“I see yoga and travel both as forms of movement — a crucial part of life,” says yoga and travel influencer Anahita Pangtey. “Yoga is all about getting comfortable with the unknown. It’s finding new ways to move the body through asanas, controlling your breath with pranayamas and finding a centred self through meditation. I see the same thing while I travel. It puts you in uncomfortable spots, but there is so much growth as one becomes comfortable with the unknown,” explains Pangtey, one look at whose Instagram page depicts her holding asanas against scenic backgrounds, from Kerala to Ladakh and Meghalaya to Karnataka. “Places and spaces hold energy and our bodies react to different kind of energies differently. In Delhi, the air is in complete contrast with the forests of Kerala, in the lap of greenery and Nature. I’ve organised such retreats where the idea is to rest both your mind and your body, and travel offers just that.”

Vesna Jacob, a physiotherapist who works in fitness, allows the absorption of Pilates — and even pole dancing — into her practice. “It works well together because different movements fulfil different needs that my body has. While Pilates recovered my body after the many surgeries I’ve had over the years, pole dancing has allowed me to explore the art of movement with a vertical apparatus,” says the 47-year-old, who loves integrating elements of different disciplines “to get the body to do what you wish for it to do”. She adds, “My knowledge is like a toolbox that I keep enriching — I’m using my knowledge as a physiotherapist, movement specialist, yoga teacher — so I can bring in elements of different parts depending on the body’s needs.”

Yoga also allowed wellness coach and consultant Avantika Kochar deliverance from years of injuries as a professional ballet dancer. The 32-year-old combines ballet and Ashtanga yoga — which emphasises the union of the eight limbs of yoga — into one holistic system. “I’ve done my master’s thesis on the correlation between yoga and ballet… In ballet, the intention is performance; it’s also very lower-body oriented. Whereas Ashtanga yoga involves a lot of upper-body training and strength. As a complementary practice, it supplemented conditioning time and helped ease the toll on my body as a ballet dancer,” Kochar feels.

Having worked with liberal arts students, doctors, dancers, she feels all bodies respond to yoga as a healing force. “I portray yoga as an amalgam of bhakti (religious), hatha (physical) and gyana (academic) persuasion,” she signs off.