Born and raised in India, TJ and his parents immigrated to the US in 1997 and landed in Atlanta. After a year of study there, he transferred to University of California Irvine, where he earned his B.S. in Computer Science and his M.S. in Computer Science while he worked full time for IBM. The company he co-founded with his partners moved to Santa Monica (against his better judgment at the time) and he discovered that every second person was sporting a yoga mat under his or her arm. Despite the fact he was born in yoga’s homeland, he had his doubts. Nevertheless, curiosity got the best of him and he began to try out yoga classes. Eventually, he stumbled upon Kourtney’s yoga class.
Born and raised in Minnesota, Kourtney moved to Los Angeles in 2002 to pursue her MFA at UCLA. Having practiced a little bit of yoga over lunch hours while working in advertising in Minneapolis, Los Angeles provided so many opportunities to deepen her practice. She began teaching part time in 2006 while pursuing her acting career. Not long after that, yoga and wellness would provide more joy than any role and become a full time career.
One Thursday night in 2010, a sweaty bald guy sporting a gold chain and florescent blue tennis polo showed up in Kourtney’s class. He had some alignment issues that needed addressing promptly. Discussions of alignment led to conversations about the music played in class. A few months into these conversations, TJ asked Kourtney out after class. She wasn’t feeling it, and it is never a good plan to date a student. She politely declined. He asked her out 6 more times over the better part of a year. She politely declined each time, though she was really enjoying his company at this point. He asked her out one more time. Kourtney’s mother suggested that she just give the poor guy a chance. She agreed to attend a play with him (he enjoys the theatre!!). However, Queen of Boundaries, she insisted on meeting him there and paying for dinner. They had a lovely evening and many lovely evenings after that. Kourtney even started to call them dates.
On one of these dates, TJ “cooked” for Kourtney (he heated up his mother’s amazing Indian cooking). She was in heaven and laughing at the fact her spice tolerance was a bit higher than Jagannathan’s. He was pleased to soon learn that she loved and respected his family’s culture and traditions. Kourtney might have even reminded TJ of a couple of Hindu holidays along the way….
In December of 2011, TJ’s lease was up and he needed to move. Kourtney knew that a long-time student and friend of hers managed properties in Santa Monica. One day after class she asked her friend if she had any great apartments in the area opening up. She smiled and said that tenants in a place a few steps from the yoga studio had just given notice and would be moving out in weeks. They went to see it, and Kourtney was shocked that it was the very place she had walked by for six years on her way to class, always thinking “what a great place, beautiful gardens…and so quiet.” He’ll take it!
TJ had been asking Kourtney to move in since June 2011. Ever the Independent Woman, she kept hesitating even though they spent all of their free time together. But now she had picked out her perfect place for him….right next to her job. She felt her Spirit Guides high five each other when she gave notice on her apartment on February 1, 2012. Kourtney and TJ began a beautiful tradition of many nights in, making dinner, sipping wine and talking for hours and hours.
In August of 2012, TJ thanked Kourtney’s mother for talking some sense into her stubborn daughter. He then asked her parents for her hand in marriage. 22 months after their first not-date, TJ proposed to Kourtney on October 1, 2012, with a home full of flowers, candles and rose petals creating a path from the door to TJ on bended knee. She said yes. They ordered pizza, opened a beautiful bottle of wine and spoke of their plans for hours and hours.
Long story short, thank heavens for yoga. When one begins a practice, one never knows the treasures that will be revealed.