Indian yoga is truly going international. What better example of this than the fact that none other than a team of Olympians and international athletes from Olympic medal producing country - China - are in Pune to train from world renowned yoga guru BKS Iyengar himself in applying yogic techniques to train sportspersons.
The Chinese contingent of 48 people comprises Olympic and international athletes besides the director of sports injury prevention centre for Olympic team and yoga experts from each province of China and are currently training at Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute (RIMYI), Pune.
Speaking to dna, Chen Si, who is organiser of 2011’s first China-India Yoga Summit and a member of India-China Economic and Cultural Council and travelling with the delegation, said that the team is focussing on the role of yoga in prevention of sports injuries.
“The pressure on sportspersons to excel in China is immensely high since the country is very seriously focusing on Olympics. That’s why sports injuries are also very common and a lot of research is being done on how to effectively deal with them. Yoga is a concept that is catching up in China and the delegation decided to come to BKS Iyengar in Pune to understand how yoga could help our athletes,” said Si.
RIMYI manager Pandurang Rao confirmed that the Chinese delegation is training under yoga guru BKS Iyengar.
“In 2011 when Guruji (BKS Iyengar) travelled to China and met the sports department officials, they were keen for the athletes to train under him. In March 2012 too a smaller delegation from China had visited Pune for yoga training. From January till now, smaller groups have arrived and gone. However, this is the biggest delegation from China so far,” said Rao.
Describing on the regimen that athletes follow, he said that for five days in a week, athletes daily train for three hours. “Two hours in morning are for various yoga asanas and one hour in evening is for pranayama,” said Rao.
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