Wednesday, June 21, 2017

A Tribute To Our Yoga Teachers On The International Yoga Day!

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We met our Guruji for the first time, the lady with the white dupatta! We admire her a lot!

I had been doing yoga for many years now! But only for the past 4 years, I do it very regularly, thanks to the teachers from the above yogashram.

The International Yoga Day was celebrated last Sunday itself by our centre, since this day, 21st June, is falling on a working day, Wednesday.   They had been celebrating for many years now.  But we, 6 of us who learn yoga at our complex itself (the teacher comes and takes 4 classes a week for 9 of us ladies on our terrace!) joined this celebration for the first time.  Our class is for an hour.  We usually do one set of Suryanamaskara, i.e. 12 nos., on 2 week days' evenings and 2 sets mostly on 2 days' (week ends) mornings since the weather will be cool in the mornings. When the teacher coaxed us to join the celebration and pushed us to do more sets, i.e. 4-5 sets for the past 10 days, we found it very difficult to do....or so we thought! Still we never dreamt of doing 108 suryanamaskaras and 208 aasanaas, AT A STRETCH! But we did! She, the teacher, had assured us that it would not be difficult since we do it with so many people around us!

Nearly 300 odd people, mostly women and some men, joined at the venue (Rani Meyyammai Higher Secondary School, Adyar) at 5.30 on the morning of 18th June, '17.  I noticed that more than 20% of them were above 50 years of age, myself included! More than 50% of us opted for doing both Suryanamaskara and aasanaas and the rest joined for doing just the aasanaas.  We were given token nos. and asked to sit at the allotted places on two floors of the school auditorium.  Though we were given juices and water bottles, we were asked to sip only water till the programme was over.

The programme started with our usual prayer.  On the way to the venue we were discussing about how much we might do and it didn't cross 6-7 sets! Our teacher Rathi Madam started the mantras and all of us started bending stretching, rhythmically...in a bit  slower pace than we usually do at our classes.  A 70 year old lady was doing easily in front of me! Some small children also were there...they were too fast and were waiting for us to finish! And all of us ladies from our complex, finished without taking any break! After shanthi aasanaa for 2 mts., we started doing aasanaas.  Till, nearly 100 aasanas we were fast and did without feeling tired.  Then we started looking at each other discussing if we should stop at 108! But we somehow finished 208 aasanaas!

Our ages were 64 (me!), 61, 56 and so on...we could do it at our age was because of the good teachers we had.  They never pushed us but coaxed us to do difficult aasanaas slowly.  If they taught tough aasanas one day, next class was with easy aasanas like spine relaxation, extra breathing exercise etc.  The 208 aasanaas we did after the main suryanamaskaara, have helped us to recover from the body pain fast later on.  All of us had thigh and back pain for a day or two.  We are back to normal on the third day and attended our usual class.

My friend saw a maami wearing brahmin type of sari and doing the namaskaaras.  She was very comfortable, it seems.

We hope to continue as long as we can!  I had written a post earlier too about yoga here!

Now, to some pictures from the Yoga celebrations:

Getting ready!

They gave us a prize too for being regulars in the class! We got medals for doing Suryanamaskara and asanaas, separately....altogether 2 medals each and a cup! We will display it in our complex and lure more ladies to join our class! IT IS GOOD!

Our namaskaarams to all our teachers!
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19 comments :

Saritha said...

I remember you used to tell me to do surya namaskar. I love yoga and in a Week I do 2 to 3 times. The yoga what is taught is hot yoga etc which I don't like. I like traditional yoga without any time limit to go adana.
You don't look like your are 64..

Sandhya said...

SARITHA: Thank you, Saritha! Yours is the first comment!

I too don't like other types of yoga....this is good! And the teachers come and teach on our terrace. We need not go out. Thanks for the compliment, Saritha!

SG said...

Congratulations. I am impressed.

Sandhya said...

SG: Thank you, SG!This was a booster for me:)

KParthasarathi said...

That is no mean achievement!You and your friends can be legitimately proud of your fitness,stamina and prowess.
Hearty congratulations! To be taught at the terrace of your home is a great benefit.

sm said...

well written
doing yoga is helpful if one is not able to do it he should minimum do brisk walking exercise.

ashok said...

Happy Yoga day!

Blogoratti said...

Wonderful. Yoga is everything indeed. More power to you. Thanks for sharing and happy Yoga day!

Destination Infinity said...

Very impressive. Continue the Yoga and the medals :)

Destination Infinity

Shail said...

You all are simply great! All 208! Wow. You are getting younger by the day :)

Sandhya said...

K PARTHASARATHY: Yes, this has given a booster to us, ladies! We never expected to do 108 suryanamaskaaraas at a stretch and then aasanaas too!

Thank you, Kp!


sm: We, both husband and I, do that normally! And only I go to the yoga class! We, ladies didn't have the guts to do so many aasanaas in the previous 3 years! Thank you!


ASHOK: Thank you, Ashok!


BLOGORATTI: Welcome to my space, Blogoratti! Thanks for the comment!


DESTINATION INFINITY: Thank you, Rajesh!


SHAIL MOHAN: Thank you, Shail!

Zephyr said...

That is a wonderful feat, Sandhya! So proud of you. You must be really happy and having won medals too!! Wish you more yogic power and more achievements!

Rahul Bhatia said...

Lovely achievement, Sandhya!I too am a yoga practitioner and enjoy this.

Jeevan said...

Wow! That’s really amazing doing all the aasanaas at a time and practicing it daily. At my home only my dad does yoga 2 or 3 times a week. Good to see you all joining the yoga day celebration and yes, you got a nice teacher to bring all your ability out.

Congrats for winning medals and keep practicing as long u can :)

Renu said...

I would love to learn yoga..never got the facility..so treadmill works for me:(

Sandhya said...

ZEPHYR: Thank you, Zephyr!Yes, I am very happy with myself! Hope we continue to do in the coming years too!


RAHUL BHATIA: Thank you, Rahul! Nice to know that you too practice yoga!


JEEVAN: Thank you, Jeevan! Yes, our teachers made us do this, without pushing us much!


RENU: Good! Please do some sort of exercise!

Onkar said...

Inspiring account and nice pictures.

Insignia said...

One of the important things to remmeber is to move! and not lead a sedentary lifestyle. Yoga is so versatile and you wouldnt get injured trying to do an asana; unlike the gym workouts. This is so commendable that people of all ages participated. Impressive!

Sandhya said...

ONKAR: Thank you, Onkar!


INSIGNIA: Thank you, Insignia! It was really good!

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