Meet our YTT Grads – Peter Ashok Baragon
Where do you live? What do you do in your life apart from yoga?
I live in beautiful Vancouver, I was born and raised here. I have my own business working with real estate companies as an exterior stager for presentation/sales centres around Metro Vancouver.
What motivated you to begin practicing yoga? How did yoga come to be a part of your life?
The initial motivation was to help stretch out before and after a work-out at the gym, then I began to enjoy the yoga class from the meditative side, the spiritual side. My teacher at the time was very encouraging, and helped me explore this. Eventually the class was more than a stretch class; it became my “everything” class. I found myself wanting to sit quietly more than to move in poses, and Be. Thinking back, I remember as a young child watching yoga on TV and being fascinated with it, and my memory of that program is clear today.
What attracted you to the SSCY YTT program?
I was visiting a friend on SSI at the time, and one afternoon he said, “We have to go and see Babaji at the centre today”. My response was, “Who? …Where?” We would return for asana classes from time to time over the next year and always felt at home at the centre. This is before the YTT program was in place, in the late 90’s. I was encouraged by a yoga teacher to be a teacher, so I looked for a centre/school for my YTT and after months of looking I returned to the place where it all began, SSCY!
What aspect of yoga has had the most transformative effect on your life?
My practice as a whole has helped me see myself, my role as a teacher, and my perspective on the world differently than before I started this yoga. I’ve become more patient, more compassionate, more forgiving, and more open to the experiences that unfold every day.
Please share some memorable moments – or a favourite moment – from YTT.
There were several, but one memory that stands out was that I was one of four men in the group.The class was mostly women; I was a part of the minority and this was source of good humoured remarks. YTTs are mostly made up of women, so to be surrounded with a lot of female energy, I have to admit, had its yin/yang moments.
What can students expect from the yoga teacher training at the Centre?
They can expect a comprehensive yoga teacher training covering all the aspects of yoga, in a fun supportive and loving environment. The student will become a teacher within a family community here. Good friendships are made at the SSCY and YTT.
Do you have any favourite quotes?
I have many… I use them as mantras. Today’s is “allow and surrender”
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Read Peter’s contributions to our Asana of the Month series: