About Me — Megna Paula
living yoga and loving life.
When I am not practicing yoga, teaching yoga, reading, thinking, and writing about yoga, then you’ll find me running, playing tennis or singing with my guitar, gardening, and making beautiful plant based meals. But really, it all comes down to yoga.
My first memory is of my father showing me how to sit in padmasana, lotus pose, the classic seat of the Buddha and every yogi, ever. He doesn’t remember that day. I don’t know why I do — I hadn’t yet learned to walk, don’t have any other memories from that time, but that moment was, and is, golden to me. Something in me recognized and loved the intricacy of body movement.
I didn’t formally learn yoga until I was 18, leaving behind a lifetime of Indian classical dance training, performing, and teaching, to immerse myself as a pre-med neuroscience student at Duke. I slowly lost interest in Western medicine and naturally fell for Pilates, spin, running, and Ashtanga Yoga. From my very first yoga class, I knew: I would teach. I also knew: I had to master the push up first.
The journey of strength was a long time coming. Along the way to my pretty-perfect pushup, I put in a million hours of struggling pushups, as well as training and teaching barre, beginning and ending a career in Neuroscience research, several yoga teacher trainings, and a momentous move to Manhattan.
Here I am, writing from my East Village walkup, an oasis of vibrant plant life and mirrored yoga studio space. Yoga has been my eye of the storm that we are all weathering together — the pandemic, the protests, the curfews and lockdowns and tender revivals of social life. I cannot imagine being happy, healthy, and creatively inspired without my practice. I am on my mat many hours a day, practicing creative flows as well as Ashtanga’s second series, which is rigorous, and demanding… as is life. I learn and I teach how to unlock the inner grace, power, and resilience that lives within us all.
You can find more about my teaching on megnapaula.com, subscribe to my newsletter, and connect with me on instagram, Facebook, twitter, youtube, and my new blog Conscious and Curious.
