From Trails to Transformation, A TedX Talk By Izzat Yaganagi

Izzat Yaganagi, head of InSOUL, was invited to deliver a TEDx talk at the reputed DPS Bangalore North campus on 25th July 2025. The theme for the talk was Triumph Redefined.

In this powerful and heartwarming TEDx talk, Izzat Yaganagi, trekker, counselor, and director at Indiahikes School of OuUtdoor Learning unpacks how an unexpected classroom lies hidden amid rugged trails, not lecture halls.

Here is the full transcript of the talk.

Fresh from the Mountains

So I have just returned from Georgia, trekking in the Caucasian mountains between Georgia and Russia, and just arrived back this morning. So if I sound a little incoherent at times, please forgive me, but it was a beautiful experience as it always is in the mountains, and I feel refreshed and rejuvenated. 

My mind is clear, all of that. I'm also very happy to be here today to be among all of you, and to share the little bit that we have learned and observed over the years. As was introduced, I'm Izzat, and I head the Indiahikes School of Outdoor Learning. I've been a part of this endeavor for the last 13 years, and I still look forward to every day. I guess by the end of today's talk, you will know why that is. 

So just before I left for Georgia, I got a call from a teacher, and she told me that something very interesting happened, and something that she's really happy about. 

The Power of Change in the Outdoors

There was a child from the school who accompanied other children who went on a trek, a day hike around here in Bangalore. This was a child who had special needs. When our trek leader came back, he narrated that there was a child who did not mingle with others, who was to himself, and got a little agitated when he was in the company of others. So he stayed away most of the time. 

He slowly changed, and by the time he reached the summit that day, he was sitting very close to the trek leader, slowly joining the group; he didn't want to be away. 

He showed interest in what was happening and wanted to engage. When he came back, I got a call from the teacher a few days before I left. She said that he's different even in school, and he seems more engaged now. He seems to have opened up. 

He doesn't seem to want to be on his own. The other students in the class are a little more receptive towards him. That really made my day, and it is also the reason why I continue doing what I do, because I've seen the effect and the impact that the outdoors has on somebody. 

The “Troublemaker” Who Found Purpose on the Trail

It also reminded me of another child. His name is changed here. I'll call him Adi so that it's easier to speak. So Adi was also a child who had a lot of issues in school. He was known as a troublemaker, and he always got into trouble. He came badly dressed many times because he was in scuffles and fights, and his grades were low, and most of the time, children stayed away from him because he would get into fights all the time. 

Fortunately, the school took the students on a trek, and something very amazing happened. Adi in the outdoors was very different from Adi indoors. It was almost like the walls around him were just suddenly broken. It was like his spirit was free. You could see a smile on his face. You could see him running around because he could run here. 

He was not in a classroom. Here, we told all of them that yes, you have to pick up the garbage you see on the trail because we need to leave the mountains better than we find them.  Adi got fully into it. 

He had his eco bag, and he kept running around looking for garbage. Once his bag was full, which happened in about 10 minutes, he started picking up garbage and filling other people's bags. 

So all the children's bags were filled by the end of the day, and he needed a sack. So then it almost seemed like he had something to do, and he did it so well. 

Not just this, he even saw that others were struggling. He was agile. He was strong, and he saw some other children struggling with the heavy bags. He'd go and help them. He would hold their hand in tricky sections. At one point, where there was a steep incline, I saw Adi carrying three bags and smiling and walking. He was helping everyone around him. 

Just imagine what a difference it is for him to see himself in this way, that he's doing something that others appreciate, and for others to also see him differently. This is the first time they saw who Adi truly was. 

You know that beautiful person inside that was hidden within the walls of the classroom; he could shine. And two years later, I spoke to one of the teachers from the school because I was a little curious about what happened to him. 

They said his grades have improved. He was doing really well. He dresses better. He keeps the campus clean because that thing got into his head that I have something that I can do which makes a difference in the planet, and everyone sees him differently. He sees himself differently. So this is a very small bit of the 13 years of experience with thousands of students that we have taken, and there are so many stories like this to tell. 

Why the Outdoors Brings Out the Best in Us

Here we see that when there's a change in environment, sometimes different people shine in different environments, just like different plants need different environments to grow. The outdoors are a perfect environment for almost anyone to shine. You cannot have pretenses when you're outdoors. 

After a few days or a few hours of struggle, your true self comes out, and most of the time, that true inner self is beautiful. It has strengths. It has talents. It has skills that you did not even know existed. 

Sometimes you don't know yourself until you put yourself out of your comfort zone, doing something different in a different environment. And that's what I've been seeing over the years while working with students in the outdoors. 

You must be wondering how this happened. 

My Turning Point: Kashmir Great Lakes Trek

Well, in 2011, when my kids were grown up, I went on my first Himalayan trek, and I went because I just thought I needed to get away from the city. I was just so bogged down with things around me. My mind was in a mess. Professionally, I seemed to be doing okay as a counselor and a trainer, but that didn't seem to be enough. 

I wanted to know what the rest of my life is going to look like because I could not see ahead, and a friend suggested this trek. I joined. I was really happy they accepted me. Then I reached up onto this high point on the Kashmir Great Lakes trek. I could see two lakes below me. We had walked up from these lakes. It was quite a struggle. It was beautiful, but it was difficult.

