As an alum of Winter term yoga, my chat with yoga instructor Prem Prakash was hands-down the highlight of my week. It was a little like trying chocolate for the first time, then being invited to meet Willy Wonka.
In my state of awe and admiration, I decided to start off with one of Middlebury’s favorite questions: How did you get here?
“I bumbled blindly backwards into yoga as a career,” he said.
Prakash first developed an interest in yoga while growing up in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, a thorough search through the yellow pages yielded just one yoga center in the whole city. To top it off, it was all the way across town, too far for his parents to drive him on a regular basis. The pursuit would require a great deal of personal initiative.
Eventually, he got to know some true masters of the art who would help him along the way. Among them was Baba Hari Dass, an Indian guru in the midst of a vow of silence. Using a chalkboard for communication, he trained Prakash and gave him permission to teach. To date, the yogi has not spoken in 58 years.
With this in mind, I felt especially fortunate to be able to engage in chalkless conversation with Middlebury’s very own expert. Prakash discovered the Green Mountains during a biking trip through New England. After making his way through Maine and New Hampshire, he arrived in Vermont and promptly decided to stay for good.
Since he began teaching at Middlebury in 1994, he has witnessed some massive changes in the world of yoga.
“Back then, I was teaching one class a week, and it was really small,” he said. “Suddenly yoga became this popular, cool thing. Madonna, Sting and Rosie O’Donnell started doing it, and it got on the map.”
These days, he is on campus every day teaching yoga and meditation. He also teaches in town at the Green Mountain School of Yoga. As he put it, “The world caught up with me. People are paying me to do what I love to do.”
Prakash emphasized the importance of experience over individual belief systems when it comes to yoga.
“You can believe that Elvis is riding around on a flying saucer — it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Your body and your breath are real. In yoga and meditation you have to deal with that reality: How do you become comfortable in your own skin?”
For students making the transition from adolescence to adulthood, this concept is extremely relevant to daily life.
As Prakash discusses in his classes and written works (including his personal favorite, Yoga American Style), he details how the principles of yoga focus on eliminating the stressors that most impede our happiness.
“There are four obstructions to fulfilling your potential: hurry, worry, fear and self-doubt,” he explained. “Yoga and meditation practice help to expose the roots of these obstructions. Once the root is perceived, then it can be pulled out.”
Once this has been accomplished, he continued, one can enjoy the four “great gifts”: health, prosperity, a purposeful life and spiritual development.
At Middlebury, where students seem to be continually raising the bar for what constitutes over-scheduling and overworking, the idea of purifying one’s life is especially appealing.
“If you don’t find a way to deal with [the pressure], it can be overwhelming,” he said.
One thing he wanted to make clear: everyone finds that kind of peace differently. “My goal isn’t for people to become yoga teachers and grow their beards,” he said. “My goal is to share skills that they can use to empower themselves and fulfill themselves on their own terms.”
“Middlebury College is a great place,” he continued. “Take the time while you’re here to nurture yourself whatever way works for you so you can take advantage of your years here. Find your passion at Middlebury, then go out into the world and make it a better place. Learn to give more than you take.”
Staff Spotlight: Prem Prakash
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