Belonging to the corporate world, Bharat’s odyssey from being a corporate professional to a yoga instructor is impressive and inspiring.

Bharat Dave is the founder of “Maitri Yoga'' and has been practicing yoga for the past five years. Prior to that, he was living a corporate life in the sales and marketing field.

Bharat shares that he was staying in Mumbai for twenty-five years and started off his career as an assistant store manager with Foresight Vision Care Company. After two years, he joined Fossil, a watch company, worked for seven and a-half years, and became a regional sales manager from a territorial one. However, he never felt content with his profession. He wanted to do something worthwhile, and since yoga was his passion, he hopped into it. To pursue it whole-time, he did level-three certification and a P.G. in Applied Yogic Science.

Bharat came to his hometown, Nathdwara, near Udaipur, during the lockdown and thought of starting his career in yoga in Udaipur. He already had an investor, so he started looking for spaces for twelve of his upcoming studios across the Western Region of India and wished to tap other states as well in the near future. He plans to have three studios in Udaipur at different localities and later expand to cities like Ahmedabad, Surat, Virar, and Navi Mumbai.

Bharat says that venturing into a start-up was a tough call. But having a zeal to do something bigger kept him positive, and finally, he tabled his resignation. However, initially he felt upset at leaving his twelve-and-a-half years of corporate life, but as soon as his paper got accepted, he regained his confidence and started his journey towards yoga.

Bharat feels blessed to have a family and wife who always had his back, as they motivated him to remain focused on his goal. The major challenge that he faced in his journey was making the crucial decision to follow his passion. He was relieved when he made the decision to move ahead with Maitri Yoga.

When asked about his role models, Bharat considers Yogesh Samat and Vasant Nangia as the greatest leaders and inspirations in his life who taught him life lessons and enabled him to reach where he is today. Coming into the field of yoga, he learned to balance his life completely. He extends credit to his teacher, Sandhya, for this. Therefore, he thought of changing people's lives by making a difference with the help of yoga.

In his free time, Bharat likes to play cricket and go trekking and hiking. Also, to build networks, make alliances, and be socially connected with people.