacharya at Isha ashram as their way of life. 

I also went to Isha ashram in my early 20’s that is considered a young, impressionable age. Easy to get “brainwashed” some may say. 

While, after graduation, my fellow students planned their MBAs I spent my time at the Isha Yoga Center. I was even a full-time volunteer for a while. 

An authentic spiritual ashram like Isha, though a lot smaller in 2005, even at that time brought in people from different walks of life, from both within and outside India. 

It is important to understand the myriad different exposures we get. The idea that we are being manipulated into dedicating our lives to the organization is foolhardy because we are spending time with a lot of different people from different walks of life. And a LOT of options open up including marriage.

Many of my fellow Isha volunteers did get married. Some chose a partner from amongst the Isha community. Some of them went back to their homes after a few years at the ashram and married there. In fact, there have been many incidents where Sadhguru has personally guided individuals away from taking up Brahmacharya and suggested them to marry instead. Utkarsh Naithani, who was at the Isha ashram with me way back in 2007, shared this on twitter recently.

“The fact is around 2009, in my mind I was actually exploring the path/possibility of Brahmacharya. But it was @SadhguruJV himself who had said that he felt that I would make a bigger difference in society if I returned and lived in society and lived a Grahastha life.” Utkarsh’s tweet

Utkarsh Naithani is the writer behind some of the popular mainstream deity stories like Devon ke Dev Mahadev and many more.

It was at Isha that I was introduced to the globetrotting lifestyle. Many foreigners who traveled perpetually landed up at this ashram. As I spent time volunteering with these women, I wondered, if foreign women can travel solo across India, why can't I?!

Thus, while my ashram stay brought a lot of new experiences, I soon moved on to a digital nomad life. 

From Ashram to Digital Nomad Life

In 2008, I went on my first “solo trip”. And there was no looking back thereafter. Then woman travelling alone wasn't as common as it is today. And digital nomad life wasn't as popular as it became post-COVID. I worked on digital marketing projects while I traveled initially across India and then the world.

I did my advanced Isha yoga practices every single day. They kept me grounded and balanced in a way that was unusual for people my age. I saw around me people getting caught up in myriad life struggles. Because of my ashram life experience, I felt I was able to focus on the deeper aspects of life and sail through ups and downs very well. People around me have seen and commented on this aspect. 

It was this inner empowerment that allowed me to scale up my travel adventures and intensity of life. In 2015, I went for my first solo cycle touring ride from Berlin to Copenhagen. I was the first solo Indian woman doing this sort of traveling then. 

Solo cycle touring in Denmark. 

After my extensive travelling, that too solo and self-funded, I hope people don't accuse me of being “brainwashed”. 

Or maybe my brain was actually washed of many preconceived notions and usual rut of life so that I could rethink how I wanted to LIVE!

A few well-wishers ask my parents even today, when I am over 40 years of age, “how are you allowing your daughter to travel like this?” 

However, I think a lot of mature adults in India do understand that parents cannot be directing the lives of their children beyond a certain age. And I think after fifteen years of intense solo travel, my friends and family have understood that this is my groove. I love it. It works for me. 

The foreigners on the other hand, when they find me in their corner of the world cycling or camping, are amazed that an Indian woman is doing this. With fascination they ask me, “What led you to cycle tour? You are the first Indian woman we have met cycle touring!”

I have usually responded by telling them that my Yoga Guru is like that. He is the powerful inspiration that keeps my heart humming unstoppably towards creating a life that makes sense for me. 

SADHGURU, the Inspiration 

It was only after many years that Sadhguru went on the 30,000 km bike ride, also starting in Europe, for the Save Soil campaign. And I felt in my heart that this is my Guru. That is how I toured/cycled solo across eight countries. I had the time of my life. 

“The Only and Only purpose of Life is for this piece of life to find its ultimate possibility. Whether you are an earthworm or a grasshopper or a bird or an animal or a tree or a human being. This is the only purpose every life has that it wants to grow to its full potential.” ~ Sadhguru (source)

My story is just one amongst the millions touched and transformed by Sadhguru. A few thousand of those people choose to be within the Isha Foundation organization - married, monk or neither. 

And the other MILLIONS are busy flowering in whatever life they are living outside the organization. Whether it is the corporate world, catalysing social change, married life or like me an intrepid solo traveler.

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Author Priyanka Dalal has a profound love for spiritual exploration and travel. She documents her adventures on her blog MapRoute and youtube channel InSpirituality