We are Bassanti & Mira Pathak, two Indian-German sisters with decades of experience teaching yoga. As children, we were taught asans, myths and yoga philosophy by our Indian father (who taught yoga in our community on the side) and many old remotely living Indian gurus. This ancient wisdom of our lineage coupled with the latest scientific research informs all our classes.
Mira studied at Bonn, Berlin and the Sorbonne in Paris, after which she gained over ten years’ office experience in various industries. She’s no stranger to stress-inducing situations. Bassanti was educated at Bonn, Harvard and Clark. A former Fulbright scholar, banker, film producer and screenwriter, she knows the different physical and mental challenges that academia and fast-paced and volatile industries can throw at people.
So after years of working towards something that did not reflect our life goals, we decided to let our strong bond as sisters and equally strong yoga background guide us in creating something we love with all our heart and which we knew would bring that much-needed wellbeing to the corporate world of London, ‘making employees healthier and employers happier’. Ten years on we now also operate globally.
Just one other company was providing corporate yoga back then, but it seemed to teach what we can only classify as vacuous gymnastics classes that put the label yoga on for effect. So Pathak Yoga was born! We were actually not just one of the first office yoga providers in London, but also the first company to provide chair yoga.
What kind of yoga do we teach?
We’re passionate about bringing body and breath awareness to you, improving wellbeing and happiness at work and in your private life.
We’d like to stress the similarities rather than the different interpretations of how you practise your yoga postures and movements (be it Vinyasa Flow, Ashtanga Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, Kundalini Yoga Kriyas etc.). In Yoga, no matter what path you choose (and there are those which have nothing to do with the physical practice), you focus not just on your immediate wellbeing, but on the long-term changes that your body and mind will benefit from.
Yoga allows you to improve your body’s chemistry and your brain’s architecture, freeing you from the old structures of thinking and feeling, in the process becoming calmer, healthier, more resilient, more productive, more contentrated and content overall.
The type of yoga we teach in our office yoga sessions does not just focus on Yoga postures and Pranayama breathing, but also on a less well-known part of Hatha Yoga: a set of energy-creating movements (kriyas). Its exercises are ideal for office workers: they target all the areas of the body that are challenged by a desk job and today’s sedentary lifestyle. For more information, look at our Services.
What do we do when we’re not in your office?
We teach in London and the surrounding areas. If you’re unsure about whether we cover your area, just contact us. We also teach in Köln, Germany on a monthly basis, globally live online as well as in select gyms around London: you can find her at the #1 London Luxury Health Club Third Space (if you’re a member – Tuesdays Soho 6.30 pm & 7.30 pm, Wednesdays City 8.30 pm, Thursdays Soho 12 & 1 pm, Saturdays Wimbledon 8.20 & 9.20 am, Tower 1.30 pm, Islington 4 pm) and the iconic Brockwell Lido (affordable pay as you go options – Timetable: Wednesdays 5.30-7 pm, Fridays 10.30-12 noon).
As a yoga and mindfulness expert with a deep understanding of neuroscience, Bassanti offers resilience training as well as speeches and talks on various topics ranging from stress management to yoga for parents & children.
Occasionally she still works as a scriptwriter and her latest creative outpourings can be found in CBeebies’ children’s TV series Happy Tent Tales.