When Manju first visited Jersey, he was shocked to see how stressed people were despite all their material advantages. Realising that the greatest medicine people living here need is an antidote to stress, he went back to India and began to develop a style of yoga that would induce a deep state of physical and mental relaxation.

When Sian asked Manju what he was going to call his style of yoga, he immediately said ”Sanjeevani” which was the name of the healing herb found in the Himalaya in the famous Indian tale The Ramayana. At the time he said this was a good name as it paid tribute to the Himalayas which had played a key part in his life and also pointed to the healing qualities of his style of yoga.

Over the years the deeper meaning of his choice of name has been revealed to him. The story in The Ramayana is about the Sanjeevani herb bringing Lakshman back to life after having been ‘killed’ by Indrajit. Reading the letters Manju has received from students over the years describing the transformations they have experienced by attending his classes has made him understand the many ways that stress destroys people’s experience of life and that yoga offers a way back to a positive and fulfilling experience of life.

Having first taken up yoga herself as an antidote to stress, it was only natural that Sian’s own teaching style would align with Manju’s. Her particular focus on yoga philosophy and meditation makes her classes the perfect complement to Manju’s more physically active classes.’