Yoga India's gift to the World

Yoga योग benefits everyone-- young and old, men and women, from East or West.

Yoga benefits

• People who are stressed in life
• People with hypertension, diabetes and such life style diseases
• Children-- their yoga-practicing-parents may become more patient
• Sportsmen and sportswomen-- improves their focus and persistence
• People running against time-- teaches them to control their pace of life
• People who have lost a loved one in life
• Students- improves their power of concentration
• Politicians-- hoping they would become more honest and less self-centered!

Yoga therefore, benefits just about everyone on this planet. It enhances your self-control and self-discipline.

Talking of self-discipline, we can take a lesson or two from tiny creatures like caterpillars. Click to see how disciplined the caterpillars are!

Some time back, we had linked Yoga and Golf . Many of you had liked the comparison including Ghumakkad's golfing buddies.

On a lighter side, we had also carried a real life story Learn Yoga and find the right Life Partner . This picture story struck a chord worldwide and we had hundreds of readers from across the globe. It showed the real power of Yoga!

Based on an appeal by India's Prime Minister, United Nations has declared June 21st as International Day of Yoga.

To learn yoga, you need not spend thousands of Rupees or Dollars. There are many yoga ashrams आश्रम - which teach the practice of yoga. Schools, Colleges, Clubs, Residents' Welfare Societies-- all make an endeavour to spread the knowledge and practice of Yoga in India.

So, if you are a yoga practitioner, share your knowledge with others. If you wish to learn yoga, join up with like-minded people in your neighbourhood. You can browse a list of seven well known Yoga Centres spread across different states in India. Further internet search would give you many more yoga schools/centres.

Yoga has been practiced in India for centuries. However, if we do not make an endeavour to spread it among masses, we may soon lose our preeminent position. In contrast, take a look at growing popularity of yoga in USA.

• A whopping 2 crore (20 million) people practice yoga
• Revenue from Yoga crossed $ 30 Billion last year i.e. like combined turnover of top-five IT companies in India
• More than 50,000 yoga studios in USA and counting

Therefore, on this International Day of Yoga, let us spread the awareness about Yoga amongst our family, neighbours, friends and colleagues. We should work together to retain India's leadership in spiritual and wellness domains worldwide.

A word of caution: Learn yoga from someone who has been trained earlier.
But once you start doing yoga every day, even your dog would know its time for yoga. Click here to see how?   

On a lighter side, some people might land up in yoga-like posture by accident! We do not recommend yoga practice this way.

Wishing you happy yogasanas योगासन (postures and exercises) to take control of your life!

   -  Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 21st June 2015- International Day of Yoga

Ghumakkad crosses 25000 mark

Ghumakkad is Three

Am delighted to share that your buddy Ghumakkad’s blog is going to be three-years old!

It was 25^th May 2012 when this blog was created primarily to share pictures taken while travelling. We had just returned from Bhutan and the first story titled ‘Exploring Bhutan Part-1: The Team’ was posted in this blog (Link: Bhutan Part-1). It has so far been read by 120 people. Initially the blog had a ‘closed’ setting with very limited readership/viewership. Later, we opened it for public viewing/reading in the larger spirit of sharing.

I feel humbled that in these three years, the blog has been read more than 25,000 times. For an on-line forum, this is not a big number. But considering that it is not a commercial venture, it signifies your liking, support and encouragement. In fact, last 5,000 views came in just three months! Special thanks are due to each one of you.

It was only in Feb 2015 when we crossed the 20,000 milestone. The link: Ghumakkad Hits 20,000

Most-read Story

The story on BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus posted on 30^th Sept 2014 has been read by 1229 people so far. The only other story to have crossed the 1,000 readers’ mark is also connected with my alma-mater. It was a curtain raiser of our book ‘BITS of Success’ and posted on 18^th Dec 2013. An earlier story on BITS Dubai Campus in Jul 2012 has had 450+ viewers so far. Mind you this blog does not promote BITS Pilani or any other institution for that matter!

Just in case you missed browsing these ‘most-read’ posts, you can click the links below.

