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Over 3,000 people, including some who had travelled from the UK, US and Africa, attended a three-day workshop conducted by well-known yoga guru Swami Ramdev at the Dubai Airport Expo over the weekend. The event was organised by Eurostar in collaboration with the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF).
Charismatic
The charismatic guru has popularised yoga in India and abroad by simplifying it, effectively communicating and demonstrating its benefits on mental and physical well being and making it accessible to all through his TV programmes and workshops around the world.
Over the three days he taught the participants several yoga postures or asanas and breathing exercises or pranayamas that can prevent and cure ailments such as diabetes, stress, backache, high blood pressure or cholesterol, indigestion and infertility.
Swami Ramdev demonstrated the postures himself, patiently explaining to the huge group the right techniques and their benefits and impressing everyone by his mastery over them. He peppered his instructions with humorous observations on our modern lifestyle and diet and its negative effects on health.
Throughout the two and half hour sessions starting at 6am each morning, he interacted with the participants telling them about various aspects of yoga and inviting them to speak about their own experiences of the positive effects of his techniques on their health.
Laughter
He ended the sessions with several minutes of group laughter. "I thank Eurostar, DSF and the rulers of this country for encouraging a holistic view of health. Good health is the birth right of every human being and it can be achieved through proper breathing and yoga asanas along with meditation, rational diet and a lifestyle close to nature," he said.
"These yoga techniques are not connected with any religion. They aim to transform your body into a shrine. Yoga is a way of self-healing and self-realisation. These techniques originated in India, but just like allopathy, Yunani medicine or modern technological advances their benefits should be enjoyed by everyone," he added.
tabloid! got a chance to speak to Swami Ramdev at the sidelines of the workshop.
Excerpts from the interview:
How was your experience in Dubai?
I was happy to see the enthusiasm of the people. It was good to see that those who would otherwise have slept late on the weekend got up at 4am to get here on time.
You reach millions of people through television. Why do you still like to travel abroad to hold these workshops?
Seeing a sea or river on TV is different from standing on its banks; having a photograph of your mother is different from taking her blessings in person. While TV is a good medium to reach people, I believe my physical presence and live teaching is important and more effective.
How did you develop the yoga routine you teach?
There are as many yoga asanas as there are creatures in the world. I have been practising yoga since the age of nine and have selected nine asanas that are sufficient to maintain physical fitness. Ninety per cent of my routine consists of breathing exercises or pranayamas because our research has shown that proper breathing can cure illnesses.
The physical exercise takes care of our hardware and pranayama takes care of our software. Earlier people were reluctant to practise yoga because ancient texts described complex techniques and cautioned that they could cause harm if done wrong. I have made it easier for people to do yoga even at home on their own by simplifying the techniques.
You advocate a lifestyle close to nature. How can city dwellers achieve that?
Returning to nature is the only solution to our health problems. Yoga helps us to connect not just with nature externally, but it also helps us to connect with our own nature and the love, peace, kindness that are an inherent part of human nature.
No animals or birds sleep past dawn or eat after dark and that is why they do not suffer from high blood pressure or sugar. Simple changes in lifestyle such as sleeping and waking up on time, drinking a glass of water in the morning, eating green vegetables and keeping some time aside to meditate and do yoga will bring us closer to nature and ensure good health, happiness and progress.
Can children do these exercises?
Yes, they can start doing pranayams from age three and asanas from five onwards. At our institute we have trained over 50,000 children.
What is the mission of the Patanjali Yogpeeth established by you in Hardwar, India?
The Patanjali Yogpeeth is an institute of medical science and research in yoga and ayurveda. Our objective is to have a world free of disease and avoid use of harmful medicines through the scientific and correct practice of yoga and ayurveda. The institute conducts research and clinical trials and yoga camps. My aim is that not even a single person should die of disease or hunger.
What participants said:
Deepa Shah — "I live in Nairobi and have learnt Swami Ramdev’s breathing techniques (pranayama) and yoga postures (asanas) by watching him on TV and from his DVDs. I am diabetic but thanks to these simple exercises my sugar levels are under control without any medicines. I flew to Dubai especially for this workshop because I wanted to learn from him in person and it has been a wonderful and inspiring experience."
Jacintha Sritampoe — "I am from Sri Lanka and heard about Swami Ramdev from my Indian friend Annie Prashant. I feel wonderful after doing the exercises, but I wish he would speak more in English for the benefit of non-Indians."
Irfan Kazi — "I have a stressful job and doing the pranayams helps me to stay calm. It has also helped me to lose six kilos of weight over the last three months. I learnt the techniques from Swami Ramdev’s DVD’s but attending these workshops has helped me to do them properly. It was nice to do the exercises along with such a big group under his personal guidance."
Sunita Kapadia — "I am a member of the Dubai-based Friends of Yoga group that conducts free yoga sessions in various public parks and am here as a volunteer to guide the participants. It was wonderful to see the way Swami Ramdev conducted the workshops and we have all learnt a lot from him."
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