Tihar Jail Organizes Yoga Teachers Training Programme For Inmates

After the celebration of the World Yoga day on the 21st day of 2015 where there were more than ten thousand inmates of the prison, it was decided that Tihar jail will produce 200 yoga teachers. These yoga teachers will earn their livelihood by way of teaching yoga. In this regard, 200 inmates were selected and it was proposed that 20 yoga teachers will teach Yoga to the inmates from Nature Cure Centre, an NGO and Panchvati Yoga ashram. This Yoga Teachers training programme will help the inmates to get a job after their release from the prison. 

Last Wednesday this programme was inaugurated by the DG of Delhi Prisons Mr. Alok Kumar Verma. The curriculum and the syllabus were also unveiled by the senior official of prisons on the occasion. The NGO had designed the curriculum of the course and the inmates of the Tihar prison will undergo a proper training and the classes are proposed to be held every day. 

The jail officials said that there will be both theoretical and practical classes and at the end of the curriculum or the completion of the syllabus the inmates will be required to undergo a final test and assessment. The inmates who would qualify would be given a certificate along with the expertise to earn their living as trained yoga teachers. The officials also commented that this kind of effort is the first of its kind that was attempted to be started in any jail. There are about 20 trainers of the Panchvati Ashram and the NGO who will train the inmates opined Mr. Ashutosh Kumar of the nonprofit organization, Nature Cure Centre.  The yoga event and the programme will be a life changing event for the inmates. The  certification so given by the institutions will help them find a suitable job after  their release. 

Yoga Makes The Indian Prisoners Smarter

A prison is supposed to be the center of rehabilitation and correction for any delinquent individual. Many correctional activities have been undertaken in the prison until recently the yoga programme in the jails of India has been the recent corrective measure of a more holistic and spiritual in nature. This has helped the individuals and the prisoners to a great extent say the reports from various sources. In the recent past Kiran Bedi is one of the police officers who has taken up many correctional programmes in the different jails and prisons of India starting from Tihar jail, Indore jail and many other prisons of India. She also opened her own NGO named India Vision Foundation which works for the rehabilitation of the prison inmates.

Followed by this came the different yoga and spiritual gurus of India who also started to think about the inmates of the prison and their physical and mental wellbeing. One such noted work is done by the Art of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who used to regularly visit the prisons and use to teach and preach meditation and yoga for the inmates. Later on this was followed up by the teachers of Art of Living.

Such an attempt is also made by the popular yoga guru known as Shwaasa Guru who is also named as Swami Vachananand who visited many prisons of Karnataka and many parts of India to introduce the yoga classes for the prisoners. 

In this context, it is for us to remember that prisons of India already have a rich history of spirituality and diverting individuals to one’s real life’s goal. One such noted example would be Rishi Aurobindo Ghosh who was essentially an anarchist in the British period and was sentenced to prison in Alipore jail. It was in this period that he realized the real purpose of life and his transformation took place. After his release he took to religious transformation through the practice of yoga and moved to Pondicherry. This is when he gained enlightenment and came to be known as Sri Aurobindo Ghosh, a noted sage and a philosopher. 

India seems to take this history of spirituality and has let her rich heritage of yoga flow into the lives of the poor prisoners. Not only Sri Sri Ravi Shankar or Shwaasa Guru there are other programmes conducted by the trust of Prajapati Brahma Kumari who initiates the prisoners in the Vipassana technique of yoga, a Buddhist technique of meditation. There is Isha foundation also who conducts yoga classes on a regular basis in the various prisons of India. They have held programmes in Coimbatore, Poojapura, Thiruvananthapuram and many other places right from the early nineties. 

It was interesting to note that the country’s largest prison, Tihar Jail organized a yoga programme on the morning of the International Yoga day on the June 21st, 2015. The inmates say that they have been highly benefitted in these programmes and many have been looking forward to such practices. Many reports of increased appetite, regularity of sleep, controlled behavior and a decreased tendency of outburst of anger and negative emotions. 

Yoga & Human Resource Development For The Corporates

For the last 25 years or more yoga is tried to be inculcated in to the corporate spectrum by the corporate leaders and founders alike. Right from the days of the Hawthorne experiment there was a need from the managers to keep their workers mind and the mental conditions in the right frame. Then came different concepts like Work Life Balance, Subjective Wellbeing in the work place and the like. Stress had been a very old detriment in the work place right from the beginning and many steps in this regard is always being ushered in by the corporate and are welcome. Yoga seems to be the panacea of all these corporate ailments. Not only in the US but India, the country where Yoga was founded also seemed to catch up with yoga in the corporate world. Today in the companies and the corporate arena there are foreign teachers who claim expertise and proficiency in the yoga principles and they teach such yoga successfully. The corporates are also benefitted by these courses. Let us find the bottom-line.

