In the limelight Yoga

Chamari SENANAYAKE

Yoga has become the newest trend to capture Sri Lanka by storm. Perhaps due to its worldwide fame, some Sri Lankans have been quick to take it up as an easy way of exercise. Yoga has gained tremendous worldwide popularity during the last few years, and it is the most rapidly growing health movement of the present day, despite having existed for thousands of years.

Celebrities and yoga are a great combination for this exercise and fitness market, as the public is automatically attracted to things that celebrities endorse. Celebrities like James Bond actor Daniel Craig, Jennifer Anniston, Ricky Martin, and Madonna have all admitted to using yoga as a means to calm the spirit, tone the muscles of the body, and increase physical strength. The history of yoga can be traced back to India as far back at 1500 BC. Archeological findings from two of the largest cities, Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa, has revealed a portrait of a human being or god meditating in what looks like a yoga posture.

The first yoga accounts are written in the Rig Veda and priests documented their practices and beliefs in a collection of 200 scriptures called the Upanishads. According to the origins of yoga, the word yoga means to “unite.” And if you practice yoga you are trying to unite your individual self with the universal soul. It is a means to enlightenment. Modern Yoga is said to have begun at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago, 1893. Swami Vivekananda from India made a deep impression on the Americans as he introduced them to Yoga while Russian born Indra Devi, opened a Yoga studio in Hollywood in 1947 and started teaching movie stars.

For the first time, in 1961, Hatha yoga was presented on American television by Richard Hittleman, and his book ‘The Twenty Eight day Yoga Plan’ sold in the millions. Then, in the middle of the 60s, yoga got a real promotional boost when the Yogi Maharishi Mahesh taught Yoga to the famous pop-stars the ‘Beatles’. Dalai lama is a great yogi from Tibet, and has inspired many westerners to learn more about Buddhism and yoga.

Salman Khan, who has one of the most envious bodies in Bollywood, is discovering the benefits of yoga and others include Aishwarya Rai, Rekha, Shilpa Shetty, Preity Zinta, and Kareena Kapoor out of hundreds more.

In Sri Lanka, yoga classes are springing up at every corner nowadays. Even the Indian Embassy Cultural Centre holds a three-month course in general yoga. Vyasa Kalyanasunderum, who had studied at Swami Vivekananda Yoga University in Bangalore is an instructor there and he says the course is popular among people of all ages. ‘We have from children to seventy five year olds studying yoga, and we mostly teach general yoga in three stages called beginners, intermediate and advanced.’ When asked about its newfound popularity he says, ‘Many Yoga classes were here even ten years ago, but they were not advertised much then.’

According to him yoga has a surprising long history in Sri Lanka. A society called ‘Divine Life Society’ has been teaching yoga for free from 1950 till 1983. Swami Sivananda Saraswathi Mathaji (1907-1978) the founder of Divine Life Society, and Sivananda Thopovanam, and Swami Satchidananda, through their joint tireless efforts introduced yoga culture to Sri Lanka. Knowledge on Vedanta and meditation was carried forward by Mrs.Selvam Kalyansunderam and during these times Kriya Babji Yoga center was also conducting classes in Dehiwela from 1970 to 1983.

Although it was immensely popular during sixties and seventies however, went in to some sort of hibernation after that period.

Then, Hatha yoga classes in Colombo revived in nineties. Most of the well-trained Sri Lankan yoga instructors have received the yogic instructors qualifications from (SVYASA) Swami Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana University in Bangalore. Chamin Warnakula is a popular Yoga instructor in Sri Lanka who also has studied there after falling for yoga first at the age of 16 while studying martial arts in India. He says many Sri Lankans are drawn to yoga to relieve stress, obesity and health related problems and that he has seen many followers finding positive results for asthma problems, diabetes, obesity and even blood pressure. ‘More and more Sri Lankan celebrities like Malini, Anoja and even parliamentarians are following Yoga nowadays.’ he adds, ‘Majority of my students are over 45 years of age, and they come here to relieve stress, fight depression and find ways to control their health problems.’

Most females are drawn to yoga to control their body shapes and keep youthful looks, and with this kind of popularity, many hotels and resorts have also added yoga as part of their spa and Panchakarma treatments and that in return attracts a large number of tourists to our country as well. Whatever the reason maybe, seems today’s Sri Lankan majority has found yoga the newest fashion to follow. We can breathe a sigh of relief that at least they are following a healthy fashion.