Rukmini Ando talks about her introduction to yoga, the similarities between formal meditation and creating art, and how teaching gets her out of the way.
Rukmini Ando has been practicing Yoga since 2004 and has been teaching since 2010. She is certified in Advanced Integral Yoga, Adaptive Yoga, Stress Management, Yoga of Recovery, and Raja Yoga. She currently serves as program development director, graphic designer, and Yoga teacher, and is a member of the Diversity Equity and Inclusion Committee as well as the Leadership Team at Satchidananda Ashram–Yogaville. She holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and is also a fine artist, specializing in oil-on-canvas.
Quotes from the Interview:
* I think it’s much easier when we’re focusing on others because then you kind of have to step up in order to raise others’ vibration. If I’m just by myself I perhaps don’t feel that need as much as if I am in relation to other people, so I think being able to connect with others is really important to find that motivation.
* It’s funny because I am such a social person but when it comes to my art, nothing else exists. It’s just that piece, the colors, the textures, the arrangement of things…and the creation just happens and I don’t know how it happens but it happens and I completely lose sense of time.
* That to me is the real karma yoga when we are completely out of the picture and we 100 percent want to serve others.
* [Teaching] is definitely something I want to continue to do until the last day of my life.