The University of Massachusetts established the stress reduction clinic which is the largest and the oldest stress alleviation clinic based on the mind and body centre of its own in the USA. They have treated more than 10,000 patients since their inception in 1979.

This clinic offers Yoga Therapy as a medical supplement for treatment of stress disorders and relieving stress-related disorders in the corporate world. The clinic offers meditation courses and yoga therapy based classes to their reputed clients like judges and the correctional staff and also has a five-day retreat for the top officers and CEOs of different corporates in the Arizona Dessert.

A deserving majority of their patients and the inmates of the yoga classes report a marked decrease of the psychological and physical symptoms of stress. They also report an increment in their ability to relax and a higher energy level with greater enthusiasm in life. Increased self-esteem and an improved ability to handle stress-full situations with better interpersonal relations are few other benefits that they have reported about. Clarity of thinking, creative ability with improved ability of communication, leadership skills with a better teamwork are also some of the benefits they have reported to accrue from these courses. The exponents of management sciences argue that these are most of the objectives of the Human Resource development wing of any company.

How does it happen?

Yoga and meditation strengthen the nervous system and gives more strength and vitality to the patients and the course participants. Most of the time the meditation and the breathing techniques clears the toxins from the cells of the body and gives the body a more cleansing effect along with the brain waves to be slower. This happens because it works on the limbic system of the brain along with the pineal gland of the brain which the gland is supposed to be for the highest wellbeing of the organism. Unfortunately, this kind of effect is not gained in any kind of other corporate programmes. More importantly Yoga is a way of life and these kinds of practices make the body so clean of the toxins that most of the times the participants are in a state to leave or quit bad habits like alcohol or smoking. This strikes a balance in their work life and their family lives also as participants have reported to have improved in the quality of their family lives too. One of the renowned yoga teachers explains that yoga increases the quality of the mind and the body. This in turn improves the quality of the lives of the corporate members. This, of course is translated into more productivity inculcating a more intense bond of a relationship among workers and increases the subjective wellbeing in the climate of any company. Thus, yoga is a great HRD tool for the corporates which has a direct bearing on the performance metrics of the organizations. 

Grand Yoga Festival Will Be Organized At Mysore by Shwaasa Organisation Bangalore

Noted social worker of the state and Mysore Sri H V Rajeev invites you all to the auspicious event of Yoga in Mysore organized by Bangalore Shwaasa institute, Mysore Suttur Mutt and Sri Pathanjali Yoga Education Trust. It is indeed great news for the Yoga lovers and people looking forward to spiritual upliftment through Yoga disciplines. The Yoga festival which will last for seven days from 25th Oct. 2015 to 31st Oct. 2015 is intended to spread the message of peace, harmony and universal unity. This festival named Karnataka Yoga Abhiyan will be blessed by the august presence of many Yoga Gurus, saints and sanyasis from all parts of India and the Himalayas. The event will take place in Putta Raj Gawai Stadium, J P Nagar, Mysore.

The festival with all the spiritual masters and yogis and with the presence of swami Vachananand alias Shwaasa Guru will be a grand show of Yoga and will have various cultural programmes, lectures on philosophy and religion, yoga practice and many other practices. Sources say that there will be a gathering of more than 5000 Yoga practitioners in the festival. Apart from that the festival will be blessed with the presence of the enlightened saints of India like Dr.Pranav Pandya of Gayatri Pariwar, Haridwar, Pilot Baba of Himalayas, Swami Chidanand Saraswati Muni of Paramartha Niketana of Rishikesh, Dr. Virendra Hegde of Dharmasthala, and Sri Sri Ravishankar Guruji of Art of Living who will be present at the occasion. Sources from the Shwaasa Institute who is organizing this programme for the propagation of Yoga and to increase the awareness of Yoga among masses said that the ten enlightened spiritual masters have agreed to be present at the occasion in spite of their highly busy schedule. 

