Breathe Easy

With a cult celebrity following including pop singer Madonna and Hollywood actors Gwyneth Paltrow and Julia Roberts,yoga has crossed national boundaries. But rather than promoting its modified avatars,Bhartiya Yog Sansthan wants to highlight its original form and philosophy. Founded in 1967 by Parkash Lal,the Sansthan has 2,000 centres in India and abroad,including in Australia,Fiji,London and Mauritius. The organisation,which aims to promote its Indian heritage,will be conducting a yoga camp at the Indian Express building premises in Panchkula on May 23. The two-hour-long camp is open for all and entry is free.

At the camp,Dr Ved Prakash Rathi,one of the experts from the Bhartiya Yog Research Centre will address knee problems,including cases in which the patient has been recommended knee replacement surgery. According to Rathi,who has dealt with such cases before,yoga can be a lasting solution to such problems,however severe. In fact,experts at the organisation even recommend yoga for people suffering from diseases like heart problems,hypertension and spinal disorders. “Undoubtedly,yoga has immense power to heal. It also shows immediate results. One should only be careful about practising it under the supervision of trained experts. Also,it should not be adopted to gain temporary physical or mental benefits,but as an integral part of one’s daily life,” says Gopal Das,one of the members,who has been with the organisation for over two decades.

“With the commercialisation of yoga,people follow it as any other form of exercise,forgetting its basic concepts. For instance,some yoga practitioners even recommend doing yoga in air-conditioned bedrooms,” says Lal,its founder. His centres however offer various short and long term courses,in strict accordance with the basic tenets of yoga–yam,niyam,asan and pranayam.

The camp will be from 5 am till 7 am on Sunday .