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Yoga and me

Yoga has been a way of life for me. My first guru was my father who introduced me to Yoga at an early age of around 7 or 8. I am who am I today mainly because of his guidance and his teachings. In the last couple of years, I have worked closely with a few Gurus in US. Dr. Sachin at ICC has been a great mentor. I was very impressed by his gentle and caring approach to Yoga. http://drsachindeshmukh.com/

I have noticed that in the last several months, stress levels have gone up amongst my friends, family and colleagues. Economic times have not helped the cause either. People are always on the run. Long work hours, hyper-active kids and their activities, long commutes, sedentary life styles and unemployment seem to be some of the common factors.

I personally felt that I can share the knowledge of Yoga that I have been practicing for years to reduce their stress levels. Around this time, I came across this wonderful organization "Yoga Bharati". I instantly joined their Yoga teacher training program to deepen my practice and learn the intricacies of teaching Yoga. I am very grateful to the very enthusiastic gurus of Yoga Bharati - Anil Surpur, Ashwini Surpur, Venkat Reddy,
Raghu Alka, Jagan, Sharath and many others. They all are doing wonderful social service by teaching Yoga in public places and also by creating new teachers. I am extremely proud to be part of the YICC class of 2009. Here are some excerpts from our class. (More pictures on the way when we are closer to graduation, sometime in August).

http://picasaweb.google.com/kbasani/SB_Yoga?authkey=Gv1sRgCLqm6__3y7zMDA

Anyone can practice Yoga, no matter what their age, condition or religion. Young or old, sick or fit – all can benefit from this discipline. Kids today need more physical activity than ever due to sedentary lifestyles due to TV and V(ideo) games. Outdoor and physical activity is on the decline and obesity is on the rise. Kids can start Yoga at a very young age. My kid (2 yrs) already is very excited about the whole thing as you can see here. Inculcating some of these healthy and "fun" habits at a very young age in their life is critical as they can master it easily due to their body flexibility and their willingness to try out new and fun stuff. These healthy habits, then, tend to stay for life.

http://picasaweb.google.com/kbasani/Karthik_Yoga_0509?authkey=Gv1sRgCLzFoK7N1MjXeQ

As Swami Vishnu Devananda put in the Sivananda Companion to YOGA book - "I would like to tell you that Yoga is not a theory but a practical way of life. If you have never tasted honey, no matter how often I tell you that honey is good you won't understand until you try it. Put Yoga into practice and you
will see the benefit for yourself".

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