The festival with all the spiritual masters and yogis and with the presence of swami Vachananand alias Shwaasa Guru will be a grand show of Yoga and will have various cultural programmes, lectures on philosophy and religion, yoga practice and many other practices. Sources say that there will be a gathering of more than 5000 Yoga practitioners in the festival. Apart from that the festival will be blessed with the presence of the enlightened saints of India like Dr.Pranav Pandya of Gayatri Pariwar, Haridwar, Pilot Baba of Himalayas, Swami Chidanand Saraswati Muni of Paramartha Niketana of Rishikesh, Dr. Virendra Hegde of Dharmasthala, and Sri Sri Ravishankar Guruji of Art of Living who will be present at the occasion. Sources from the Shwaasa Institute who is organizing this programme for the propagation of Yoga and to increase the awareness of Yoga among masses said that the ten enlightened spiritual masters have agreed to be present at the occasion in spite of their highly busy schedule. 

The sources from the organizer’s team of the Shwaasa Institute opined that every day during the festival there will be regular practices of Yoga starting from 5:30 AM to 7 AM in the morning and also in the evening from 6 PM to 7:30 PM. 

The Effect Of Yoga Classes Through Out The World

Although Yoga is favorite form of exercise to many people in the world, there are many aspects of it to ponder.

Yoga in India is considered as the means to attain Brahman or divinity. Yoga in Hinduism means ‘union’ and it is the spiritual quest to experience the divinity, by balancing the mind, body and spirit. Yoga is generally done to attain physical benefit or peace of mind but it offers individuals deeper consciousness and higher awareness too. Hinduism recognizes that there are many paths to the divinity so there are many types of Yoga practiced.

Bangalore has tons of Yoga classes conducted each day across the city. Yoga has now become an integral part of most people’s life. There are 800 + styles of Yoga classes in the world and all of them help build the stamina and tone the body down. Some of the famous Yoga classes available in Bangalore are Hatha Yoga, Ashtanga and Power Yoga, vinyasa Yoga, Iyengar style and many more.

The individuals can choose the style of Yoga depending on their personal preference. The effectiveness of Yoga generally depends on the Yoga trainer. So it is important to ensure that the Yoga trainer is a certified trainer from a reputable institution.

Before joining a Yoga class it is important to understand that the individual is completely fit to take up these classes. People having blood pressure, heart problems, knee injury or any other injuries need to consult the doctor before taking up this task. Ladies having menstruation or being pregnant, they need to be cautious while doing certain steps or avoid few steps that are dangerous to them.

It is important to take up Yoga lessons slowly as every posture requires proper concentration. There are 3 stages in Yoga; beginner’s stage, intermediate stage and advance stage. In beginner’s stage the individuals need to concentrate and hold every step for longer period of time. In the intermediate level individuals need to slowly build the stamina and move up to the advance level. Finally, in the advance stage the individuals need to move swiftly between each pose.

It is important for people to wear comfortable clothing to Yoga classes as it consists of many poses which involves stretching of the body parts. The Yoga aspirants also need to check out with the Yoga training centers if the center is providing the Yoga mats or they need to carry one of their own.

Yoga should be performed in spacious, sun-lit and well-ventilated room to experience the heightened benefit of it. Interestingly, Yoga also recommends to practicing it facing the south direction as sun is at the apex in this direction. South direction attracts power, energy, strength and confidence.

The other neglected aspect while practicing Yoga is observing proper diet. Yoga believes that the type of food intake affects the physical, mental and spiritual well-being. Yoga recommends satvic foods i.e. foods that calms down the mind and that cleanses the body.  

Yoga is indeed therapeutic; it cures many ailments like asthma, arthritis, low blood pressure, anxiety, heart diseases, etc.  That is the reason it is gaining popularity world over.

Though Yoga is practiced across the world, it holds a special place in Bangalore. There are numerous renowned Yoga classes in Bangalore that is doing a great job in spreading its benefits to one and all.

Bikram Yoga – Good OR Not?

Bikram Yoga comes in shades of good, bad and ugly depending on the person trying, leaving and never daring it

Bikram Yoga or the “Hot Yoga” is not everybody’s cup of tea as this Yoga carries a mixed bag of reactions. Some benefit immensely from this Yoga and spread a good word about it while others have suffered health issues from it.

Bikram Yoga is generally conducted in a heated room of 40° C for a period of 90 minutes and it includes 26 postures and 2 breathing exercises. This Yoga especially has been in controversy for a while now for its effect on people. A word of caution is that this Yoga has to be done under the guidance of a certified instructor for better results and safety issues. Bikram Yoga has been named after the founder Bikram Choudhury.

The individuals who are doing Hot Yoga regularly have gained good health benefits and happiness. Even though it is a rigorous exercise causing a lot of perspiration, people do feel a lot more relaxed after doing it. It’s also considered a good form of exercise for people who want to lose weight, a little quicker.

