The Devi sisters, all qualified yoga teachers, were born and raised in Britain within a first generation Indian family. Here, they talk to OM about their own individual yoga experiences

Meet the Devi sisters, raised in a first generation Indian family of six siblings (five girls and one boy). All the four girls featured here — Kam, Sunita, Raman and Kiran — are qualified yoga instructors. A true Indian yoga family. But first, let’s start at the beginning. The Devi girls (and siblings, Angie and Sunny) were brought up in a small mining town in the West Midlands in the 1970s and 1980s, born to Indian parents from the north of India who came to the UK in the late 1960s.

“Our parents maintained their culture and traditions to the best they could and we have all been raised in a home that was loving and kind,” says Kam. “We come from a working class family and had very little when growing up, sharing clothes, colouring books and barbie dolls. Our parents would burn incense daily, have the morning prayers on at 5:30am and then the evening prayers at around 6:30pm; we grew up with chanting, mantra and a sense of spirituality.”

All went to university and found their own paths and had careers in education, training, teaching and mentoring. Fast forward to today, and the girls are living in different parts of the country, and at different stages in their lives…yet somehow all found a deep connection to yoga, which bonds them together in addition to their strong family ties.

“We have all practiced yoga for many years and then, organically, each one of us trained in our chosen style of yoga, not all at the same time, but roughly within a couple of years of one another,” adds Sunita. “It’s a bit surreal really, we didn’t plan this! It was an organic process, almost like something we were meant to do, when the time was right…and here we are now!”

KAM, 49

How did you first get into yoga?

I have always been into movement, exercise and the gym from my late teens. I got into yoga 15 years ago after having my second son. I initially found hot yoga because I had heard how it could help you lose weight and I was desperate to tone up and shape my body. I was hooked from the first class.

The experience of moving the body in a heated room was extraordinary. It made me feel great and I became a regular client at the yoga studio.