Last to last year (in December 2012), when I got chance to perform in Rashtrapati Bhawan at the cultural night of ASEAN Summit. I was more excited than happy (for obvious reasons).
Obvious Reasons???
Arrey ... It’s not a joke to become part of such great event and apart from that, being a classical dancer, it is always a hidden desire to meet the dancers of different horizons and culture to explore their world by listening their stories. And moreover, this event was offering me to perform with 160 international dancers, who came from 10 different ASEAN countries and 80 Indian dancers.
Well, all the national and international groups were very good but the only group which held the audience spellbound by their performance was Gotipua group from Orissa. In this group, there were 10 children all from the age group of 8 to 12 years.
Gotipua is an Indian classical dance which basically belongs to Orissa. In this dance form, a group of young boys perform yogic postures depicting the life of Lord Krishna. They form different formations of bandhas (difficult and intricate poses performed in yoga) while performing. It wasn’t like that I have never seen these yogic postures ever before. I, myself practised yoga many a times. And also, it isn’t that I have never seen yoga in the form of dance. The only point of amazement for me was that how those very posses were being performed by little boys in front of my eyes.
My curiosity nagged me and made me to some research about Yoga in India as well as Gotipua, as I was unable to forget those mesmerising yoga poses performed by those Gotipua boys.
It was known to me that the origination point of Yoga lies in Ancient India. But after a very long search, I realised there are so many modern variations and style of Yoga that has evolved over the years and many people have already associated with the world of Yoga today.
In Bhagavat Gita also, you can find a whole chapter (ch-6) dedicated to yoga practises. In 4th/ 5th century, a phase came in India, during the period of Guptas, when it changed its meaning of a spiritual practice to a way to attaining enlightenment and schools have been set to teach yoga.
In 19th century, Yoga got affiliation from the West and it had been taken as another Indian subject to be taught and ponder upon. Some of you might know that few Indian classical dance forms have also evolved from Yoga.
Yoga always get a place for itself in one’s life, be it as a part of regular exercise programme for fitness enthusiasts and for spiritual people. Yoga is always a practice which connects our body and mind to our soul.
Now, it has become a trend among the national/international travellers to visit a place in India where they can experience the essence of ancient India. By taking this in account, they never miss a chance to visit some of the most famous yoga centres in India such as
- Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, Chennai
- Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune
- Bihar School of Yoga, Munger –Bihar
- Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Ashram, Trivandrum
- Ashtanga Yoga School, Mysore
- Arhanta Yoga Ashram, Khajuraho – Madhya Pradesh
- Yoga Institute, Mumbai
I am planning out my fitness-cum-spiritual trip in the yoga centres in India. What yours plans for this New Year!!!
I find the information given in this blog very useful...next time i would like to visit one of the yoga centers, which you have mentioned in your blog!!!
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