In Real Life with Meera Venkatesh, Yoga Master

Welcome back to In Real Life, where I sit down with colleagues at Microsoft that are doing amazing things both at and outside of work.

This week, I’m bringing you Meera Venkatesh, who is a director of operations for our commercial marketplace team by day, and teaches yoga and meditation for Sky System and volunteers for the Seattle Chapter of the Asha for Education by evening and weekends.

In this video, Meera talked with me about the importance of yoga in her life, and I know it’s even more important now. We filmed our chat before COVID-19 took center stage in the world, and Meera told me that she’s taken her sessions online since the lockdown, expanding beyond her existing classes with specific aspects to help kids, parents, healthcare practitioners and a few Microsoft teams as well. 

“The exercises and meditation are practiced by those who have learned the yoga and meditation much more vigilantly now as the specific neuromuscular breathing exercises helps enhance lungs capacity, oxygenizes the body, improves blood and energy circulation, thereby improving immunity,” Meera said. “Meditation is helping practitioners deal with additional stress, anxiety and uncertainty of these times much more calmly, with optimism that this too shall pass.”

A yoga teacher for 20 years, Meera has certainly embodied the concept of “this too shall pass.” Teaching is her way of giving back to society while also refining her sense of personal value and fulfillment.

“The things that are thrown at me at work or personal situations change every day. Teaching others helps me refine myself and I’m a better version of myself every day I teach,” she said.

And what a truth that is! Through service and teaching, we become better versions of ourselves.

My experience with yoga was a few sessions of Hatha yoga with my sister, but that is quite different from Meera’s practice, Kundalini yoga, which she says can be practiced, “from 8 to 80, and beyond,” because it’s a simplified movement practice focused on three critical elements in the body: energy, air, and blood circulation.

Meera told me her older sister piqued her interest in yoga all those years ago, and she’s seen so much good come from teaching children and adults both yoga and meditation. She shared the story of her nephew, who has a mild special condition, and whom she’s seen improve tremendously in terms of attention span and ability to focus, by training his mind and body.

I think it’s particularly interesting to teach children these practices so they grow up with an awareness of the impact of their actions on both their physical and emotional wellbeing. Meera said that starting at age 8, body movement through yoga helps children grasp the importance of physical fitness, and starting at age 14, meditation helps corral the wandering mind we develop as teenagers to allow for improved attention both at school and at home.

On top of teaching, she’s also involved in fundraising for Asha for Education, a non-profit organization based in India focusing on rehabilitation of young children and providing them access to education. The Seattle Chapter is currently raising funds for 50 different projects, ranging from providing clean water to re-constructing schools in a tsunami region to acquiring textbooks, and more. Through Microsoft’s matching program, Meera is able to match her volunteer time spent fundraising, maximizing both her time and contribution to the cause. I’m so proud to work with individuals like Meera who follow their hearts and get involved with causes that matter to them.

If you’d like to learn more about Kundalini yoga or meditation, Meera has provided these resources:

·      Audio explanation from the Guru who taught Meera the system she teaches

·      An intro video to Kundalini yoga

That’ll do it for this installment of In Real Life. I hope you’ll join me next time for another look behind the scenes of Microsoft colleagues doing inspiring things outside of work, and in the meantime you'll find me on Twitter at @Cyarkoni.