City likes to shed those extra kilos with yoga

women outnumber men when it comes to enrolling for yoga classes. Taking a cue from the current trend, city clubs, too, have jumped on to the bandwagon offering daily or weekly yoga sessions.

The Sutlej Club has a morning session from 7 to 8. Mentor Swami Gopi Chand Jindal, 70, has been taking yoga classes for the past 35 years now. He also takes yoga classes at Rakh Bagh.

Those who complete a training session, then don the mantle of an instructor.

Most yoga teachers concentrate on asanas. private yoga centres are mushrooming on the lines of coaching centres and there is no dearth of yoga instructors. Some have even adopted it as a full-time profession.

Then there are the all-women yoga classes to lend an exclusivity to the whole affair. Those who are wary of exercising in public have the option of home tutors.

City parks are teeming with yoga enthusiasts in the mroning and evening. Even gymnasia hold regular sessions.

The simplicity of the entire exercise has also contributed towards yoga’s popularity with only a mat required for the regime.

Lawyer P Lall, 74, swears by it. “Yoga is like music. The rhythm of the body, the melody of the mind and the harmony of the soul create the symphony of life. I was told to take it up after I was diagnosed with a heart problem. I combine it with walking and I feel much better now,” he says.

His Saturdays are reserved for clapping and meditation.

“we sit on the floor for an hour which we don’t do in a normal routine. I believe that anybody over 40 must make it a regular habit,” says Manjula Jain, a yogini.

Daisy Oberai gives private coaching and is known for her military type of yoga commands. Pinky Lamba is known for her expertise in leading the group in the perfect yogic exercises whether it is pranayam or stretches. The package also includes reverberating laughter and roaring sounds.