While working this Yoga out, it is better for people to do it a little slowly and safely, as it is done at high room temperature. This Yoga doesn’t take much time to increase the heart rate and make the body work harder and lose weight a little faster.  But, people doing this Yoga are advised to take a lot of water throughout the day to keep their body hydrated.

In spite of many advantages of this Yoga, it has a certain flip side to it. It can cause heat stroke or heat exhaustion in some folks. Though it might let your body temperature rise; the body sweats out to cool down but the temperature in the room (40° C) doesn’t let it happen. This might lead to over exhaustion of the internal body system.

Some other points to bear in mind before one jumps on to that Yoga mat is that people with cardiovascular problems are advised to consult their physician before they kick start these sessions. Pregnant women are advised against the practice of this Yoga and people with low BP are recommended to go slow and easy on it.

Bikram Yoga has shades of good and bad to it, depending on the people who dare to try it out and for the rest it’s just Yoga on prints or in contemplation.

Understanding The Benefits Of Sukhasana And Other Yoga Postures

Yoga must not be confused with just a form of exercise or physical therapy. In India yoga holds a very auspicious place since here Yoga postures are practiced to unify mind, body and spirit. Although Yoga has proliferated through various channels into most of the western countries, there is still a misunderstanding regarding its real meaning. Many westerners consider it as a weight loss therapy or a way to keep physically fit. While that is only one small part of the package of benefits it offers. 

There are numerous Yoga postures which have their own benefits specific to various ailments and/or organs. Some Yoga Asanas are meant for physical body like sciatica, back pain, arthritis, sinus, etc. while some are practiced to bring mental and spiritual balance, treat depression, anxiety, rage issues and so on.

Among all of them, Sukhasana is meant for people who are new to it. It generally has easy Yoga Postures, in fact as a child this is the posture kids sit while they are pleased and happy. Generally this position gets difficult for people as they grow up habituated with chairs and sofas. But with a little practice you can get back to use this position. Even while not meditating or following any yoga routine, simply sitting in this posture will help soothe your mind.

The name, Sukhasana means happy posture. It is actually very easy to practice. For this you need to take two thick blankets and fold them to create a flat and thick base for you to sit on. First sit at one edge of the base with your legs stretched out ahead, then cross your shins and widen your knees, so that you can slip each foot, beneath the opposite knee. It is basically a cross-legged position where you sit keeping your back absolutely straight.

Keep in mind that the feet doesn’t touch the pelvis and after getting into the cross-legged position lift yourself a little by hanging with the support of your hands on both your sides and then slowly release yourself on the base. You may alternate the cross of your legs as well.

But you must avoid this Yoga posture in case you have recent knee injuries, hip injuries, spinal disc problems, etc. The Sukhasana Yoga Posture is one of the best position and ideal for meditation.  

Asana – The First Step Of Eight Fold Path Of Ashtanga Yoga

Yoga is a way of life as it was intended to be, by the scriptures and the Vedas. Patanjali Yoga Sutras enumerate the eight fold path of Yoga as a means to achieve the ultimate bliss. Yoga essentially means united. It means united with the body, mind and the spirit and preparing oneself for the ultimate divine bliss.

In this context, the concept of Ashtanga Yoga, as enumerated by the sage Patanjali, comes in which is the eight fold path of Yoga. The eight ways are Asana, Pranayama, Yam, Niyam, Pratyahara, Dhana, Dharana and Samadhi. Samadhi being the ultimate stage which means one with the Godhead, Asana is the primary stage where one prepares the body for more health, vigour and vitality. This is surely needed for the path towards divinity. The next is Pranayama which means control of the breath.

The third step is Yam which means self-control and the next is Niyam which refers to mental and physical discipline. The next or the fifth one is Pratyahara which means renunciation from sense pleasures and the one after it is Dhana which is meditation. This is followed by Dharana which refers to concentration on the Godhead which is a chakra in the body between the foreheads to conceptualize Godhead. This is followed by the last step of the eight fold path of Yoga as enumerated by Patanjali which is Samadhi and it refers to oneness with God.There are ample ashtanga Yoga videos available on the internet for you to see and learn the techniques where different Yogis talk about the path of ashtanga Yoga.

Asanas – The route to a healthy Body and Happy mind

Asanas are the first steps that one needs to take in order to prepare oneself in the journey of God realization. This is there in our scriptures and thus Yogic Asanas are designed to get the body strengthened and get a strong enough nervous system to hold the cosmic energy.

