Keeping body and mind fit

While most areas in the City don’t have proper roads and footpaths, what they do have are polished and air-conditioned gyms. It goes to show that people are becoming more health conscious by the day and are looking for ways to stay fit.

Although gyms are a good way to get exercise, most people forget that yoga is a healthier way to rejuvenate the mind and the body. Of late, however, people are turning to yoga but in a different form — power yoga.

Asha Chandrashekar, who has been doing power yoga for the past six years, says that it has helped her shed weight and tone her body. “I used to go to the gym but that never helped me tone my body. A friend suggested that I switch to power yoga and when I tried it, I realised that it not only kept my body fit, but my mind as well. What I was able to achieve at a gym in two weeks, I did it here in one hour,” she says.

For those who don’t know what power yoga is, Grandmaster Akshar, founder of Akshar Power Yoga Academy, explains, “Power yoga is also called as ‘shakti yoga’ and started getting popular around 2008-09. People think that it is a concept that has come from the West but that isn’t true. It has been there for centuries and like everything, it went out of vogue but it is back again. It was once practised all over the country, and unlike ‘ashtanga vinyasa yoga’ or traditional yoga, it is more rigorous.”

Maitri, a student, switched from going to the gym to doing power yoga because she finds it less strenuous. “It is not as strenuous as regular cardiovascular exercises that you do in a gym but it’s still balanced. When you are at the gym, you are always thinking of how many calories you are burning when you are on the treadmill instead of enjoying the exercise. I have to make myself go, it isn’t motivating enough on its own. I used to listen to audio books while working out but I ended up going there just to listen to them and not to work out. That’s not the case in yoga, I look forward to the classes. It’s a great stress buster.”

Actress Gayathrie says she isn’t a “gym person” and prefers doing yoga. “I dislike the idea of going into a closed room filled with sweaty people and breathing all that carbon dioxide. I’m a lazy person and I can’t wake up to do squats and lift weight every single morning. Yoga allows me to work at my own pace and slowly un-stiff my body.”
 
Talking about the possible side-effects of such a rigorous workout, Akshar says, “It is done with force and energy, while traditional yoga is very slow. The master needs to know the group energy because people will be asked to perform different ‘asanas’ in a short span of time. This can have side-effects if the master doesn’t recognise a person’s energy and a person is not trained.”