Recently I came across a few headlines that caught my eye – they all had to do with yoga! Probably as a yoga instructor, I would be more inclined to spot headlines such as these but the fact remains that yoga is currently India’s most important and significant export; in a sense our culture’s gift to the world and its good health! I thought my readers and students would also like to know how the world benefits from yoga.
Saudi Arabia’s first certified yoga instructor
Nouf Marwaai is a Saudi Arabian woman who recently led the yoga day celebrations in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. At Dubai’s Zabeel Park, thousands performed yoga with her as their instructor. Nouf Marwaai who has business interests in India as well as the Gulf, has been awarded the Padma Shri for her efforts to promote yoga in her part of the world. She has been practicing yoga for over twenty years and has also founded the Arab Yoga Foundation.
She first started on her yogic journey when allergies, fatigue and consistently poor health led her to explore various solutions. Diagnoses such as undifferentiated connective tissue disease and possibly rheumatic disease and later lupus led her to find unconventional solutions to her health issues. When she benefited greatly from yoga, she decided to help make a change to other lives as well! It is wonderful that people are taking yoga out of the religious context and framing it within the context of fitness, good health and mental wellbeing.
Yoga festival in small town Canada
The bigger cities of North America have long boasted active yoga communities with yoga classes and studios offering coaching in traditional yoga or the more recent types of yoga such as hot yoga, power yoga and so on. Yoga has now reached the smaller quieter communities of the USA and Canada as well.
For instance in the small town of Moncton (with just about 70,000 inhabitants), an annual Moncton Yoga Festival attracts hundreds of yogis – both regular practitioners as well as those doing yoga for the first time. The festival sends out the message that yoga is for everyone; regardless of age, gender or flexibility. It promotes the idea of yoga as a lifestyle choice that improves mental health. The annual event also featured other activities; with a lot of emphasis on breathing exercises and their benefits. The festival has grown to twice the size that it was last year – the young and old turned up; some arrived with their kids for the festival!
Yoga for New Zealand jail inmates
New Zealand’s most violent jail inmates are to have a humane jail with holistic wellness programs that will be therapeutic for maximum security prisoners. According to reports, this is to be a “de facto mental health unit” because about 90% of the inmates have a history of addiction or mental illness of some sort. The emphasis will be on rehabilitation of the inmates rather than on punitive measures. This prison is modeled after others in places like Belgium, Germany and parts of Scandinavia. There is to be a seed propagation garden where gardening activities will soothe and stimulate inmates. The inmates will be able to walk on real grass and grow things with their own hands, which are thought to have therapeutic impacts. Sun exposure and practicing yoga will also form a part of the daily activities so that their health and mental state improves. When they return to society, they are healthier in body and in mind!
I found these pieces of news both educative and heartening. I am happy that in my own small way I am able to help propagate yoga; help people get happier and healthier!