Reaching up there and feeling the wind in my face and just that silence and just being there like a speck in the universe, feeling I am nobody and my troubles are so insignificant. At the same time, I felt I was everything. I'm a part of this whole beautiful universe, and so there must be a role that I should play. 

That thought was so strong, and I've heard the same thought resonate in so many people, so many come back saying that they had tears at the summit, or they had tears while walking in the forest, or holding on to a tree, or looking at a beautiful flower. 

I know that these are turning points in people's lives, and very often it happens when you're outdoors. It happened after a struggle, which was a turning point, and I realized I needed to do something in the outdoors. 

From Counseling Rooms to Mountain Trails

I need to take my clients outdoors. If I can't take them, I will send them. So many of those who were in counseling with me for a year, 2 years, slow progress, sure progress, but not enough, you know. I said go on a trek, and one of them did. 

She went on a trek, and the next session was the last session with me. Now she's a constant trekker, and I feel so happy about it.

You know, when you reach a high point, it's like you can see the horizon around you; sometimes, when you're down, you can't see. When you're in the forest, you can't see where you need to go, so you need to reach somewhere where you can see the road ahead, and that is what happened on my first trek in Kashmir. 

The Younger They Start, the Deeper the Impact

After that, I came back, and I volunteered to go with a student group. This time, I said, let me see what happens with students. This was back in 2012. 

Then I saw that when children are out of their comfort zone, when they work together in teams, when they are cooperating and not constantly competing with each other, when they support each other, when they feel each other's pain, when all of them have their hands in freezing cold water, when they have to help in making their own food, the appreciation, those changes that happen within them, in their heart, in their soul - changes those children forever.

I completely decided, enough of my regular counseling work, enough of doing workshops and training, which I don't know how effective they were. I know they are effective, but here I saw something very different, so I just moved into this as an outdoor educator and as somebody who dreamt of starting adventure therapy, which started after 10 years down the line. 

That is what has brought me to working with students, young people, the youngest of young, and also up to the graduate level students from the IIMs that come with us, and what I have noticed is that the younger they are when they step out, the impact becomes part of their being. 

I know that many of you here have gone on treks. I know that you have started quite young, and I'm sure somewhere inside there, you have found a reason to keep going or something that has made a difference. If I ask any of you here, I'm sure you would tell me that we could speak about it later. 

So that was the story so far, and I would like to perhaps end with something to the parents and the teachers, anyone out there. 

Redefining Success: The Summit is Not Everything

So recently, last year, we had a summer camp for teens, for those between the ages of 15 and 17. There was this girl whose father really wanted her to reach the summit and take a picture on the summit. We knew that because he spoke to us about it, he said it's very important that she feels achievement in her life, that she feels like she has triumphed. 

So, for her, I think the summit picture is important. She needs to get there no matter what. So please encourage her. Unfortunately, she was too tired by the time we reached a point on the Chandashila trek. She stopped at Tungnath, and she just couldn't. But she didn't seem disappointed. She looked at peace. She looked content, and she said, "It's fine. I'll wait here, and the rest of them can go and come. I think I'll enjoy the peace". We were okay with it because she didn't seem troubled. 

But when that picture went to the father and he saw his daughters not in it, he just blew his head. He was so upset because he just sent her with one thing in mind, that success meant going to the summit, that is going to change everything for her. He was very upset. 

So in Rishikesh, when he came to pick her up, we were all a little bit worried, what's going to happen now, is he going to blame her, is she going to feel bad? She didn't seem to be worried at all; she was laughing, joyful from afar. 

He could see her with the other students happily walking, and even her body language was different. It was like an open posture of confidence, and she came and spoke about all the amazing things that happened on the trek, how they worked together, how they cooked, how they pitched tents, how her fear of heights vanished. Her fear of darkness vanished. Even talking to others, interacting with others, which she was a little hesitant about earlier. Now she was completely comfortable and confident talking to everyone, all the others. She had made so many friends, friends for life.

She said, seeing all this, something shifted in the father's head. He realized, just like we had already realized, that the summit is not everything. The way to the summit, the learnings on the way, the hardship that you face and overcome, the friendships that you make, and the beauty around you that touches your soul. All of these are triumphs. All of these are successes in their own way. And each and every one of them counts for us. That was really beautiful to see the father and daughter hug for him to realize that yes, what he wanted for his daughter happened, and much more. 

She got a realization that was much bigger than what he had in mind. So with that, my stories are over for today, but I have countless other stories that I would love to share at some point. For each and every one here, what I know is that there is something special in every individual. There is something that you have to find, and you discover it. 

Closing Reflections: Find Your Unique Triumph

You discover it in a challenge. You discover when you step out of your comfort zone. You discover it when you do something new. You discover it a lot when you step out into nature and into the mountains. So do that. 

Find what it is that makes you unique, makes you you, makes you that part of the universe which is connected to every other part and which is so important for the rest of the universe to also exist. Once you find your strength, your talent, use it for the rest of your life to develop it. Use it for yourself and use it in the service of others. I think that for me, triumph is redefined.