'Himalayan yogi' Bharat Thakur brings his formula for happiness


Stress comes out of a wrong understanding of life. Yoga says live life to the fullest, be happy, do your best now and the rest will take care of itself. When followers of yoga live by this principle, their stress automatically vanishes. Moreover, yoga makes the body secrete anti-stress hormones.

So said a famous Indian yoga master yesterday, a day before starting a series of workshops in Dubai.

"Forget about enlightenment, talk about stress. Different professions generate different stresses and yoga can handle them all. Yoga is like a pill - when you take a pill, the pain goes. Just do yoga for 45 minutes every day and you'll no longer have any problems in any aspect of life," Bharat Thakur, 28, said.

Thakur has created Artistic Yoga, his own dynamic combination of exercises and breathing patterns that works on the human body at every level - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. A man with a remarkable life story (see story on right), he spoke to reporters during a press conference at the One& Only Royal Mirage Hotel where he sang, demonstrated postures and even stopped his pulse for a few seconds (one of the guests checked this).

"Yoga is a science. Scientists experiment outside, a yogi experiments within," he said. "Anyone who is open to experimenting can learn yoga. He must also believe totally in his master."

The difference between other forms of exercise and yoga was clear, he added. "You can run on a treadmill and think about your girlfriend, with yoga you cannot do that."

Thakur does not believe in formulating dos and don'ts. Instead, he focuses on developing a complete fitness regime - through research and experiment - that builds strength, endurance, flexibility, agility and co-ordination at the physical level. At the mental/emotional level, it leads to peace and happiness. His system of yoga improves conditions such as diabetes, migraine and asthma; students lose weight and stress and gain energy.

In Dubai, he offers an insight into Artistic Yoga through six three-hour workshops starting this morning. Organised by Serenity Specialized Rehabilitation Centre (info@serenitysrc.com) at Dusit Dubai, the workshops will be held from 9.00am to noon and again from 6.00pm to 9.00pm until Wednesday. Each session costs Dh150 and is limited to 40 men and women.

"We'd like to offer people in the UAE many choices that better living. We'd like to offer a buffet, as it were, rather than single dishes. It is fabulous to have Bharat Thakur here because his whole approach to yoga is so novel, refreshing and real," said Saloni Dewan of Serenity.

Thakur also hopes to open studios and teach Artistic Yoga in Dubai. Detailed announcements will be made in mid July.


'I am the happiest man in the world'

Bharat Thakur has been called the "Himalayan Yogi" by Time magazine. "I was taken by my teacher Sukhdev Brahmachari to the Himalayas when I was just four. I stayed with him for 14 years, living in caves, feeding on roots, herbs and animals, wearing just a loincloth," he told Tabloid before the press conference yesterday.

He ate when he wanted to - usually once a day - slept on the floor even in the freezing winters ("I learnt to control body temperature through breathing," he says) and learnt many disciplines from his master. All that he learnt taught him to be happy and humble.

"My master sent me away when I was 18 and I was resentful. But somewhere at the back of mind I knew he was right, he could not ever guide me wrong," Thakur remembered.

He went back to his parents and school. He studied and took a masters in biomechanics and applied physiology.

Finally he did a PhD from the UK on the role of breathing exercises in heart and lung efficiency.

In time, his master nominated him successor and he has since taken his yoga system all over the world. He has also written many books, including Yoga for All, Yoga for Stress Relief and Yoga for Weight Loss. His books are available in Dubai through Right Selection.

"I am the happiest man in the world. It can sound like arrogance but it's not. I have converted three hundred thousand people; they follow Artistic Yoga and are also happy. I just want everyone to be happy, that's my trip in this world," Thakur underlined.