Dr. Mala first got introduced to Hatha yoga as a graduate student in the year 1982 at the Banaras Hindu University. Seeing her passionate involvement with yoga, her yoga teacher Mrs Das who was trained in the Sivananda tradition, remarked, “you should continue doing yoga. I can always see the glow of inner peace within you, after a yoga session ”. Dr. Mala continued her practice throughout her stay at B.H.U while she finished her M.A. in Philosophy and enrolled for a Ph.D in philosophy. Even at this stage her main aim of doing yoga was to find inner balance and peace alongwith fitness. She completed her Ph.D in 1993 and soon after was awarded a 2 year Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) from the Indian Council of Philosophical Research. As a requirement for the JRF she took up teaching philosophy to graduate students in the University of Allahabad.The year 1997 brought her to Military station in Wellington, a hill station near Ooty in south India. In Wellington, she became an expert horse rider and an avid golfer. She participated twice in the ceremonial Ooty Hunt Club rides.
After a year when she moved to Trivandrum, in the southern state of Kerala,Dr. Mala joined the Sivananda Yoga center in Trivandrum in 1998. After completing the advanced level course, Encouraged by the power of yoga, on the advice of the Head at the Trivandrum center, she enrolled for the Teachers Training Course (TTC) at the Sivananda Ashram at Neyyar Dam, near Trivandrum in January 2000.
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