Dubai: Over 20 years ago, in 1990, a yoga practitioner, K.B. Rai, used to spend the early morning hours practising yoga in Deira. When passers-by became curious and stopped to ask what he was doing, he invited them to join in. Since then, every morning and evening, people from various nationalities around the emirates and even places as far as the United States have joined the movement to get healthy with yoga.
Our Friends of Yoga community in the UAE has grown and daily sessions take place every morning at 5.30am and every evening at 7.30pm at 13 locations around the country.
Now, we have a syllabus of programmes that are helping people manage their various ailments. Breathing exercises help asthma patients for instance, and learning to meditate helps those with high blood pressure. As someone who has been part of this growing community for about 10 years, I have found changes within myself too.
Dating back more than 6,600 years, yoga is one of the oldest and also most advanced forms of exercise.
The various paths in yoga deal with those of the physical body (called ‘asanas'), control of our breathing (‘pranayamas'), control of the mind or meditation (‘dhyan') and devotion.
In the constant hustle and bustle of our daily schedules, I think it is vital to dedicate at least one hour to one's self. We cannot stop ourselves from getting ill, but we can find the inner strength to deal with it and live a more fulfilling life. Having learnt yoga, in my free time, I have volunteered to help children with special needs and have seen the benefit of yoga in their lives.
Another advantage of practising yoga in such groups is that it's a great way to get social!
Today, we celebrate the anniversary of our Zabeel Park chapter at 5.30am at Gate 2. Join us or visit friendsofyogaglobal.org to find out more about how you can become part of this wonderful community.
— The reader is a homemaker in Dubai
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