TA Spotlight | Sabbi Lall
Oct 28, 2025
1. What do you do for a living? Where are you from and where do you live now?
I'm trained as a scientist. I freelance edit scientific research papers and work as a TA at Yogic Studies. I am also a graduate student at Harvard Divinity School where I study Buddhist and Hindu traditions and am training as a Chaplain. I grew up in the UK, but live in Boston now.
Sabbi on the Yogic Studies Sacred Sites of Maharashtra trip, 2024
2. What originally brought you to Yogic Studies? What was your first course?
My first course was the first YS course! I was teaching yoga, and my curiosity about the history and philosophy of yoga had already been roused. So I signed up for an online conference and was blown away by Seth's talk on the art historical record covering postural yoga and Philipp Maas' talk on the authorship of the oldest commentary on The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali. I have to say I was hooked by the presence of yoga paṭṭas in the sculptural record and I still remember telling anybody who would listen about the matsyendrāsana images at Hampi (Seth had shown these in his slides)!!! When Seth offered his first online course, I signed up immediately!
3. What did you research for the Yogic Studies Advanced Certificate Program and the Sanskrit Advanced Certificate Program capstone research projects?
Yoga paṭṭa images! More specifically, there is a deity, Ayyappan, who appears wearing such a strap in temple images in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. I researched the images of him as well as the narratives around him and the annual pilgrimage to his shrine at the Sabarimala Sree Dharma Sastha Temple. For SACP, I worked on researching and translating the Strīparvan of the Mahābhārata.
4. How has studying with Yogic Studies impacted your life and career?
It changed my life. During the first Yogic Studies trip to Karnataka, I had a moment of clarity in the temple at the Sri Sharadamba Temple when I realized that I needed to go back to school and dive deeper into the wisdom traditions we were discussing (in my bookish way as well as through practice). I remember Seth telling me later "you're not the first person to have their life changed by going to India." Very true. I had visited India before as my parents are Punjabi, but the Yogic Studies trip had a profound effect. The timing, the place (the shrine to the goddess), our very wise guide, and my amazing fellow pilgrims created the conditions for that clarity.
Sabbi on the first Yogic Studies Sacred Sites of Karnataka trip, 2020
5. What is one of your favorite courses or most memorable experiences studying at YS?
I honestly love them all (Sanskrit, Yogic, and Buddhist Studies)! I learn something new in each course, both from the Professor and also from my fellow students. There are many memorable moments: those moments where we see Seth's infectious love of sharing knowledge, Jim Mallinson's cadence when he's reading Sanskrit, Antonia Ruppel mentioning that even when the world is beyond awful we can turn to Sanskrit and there is useful wisdom there, Finnian Gererty blowing us away with new insights into the written syllable Oṃ, Varun's Mario World analogy for delusion about the self... the list is long. (Plus there is that time Seth's very cute kids ran into the Zoom room).
6. What has been your favorite or most memorable experience as a TA?
I really like it when the Professor surprises us. There was one time when Edwin Bryant suddenly got up and grabbed his laptop and walked us to see a mūrti on the other side of the room. As a TA, I was worried that we'd lose the technical connection, but then I was swept away by his getting really excited and just needing to share something with us then and there. That passion for knowledge and for sharing it is an attribute that every one of the YS faculty has.
7. What do you plan to do once you finish your degree at the Harvard Divinity School?
In my ideal world I'd be a Chaplain and also a researcher in this field. Both roles tap into the wisdom of yoga texts: the former uses the knowledge and praxis to support those at difficult moments in their life, the latter because there is so much that we have yet to learn from these texts and traditions!
You can follow and connect with Sabbi online: https://www.instagram.com/yoga_sabbi
Our TA/student spotlight series highlights the experiences and studies of the Yogic Studies community. If you have a story to tell and would like to be featured, send us an email at [email protected].
