On Yoga as a Work-In, Not a Work-Out with Indu Arora

Some things are simple by nature and we tend to complicate them.

Others are complex by nature and we dilute them.

Indu Arora (she/her) is a Yoga and Āyurveda teacher, mentor and author who has been sharing yoga philosophy, yoga therapy and Āyurveda for over two decades, taught in the traditional guru-śiṣya paramparā of the Himalayan, Kashmir Śaivism, Kriyā and Sivananda lineages. I had the joy of studying Yoga Nidrā with her in Melbourne recently, and this conversation is what happened when we sat down together afterwards.

Indu teaches that yoga is a work-in, not a work-out, and we spent time unpacking what that really means. Not the shape our body makes, but the journey inward, towards the breath, the mind, the internal organs, the deeper layers of who we are. She spoke about her mission to not complicate that which is simple by nature, and to not dilute that which is complex, and how so much of modern yoga has glamorised the physical while rushing past the philosophy that needs time to unfold.

We went deep into Yoga Nidrā, and the way Indu shares it is quite different from how many of us have come to understand it. It is not a technique for better sleep, she says, it is not really about nidrā at all. It is about yoga. She draws on the many texts and traditions that describe it in their own distinct ways, and the invitation to let it be as spacious and layered as it truly is.

We also talked about how to choose a teacher wisely, the red flags worth noticing, and the difference between what someone says and who they have actually are.

Indu was also generous enough to share a practice with us at the end, so consider yourself warned. There’s homework.

In this episode, we explore:

• Gratitude as a daily practice, and how contemplating death can deepen our capacity to live
• Indu’s journey into yoga from age 16, and the rare opportunity to live and study with her teacher
• What it’s like to learn yoga with no syllabus, where the focus is on ethics and morals rather than technique
• Why ‘getting out of your own way’ is the real, ongoing work of a teacher
• The pressure many practitioners feel to ‘know it all’ before they begin, and why comparison keeps us stuck
• Not complicating that which is simple by nature, and not diluting that which is complex
• Why Indu describes yoga as a work-in, not a work-out, drawing on both the Yoga Sūtras and Āyurveda
• What Yoga Nidrā actually is, and the many texts and traditions that describe it very differently
• How to choose a teacher wisely, the red flags to notice, and the difference between what someone says and who they have become
• A closing practice, Ātma Tattva Avalokanam, offered as an invitation for daily practice

Connect with Indu Arora

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