Yoga teacher, healer, and artist Sala Watura shares how his classes are spaces to “meet yourself". Shaped by growing up queer and creative in a rigid middle-class Colombo family during Sri Lanka’s war, feeling pressured to follow a prescribed life and learning to hide behind a “safe” persona Sala has broken free from all these binds and spends his life helping others to meet themselves.
After entering advertising in his late teens, managing major accounts, and then losing both parents, he numbed grief through alcohol, drugs, and nonstop work, later fleeing to the south to run a beach bar and restaurant while becoming a new father.
A last-minute yoga teacher training with his friend’s teacher, followed by COVID shutdowns, supported sobriety and deeper practice, helping him shed old layers and reconnect with purpose. He discusses yoga as an eight-limbed system of breath, inquiry, and union beyond gender duality, notes more men entering yoga, and describes plans for retreats, queer community work, Ayurveda, and bridge-building through Sri Lanka’s wellness and tourism.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction to Podcast & Sala
3:28 Life on Sri Lanka's South Coast
5:34 Growing Up in Colombo
7:12 The Script and Being Queer
11:20 War Years and Identity Masks
16:12 Advertising Career and Loss
19:31 Hitting Reset in the South
22:33 Yoga Training and Covid Shift
35:05 Men, Masculinity and The Mat
39:26 Queerness and Union
43:34 Teaching, Healing and Sri Lanka
49:34 Retreats, Ayurveda and What's Next
Find out more about Sala here:
Website https://www.salasbananas.com/
Sala on Youtube Shorts
Instagram SalasBananas
Title: Sri Lanka: Modern Perspectives from an Ancient Melting Pot
Host: Dee Gibson — Sri Lankan-born, award winning designer based in London and founder of boutique hotel Kalukanda House in Sri Lanka. www.kalukandahouse.com | instagram @deegibson2017 & @kalukandahouse
Podcast Themes:
- Modern Sri Lankan identity and culture
- Architecture, art, and design
- Sustainability and heritage
- Diaspora experiences and storytelling
Why Listen:
This podcast offers deep, intelligent storytelling about Sri Lanka’s evolving identity — a blend of East and West, ancient and modern. It’s for listeners who love culture, travel, architecture, and thoughtful conversation.
