Hot destination for learning yoga

Mysuru offers different packages for enthusiasts

Yoga enjoyed royal patronage in Mysuru till Independence

Mysuru, the City of Palaces, attracts a large number of tourists throughout the year with arrivals peaking during the Dasara season. But, not many know that thousands of people come to Mysuru to learn yoga and it continues to be a hub of the ancient form of exercise. What began as a practice during the erstwhile princely rule, the once esoteric yoga has now transcended boundaries. However, royal patronage stopped a couple of years after the country gained Independence but yoga continues to be popular in the city.

Mysuru is the most preferred choice of the yoga enthusiasts. The answer is simple as Ashtanga Yoga or Mysore Style of Yoga has its roots here. It is considered as one of the toughest forms of yoga and difficult to master. It is more of physical activity, with strenuous asanas. “Ashta” means eight and there are 8,888 asanas that one has to learn for “vidwat” akin to a degree. A rarity, not many can reach the pinnacle of this art.

During vacations in the West, most tourists to India include Mysuru in their itinerary for learning yoga. As a result, the city boasts of about 40 yoga centres in places such as Gokulam, Krishnamurthypuram, Lakshmipuram and Kuvempunagar, with a mix of experienced and new age teachers running the same. Like tourist season, there is also “yoga season” between July and August and November and January.

Yoga also became a part of the world famous Mysuru Dasara, with the authorities deciding a theme “Yoga Dasara” in 2010. It received a boost, when the late B K S Iyengar opened “Yoga Dasara” in 2011. It was probably during the same period, Karnataka State Open University introduced a one-year diploma in yoga teacher training course and PG diploma, followed by B Sc and M Sc in naturopathy and yoga. Now, the yoga schools in the city are preparing for the D-day on June 21, to be observed as “International Yoga Day” from this year. 

Prashanth Kumar N of Mysore Yoga Mandira has been teaching yoga for more than one decade in the city and his centre is located in a bungalow at Lakshmipuram. Besides locals, the 37-year-old gets students from England, Canada, France, Australia, Spain, Japan and China. Despite students setting up their own studios in their countries after training in Mysuru, a large number of them still come to improve upon their knowledge and skills of yoga.

Most of the yoga centres in the city offer packages and many of them provide boarding and lodging, keeping in mind the needs of the students. They advise foreigners to avoid banana and curd. For Indians, chapati is suggested instead of rice. Satvik food is the new addition.

Prashanth, who also runs Cafe Mandira, a satvik food joint at the backyard of his centre, says it is prepared without using oil, ginger and garlic. The ingredients include vegetables, greens and fruits, millets and eggs and he has 40 items on his menu. Prashanth says foreigners are more health consci­ous. He adds, “a foreigner comes to my cafe, only to eat pancake (made of ragi, egg, milk, honey, banana and dry coconut). She is my former student, now practising in Kerala.” 

The centres charge locals between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 a month while the figures range from Rs 6,000 to Rs 35,000 for foreigners depending on duration of the course and other facilities extended.    While some have modified their facilities to suit the changing trends, they have ensured that fresh air and sufficient light enter the yoga halls. Most of the foreigners do not crib about the facilities and they adjust to the facilities available at centres.

At 89, B N Sunderaraja Iyengar remains the only link to yoga then and now. When Deccan Herald caught up with Iyengar, he was busy teaching a foreigner at another yoga enthusiast Kanchena Mala’s house on Veene Seshanna street near the Palace.

Iyengar, who started practising yoga at 13, said: “I had an opportunity to learn yoga for sometime under Krishnamacharya and later under Pattabi, as told by my guru (T Krishnamacharya), before he moved to Madras”. Iyengar has travelled across the globe visiting schools set up by his students in the US, Australia and France and delivered lectures. Back in Mysuru, he continues to do so, being a visiting lecturer at many yoga centres.

Paul from Ireland, who has been regularly visiting India, especially Mysuru for the last 15 years, never misses an opportunity to explore every nuance of yoga. This time, the 55-year-old Irish man is in the city to gain knowledge on philosophy, as according to Iyengar, yoga and philosophy are interlinked. Paul also runs a yoga institute in his country.

It is an interesting story as to how yoga guru T Krishnamacharya returned to Mysuru to start yoga from Varanasi. Benevolent kings of Wadiyars were farsighted and they had interest in music and other activities also. Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar and the commitment of yoga guru T Krishnamacharya laid a firm foundation for yoga in then Mysore State (that later became Karnataka). 

Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar, during his visit to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, invited Krishnamacharya to Mysuru, offering him adequate support. Krishnamacharya returned, setting the stage for yoga.

Besides teaching yoga to royal family members and enthusiasts at the palace, Krishnamacharya made efforts to spread yoga outside the state. When T Krishnamacharya started teaching yoga in the then Mysuru little did he know, he would be laying the foundation for an empire that has been growing every passing day.

His three wards--B K S Iyengar, who passed away recently, set up Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga institute in Pune, Maharashtra, his another student K Pattabi Jois continued the legacy of his guru in Mysuru, Indra Devi, a foreigner, introduced yoga to the westerners--have continued his legacy. Pattabi’s daughter Saraswati and grandson Sharat are now in charge of the centre.