This is the reason Yogic Asanas work miracles in eradicating the diseases of the body and making it super strong. They are often advocated the children and this makes the child more immune to diseases as well. This is also a point that needs to be understood where the difference lies between gymnasium exercises and Yoga postures and poses and what effect these will have on your body and mind. The sages of India have often said that there can be a healthy mind only in the healthy body. The coordination between health and the mind is what Yoga and the asanas bring in an individual establishing a harmony. Thus, it does not only make your body healthy but adds happiness to your lives as well.

Yoga For Power – Power Yoga

Yoga is the ancient Indian method of uniting with the supreme energy. The word “Yoga” also is referred to as united or union. If the question arises “union with what?” the answer is bringing harmony of the body mind and soul and getting united with the divine. This was the motto of yoga as it was invented by the sages of India and as has been recited in the Vedas and Patanjali Yoga Sutras. Let alone the history of Yoga which is as old as humanity itself, the relevance of Yoga today has occurred due to the multiplicity of stresses and different diseases arising out of it.

Yoga is not only asana or exercises but a philosophy of life attuning oneself with the nature and making the body more susceptible to receive the divinity in blood and flesh but it can be also used to become fit and healthy. Nowadays the focus is on different aspect and Yoga is used to harmonize the coordination of the body, mind and soul in the right way to garner more energy, bring more fitness and pump in more vigor to your lives.

In this respect, power Yoga has taken a predominant role in shaping the lives of many. This has been modeled with the traditional asanas and Yogic exercises as in the Vedic literature to give the effects of Yoga to the practitioners. Power Yoga had been infused by few of the yoga aspirants and exponents of the West just to make it more thrilling and invigorating. Power Yoga has the benefits of practicing Yogic asanas as it strengthens the internal organs and at the same time it gives you the thrill of exercising in the gymnasium or free hand exercises. This blending of physical exercise and yogic postures creates a thrill and gives the practitioners the extra energy invigorating your internal organs and energizing the muscles and the musculoskeletal system as well.

One needs to attend Yoga classes for practicing such things and getting the right effects on the body and the mind. Of course, it need not be mentioned that there are numerous power Yoga videos on the internet that gives you an idea of how the exercises and postures will be. But as Yoga is an ancient science there is a need of a teacher who will understand your conditions of the body and prescribe the power Yoga techniques and postures that would give you the best results quickly.

But the practitioners of the power Yoga say that once one practices it on a regular basis it should rock you after a session. If it doesn’t there must be something wrong somewhere. Nevertheless, there are many places where power Yoga is taught in Bengaluru. The best thing to do is to get the coaching of a monk or a real Yoga teacher or practitioner who will take you through the whole ordeal transforming your body totally and pumping it with vigor and energy in a very short time.

About Swami Vachanananda and Shwaasa

At the age of 17 Swami Sri Vachananand attained sanyasi in the Lingayat tradition situated in the Karnataka district and he has been doing many yoga camps, giving lectures in all across the country and in the world. He is thorough practitioner of Yoga. He not only practices Yoga but also teaches people how to perfect Yoga by doing it correctly.

                                                                             

He was born in a religious family in north Karnataka, before him his parents had three girls. Before his birth they went to see a Lingayat guru who told them that they would have a baby boy, however he would be a sadhu or yogi and would repudiate family life. At the point when the mother was pregnant, the guruji gave "garbha-diksha" and told the mother that all through the pregnancy she had to chant this mantra.

The child Vachananand was taught in various Lingayat schools and ashrams and given sanyasa after he completed school and became swami Vachananand. He is a brilliant individual, a true Yogi and every bit of second thinks to help people who are in need. He wants everyone to do Yoga and make their life fruitful by helping each other. He teaches Yoga and his philosophy in Hindi, English and Kannada.

As Govt  of India is also trying to make Yoga a compulsory subject in schools and colleges and people are more concerned about their health  and fitness, Yoga gurus such as Baba Ramdev, Swami Vachananand, swami Iyengar and many more conducts Yoga camps across the country.  Swami Vachanananda conducted a long Yoga camp in Bangalore on International Yoga Day which happened on June 21 2015 where thousands of people gathered and learned Yoga from swami. Many celebrities also attended that Yoga camp. Swamiji conducts Yoga classes in his organization Shwaasa which is situated in Boopasandra, Bangalore. He gives training to people who are passionate to do Yoga and teach people in Yoga teachers training program in Bangalore and provides them certification from his organization.