Dressed in a loincloth, Baba Ramdev whips through a series of yoga poses as millions watch him on television. The sun has just begun to peep over the horizon but the hirsute guru is already leading his charges. If you sweat this much in the morning, you will never get old, he says, the left eye winking involuntarily. Ramdev says pranayama, the art of breath control, can cure an array of diseases. Its practice leads to a surge in kundalini energy, he intones as his belly makes waves with each sharp intake of air. Around him, the men and women start breathing in unison, eyes closed. Some faces begin to show a near-mystical glow. They are entering the zone.

Is yoga as pensive an activity as Ramdev wants it to be? Not quite. Some yoga teachers, in the true tradition of yogic postures, are turning the exercise culture on its head. They crack jokes, chant to peppy songs and hang out with disciples once the sessions are over. Garima Batra Sharma, founder of The Yoga Lounge, believes in being less solemn. There is a perception we belong to another planet. But I don't let people take things too seriously in my class, she says. The idea is not attainment, she explains, flow instead. Really? So, what about obtaining spiritual creaminess? Very few seek that. Most come to lose weight.

These yoga gurus dont claim to be saints or prophets or that they emit cosmic energy. I am a new-age yogini. I love to dance, travel and dress excitingly, says Deepika Mehta, who coached actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Bipasha Basu for Dhoom 2. Must the road to enlightenment be paved in sincerity? Not all all. Fun is important. Once in a while, I crack a joke. After class, I hang out with students. We chill out, drink coconut water, get breakfast and get really silly sometimes, laughs Mehta.

Television yoga guru Suneel Singh, 52, too, has a tendency to lighten things up. There are two simple therapies. One is laughter yoga and the other, clapping yoga, he says. Everyone laughs. Theres no judgement." Singh belives ego is the enemy of both humour and yoga.

The new bunch of yoga teachers do not believe in giving gyan. Not everyone is on a spiritual path. Some are in search of a social environment, too, says Navneet Joshi, who trains corporate clients of Kairali Ayurvedic Group. Sharma remembers during the early days of her studio when she had shown the door to a man who had come in search of phone numbers rather than enlightenment. But Joshi believes there is scope for spiritual networking, and Sharma allows social networking by way of yoga selfies (self-photos). I understand the excitement that comes when doing the headstand for the first time. I oblige them with a picture that I email to them.

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Pune-based Jaspreet Singh, a yogi, cites the tranquillity he has found after twisting his body into knots. Sometimes, he says, his third eye itches. Who your yoga teacher is and what he represents are no small matters in modern life, he says. Once I fell asleep in the middle of savasana (corpse pose) and started to snore lightly (I was told). They just left me there until the class ended. I woke up to an empty room and saw the teacher putting away the mats. But there is no embarrassment here. Singh says, If we refuse to feel embarrassed, liberation is ours.

Celebrity yoga teacher Payal Gidwani, who coaches star couple Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan, says there is no need to feel ashamed, even when some poses force wind out. This is the purpose of yoga -- to relieve suffering, and flatulence. Relieving wind is illusory, philosophises Singh. You are not the body, and therefore not the karta (doer).

Yet the fear of being embarrassed refuses to let go. As Gidwani points out, Thousands of years ago, yoga was practiced only by men. It was designed by men, for men. Yet today, getting the men in is not always easy. Sharma says, There's one man for every five women in a class. Mostly, men accompany wives. Also, most men leave after a month or two. It's the women who are consistent.

Paloma Gangopadhyay, director, Bikram Yoga India, says, men initially find themselves stiff and inflexible. But the 26 postures done in a studio that is toasty at 42 degrees Celsius gets them hooked.

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Yoga, with a few jokes thrown in