Tihar’s fitness guru

Sharma started teaching yoga at Tihar in late 1995 when he was invited by the then superintendent of the jail to conduct classes. “I was a commander with the Home Guards in Haryana and taught jawans yoga there as well. But after I lost my job at the Home Guards,I took this up full time at Tihar. It paid me well and I got a lot of respect from the inmates,” he says. His 12 years of service in the Home Guards ensured that he didn’t feel intimidated by inmates.

Sharma has been teaching yoga primarily to inmates suffering from mental anxiety and depression,diabetes,tuberculosis,drug addiction,high-blood pressure and body pains. The most common complaint he receives is of inmates suffering from mental anxiety and depression. Diabetes comes a close second. “I teach the inmates various dhyan mudras (exercises to improve one’s thinking) by asking them to shut their eyes and focus on people who they value most in life and I teach pranayam to patients with diabetes. For insomniacs,I teach bal asanas (lying on the back and raising one’s legs),” he says.

His students include not just jail inmates but also a former Prisons Minister,whom he treated for diabetes,and various officials at Tihar.

Sharma was forced to test his yoga on himself after an accident in 2002 left with him bed ridden with a broken leg and shoulder. After months of physiotherapy failed to help him,Sharma did a combination of yoga asanas like jeevan tatva (a combination of seven asanas) and acupressure techniques. “Within a year I was able to walk again and teach yoga to the inmates,” he says.

In teaching the jail inmates,says Sharma,he finds deep satisfaction. “I feel a sense of satisfaction when these inmates come up to me even after they have been released from jail. Not once have I faced any problems. They respect me a lot,” he says.