About Reema Datta

Reema Datta is a teacher, speaker, and mantra singer living in Taos, New Mexico. She has devoted her life to teaching yoga as a holistic practice, offering retreats and trainings that include mantra, meditation, movement, nutrition, and the wisdom of the original yoga texts, which she first learned from her family.

As a woman in this field, Reema shares a much-needed and missing female perspective. She’s blazing a trail toward teaching the authentic purpose of yoga: To experience freedom from kleshas – “destructive emotions” or “mind poisons,”– and realize our svadharma; our purpose, the unique gifts we were born to contribute to the world. After all, it is in the giving that magic happens and peace is experienced.

Since 2002, Reema has taught yoga and Ayurveda workshops and retreats in over 20 countries across five continents.

Reema was born into a family of yogis, and grew up in India and the United States. Her mother sang mantra to her from the time she was in the womb. Her grandmother was a practitioner of Ayurveda and demonstrated that a resilient mind is possible no matter our outer circumstances.

Reema’s grandfather gave seminars on Vedic philosophy throughout India, East Africa, and the United States. He wrote several books on the topic and was Reema’s first teacher of Vedic philosophy and pranayama.


Reema is a notable figure in the yoga world with students such as Sting, Paul Simon, Edie Brickell, Zainab Salbi, Sujatha Baliga, mental health professionals, and individuals worldwide.

In 2010, Reema made the decision to dedicate herself to her brainchild and personal journey to healing. This is how YATRI was born. This unique method offers a variety of programs, including a detailed curriculum of 200- and 300- hour teacher training programs, workshops, retreats, and master classes. YATRI is a holistic method for investigating the mind, motivations, and traumas with curiosity, boldness. and vulnerability to HEAL YOURSELF NOW™.

YATRI is rooted in the wisdom of the original yoga texts, such as the Upanishads, Bhagavad Gita, and Yoga Sutras that Reema first learned from her grandparents and parents. These texts focus on how to face our wounds, heal, and develop a stable and resilient mind. Cultivating the principles of YATRI’S four foundations: stories, choices, vision, and nourishment – Reema created a powerful program to confront and overcome the savage battle waged in our own minds that destroys our ability to thrive and be happy. With the goal of reaching higher levels of consciousness and awakening our creative potential, the holistic practice of YATRI leads us on a path to lasting peace, which is what yoga was designed for.


YATRI offers specific sequences of yoga that include the study of ancient wisdom texts, mantra, pranayama, movement, meditation, visualization, and contemplation to move through each of the major kleshas (which include attachment, anger, fear, isolation, jealousy, anxiety, shame, and depression). These practices are rooted in yoga, Ayurveda, and cutting-edge neuroscience. This groundbreaking program allows us to build a strong, stable and flexible mind.

Through YATRI, we come to understand our personal power – how we can shift the way we experience life and the ways we think, see, and do things. Science has proven time and time again that what we think about, we bring about. Mind is matter. YATRI forges a path for us to become conscious of our thoughts and shift our motivation so we can live a life filled with svadharma (purpose) and joy.

Reema received her undergraduate degree from Vassar College and her Masters degree from the London School Of Economics. She worked for the United Nations in New York City. She is author of the companion manual for the practices of YATRI titled: Alchemy: How to Change Your Thoughts & World (2021). She is co-author, with Leza Lowitz, of Sacred Sanskrit Words for Yoga, Chant and Meditation, published by Stonebridge Press (2004). Her albums, Truth Love Creation (2008) and Here’s My Heart (2010), were released by Nettwerk Music and are available on iTunes and Amazon.

Reema's greatest teacher is her feisty, strong, independent daughter.

TRAINING

2010: 300-Hour Teacher Training Certification in Tibetan Yoga, Yoga Studies Institute, Tucson, AZ

2008: Ayurvedic Therapist Certification, Indus Valley of Ayurveda, Mysore, India

2002: 200-Hour Teacher Training Certification in Ashtanga Yoga, It’s Yoga, San Francisco, CA

EXPERIENCE

  • 2021: Author of ALCHEMY: How to Change Your Thoughts & World.

  • 2016 to 2019: Teacher of 200- and 300- hour Yoga Alliance registered Teacher Training Programs

  • 2015: Founder of YATRI: YOGA FOR EMOTIONAL HEALING

  • 2008 to 2010: Mantra music albums, Truth Love Creation and Here’s My Heart, released by Nettwerk Music.

  • 2006 to 2008: Worked alongside oncologist, Dr. Mitchel Gaynor, who made groundbreaking strides in treating cancer through alternative therapies such as mantra, meditation, and pranayama.

  • 2004: Co-author, with Leza Lowitz, of Sacred Sanskrit Words for Yoga, Chant and Meditation, published by Stonebridge Press.

  • 2003 to Present: Studied and worked alongside North and South American Shamans offering yoga retreats that combine Native American and East Indian traditions.

  • 2003 to Present: Guest lecturer and teacher at wellness centers throughout Asia, Europe, North and South America, and in East and South Africa.

  • 2002 to Present: Guest teacher in Yoga Teacher Training Programs in the U.S., India, Thailand, and Indonesia