Cycling across India to spread yoga, environmental awareness

Nagpur:

Cycling

from Kathmandu to Kanyakumari, yoga guru Bharat Thakur passed through the city on Monday en route to Hyderabad. Interacting with the media, Thakur, founder of Artistic Yoga, said that he had undertaken ‘Yoga Chakra’, a cyclathon to create awareness about not just yoga but also about pollution that vehicles cause and the fuel they guzzle. Starting on February 14 from Kathmandu, Thakur and his team, which includes two others, Rajashekhar and Ravi Sheshadari, have been on the road for 50 days now. They will end up pedalling 5000km. Citing three objectives for this initiative, Thakur says, “Yoga still has not percolated down to rural areas. By cycling across the country, I am crossing many villages and meeting rural population and creating yoga awareness in them.” The second objective is to create awareness of global warming. “Vehicles today are guzzling nearly 1.6 trillion litres of fuel. This effort is to tell people about the advantages of cycling. And finally, health benefits of cycling and yoga are the paramount objective here. I have held 60 camps in villages to educate them about yoga and have given talks in schools, colleges and universities on the way.” Thakur, who runs 500 yoga training centres across the globe, says he has picked up 30 students on the way, whom he will train as instructors. A doctorate in yoga, Thakur said he learnt yoga from Sukhdev Bramhachari, in the foothills of the Himalayas. “I started learning at the age of three and was a student till I was 18,” says the 43-year-old guru. Describing artistic yoga as a research based method, he claimed that 90% people are using yoga to cure themselves. “Yoga cannot be taught on television or at mass level. Each individual has his or her own need. Artistic yoga is specific and our trainers ensure that it is performed properly. We concentrate on five aspects: strength, endurance, flexibility, balance and agility. I have evolved nearly 45,000 stretches to build these.” Thakur and his team leave for Hyderabad on Tuesday around 4.30pm. “We are cycling at night because of the heat,” he says and informs that two vehicles with a six-member team, including a cook, masseur, mechanic and physiotherapist, is also travelling with them.