India’s first LGBT-friendly yoga retreat to open soon

Over a decade ago, Varun Singal left his home town in Chandigarh to start a new life in Melbourne. Growing up gay in a conservative household and society, he admits that he was fortunate to get away. “I was lucky. Australia became my escape,” he says. Now 31, and based in Goa, he wants to ensure that nobody from the LGBTQ community in India feels the way he did all those years ago, consumed by a need to ‘escape’.

By then, Singal’s own relationship with his parents had become more comfortable. His coming out process, though, took nearly five years. “They were educated enough, but because of the society we are a part of, they lived in fear of being shunned. I had to explain to them that this was not my choice or in my control... we discussed things, I answered questions,” he says, adding that they were instantly on board when he told them about Simply Yoga. They even accompanied him when he was location scouting in Goa. “It’s like they’re the producers and I’m the cameraman. I have to account for every dollar that I’m spending,” he says, laughing.

No discrimination here