Bowler Zaheer Khan joins international-level cricketers who approach BKS Iyengar for rehabilitation tips.
Even as the Pune-based internationally acclaimed yoga guru, BKS Iyengar, turns 93 years old on Wednesday, sportsmen, particularly international cricketers, still flock to him for rehabilitation tips and guidance.
The most recent case is that of India fast bowler Zaheer Khan,
who has started playing again following a recent ankle surgery. In the past, star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, bowler Anil Kumble and several English and Australian cricketers have sought the yoga
expert’s advice to improve their performances.
What is the magic that continues to attract heavy duty sports performers to the nonagenarian yoga exponent? The guru is very practical in his response. “It is very simple. Yoga is a science and has several asanas which can cure injuries and support quick rehabilitation. Cricketers and sportsmen have benefited from yoga over the years and hence keep coming to me,” he told DNA in this exclusive interview at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (Rimyi) in the city on Monday.
Iyengar cited the example of former India cricket captains, Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid, both avid yoga practitioners. “Both Dravid and Kumble have learnt yoga from my students, Omkar and Murlidhar in Bangalore. Omkar teaches yoga to cricket trainees at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore,” he said.
Iyengar said he worked on Zaheer’s injured ankle in several sessions at Rimyi in November this year. “There was a knot in his ankle following the surgery. I suggested a few specific asanas, which helped loosen up the ankle. This brought him relief and resulted in his being able to bowl more easily. He did very well as a bowler when he recently played for the Mumbai team,” Iyengar said.
If there is one regret that the yoga guru readily articulates, it is the fact that yoga is still not compulsory in schools across the country. “The absence of yoga in the school curriculum makes me very sad. If schools had adopted yoga soon after Independence, India would have been a healthier country today. Yoga has not been treated as a science by bureaucrats; that is the reason for the non-implementation at the school level,” Iyengar said.
According to the guru, yoga is important in schools. “Brawn and brains must go hand in hand for better development of young students. Only yoga can make the body work at the speed of the brain,” Iyengar said.
He will address his students at Rimyi in Pune between 6 and 8 pm.
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