Trainee women police in Mumbai to get lessons on Art of Living

Nine hundred women constables currently in training at the Marol police headquarters are hoping to breathe easy very soon.

The Art of Living Foundation is conducting a free introductory course for them to better deal with their highly demanding schedules, as well as prepare them for the stressful job that lies ahead of their nine-month training programme.

Previous such courses have been conducted with male police personnel across the city, but this is the first time it is being implemented for the female trainees of the police constable unit.

Of these 900 women, 360 will be completing the five-day course on Friday, the primary objective of which is to arm participants with practical knowledge to deal with everyday problems and to teach the sudarshan kriya, an ancient yogic breathing technique.

For the girls, the two-hour course has been a welcome relief from their usual routine of drills, rallies and rifle training. According to the instructors, the course teaches participants to channel all thoughts to the present, avoiding the human mind’s tendency to constantly think about the past or future.

For the many who suffer from bouts of homesickness, the feeling of lightness they experience after practicing the exercises has captured their imagination.

The 23-year-old Panchasheela Rane from Ahmednagar, who only gets to see her family during Diwali, is an enthusiastic fan of the course.

She quipped, “If a husband goes home and sees his wife smiling, all the stresses of his day disappear. Similarly, if one wakes up in the morning and does the kriya, the rest of the day passes smoothly.”

DCP Vijaysingh Rathore, who sanctioned the course, said, “Police constables are now required to perform long hour duties. They are immensely in need of stress relief and fitness programmes to stay fresh. This course will help them.”