BITS Pilani Hyderabad- The Campus that Rocks  

BITS of Success- A Curtain Raiser 

BITS Dubai- Another Oasis

Talking of institutions, a story of my experiences at IBS Hyderabad as a Prof posted on Teacher’s Day 2012,  has had 440+ views so far. The link:

Harsh@IBS- Journey of a different kind 

Another recent story (March 2015) which has been read by 650+ people showcases two real life yoga enthusiasts who came together for life! If you haven’t read the post yet, please click the link below:

Learn Yoga and find the right life partner 

How human beings value their memories and friends was proven when a story of a Naval Reunion of buddies after 40 years, received 500+ views. See the link below if you wish to re-live the moment:

Naval Reunion at Valsura Jamnagar 

The readers of this blog are diverse in terms of age, gender, nationality, occupation, education etc and in turn they have welcomed and supported diversity in the blog posts. See some of the posts which have had more than 350 readers each, in diverse fields such as:

Wildlife/Nature:

Rescuing an injured Bat (July 2012): Bat story- click here

The ‘Big Five’ Live from Africa (August 2014): Africa Live- Click here 

Lessons from Life

Life is like a Switch (May 2013): Life and switch

Life Begins at Sixty (July 2014): Life@60- Click here

Thrill of a 10K Run (March 2014): 10K Run- click here

Travel

Changing Face of Jaipur (April 2014): Pink City is Changing

Obituary

Khushwant Singh (March 2014): The Pen has Dried

It has been an exciting journey. All this would not have been possible without your continued support and encouragement. Many people have contributed to the growth of Ghumakkad’s blog. But one person who gave her time, ideas and constant encouragement is Mrs Trixie Asirvatham, a media professional from Bangalore. Special thanks Trixie.

As Ben Sweetland said “Success is a journey, not a destination”, Ghumakkad marches on and will continue to share the journey with friends like you.

Thanks for browsing.

   -Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/9^th May 2015

Learn Yoga and find the right life partner

Learn Yoga and find the right Life Partner

The benefits of Yoga in today’s stressful world are well known.

Learn and practice Yoga for:

• Inner Peace
• Managing Stress
• Reducing Anxiety
• Controlling lifestyle ailments like hypertension, diabetes 
• Keep fit etc.

But this story brings out another dimension of Yoga. Centered 

around two disciples of Bihar School of Yoga at Munger in Bihar, 

we bring to you the tale with a twist. An interesting and pleasant twist.

Ravi Kiran and Gillian Woodman, both from Hyderabad enrolled 

for the three year program at Bihar School of Yoga 

(http://www.biharyoga.net/the-bihar-yoga-tradition/ ). Though they knew each other, but it is Yoga which brought them closer as disciples. And cemented their bond for rest of their lives!

Both are Yoga instructors now. Together they conduct workshops 

for domestic as well as overseas clients. Soon, they will be 

spreading their wings abroad. They love yoga and each other.

On 12^th March, they tied the knot in Secunderabad. Pictures of the wedding.

The wedding card.

The Venue. Peter woodman's residence in Swarnandhra.
Peter has been an old friend. Interests that we share are golf, bird watching, nature walks, writing and good humour.

Gillian the bride, all decked up, with Dad and uncles and a cousin form Mumbai.

Gauri Puja. Gillian-- all concentration.

Pretty bride

Ravi the groom arrives in traditional attire and equally traditional footwear-- wooden sandals-- खड़ाऊं !
Traditional welcome by bride's father by washing groom's feet.

The yogi look...

The lotus bloomed exactly on Muhurtam time  मुहूर्त -- as if to convey God's blessings! Both pictures taken few minutes apart.

The groom getting ready by wearing the sacred thread जनेऊ 
 
 Peter chanting the mantras मंत्र confidently, while Ravi listens.

Playing Nadeswaram-- traditional instrument.

Bride being dressed up for the wedding by her in-laws. 

Ceremonial arrival of the bride in a lotus basket. Being carried by her cousins.

Gillian hugs Peter after Kanya Daan, कन्या दान 

 And the ceremonies continue...

 Ravi and Gillian become man and wife.

 Peter, the gleaming father

 Ravi with his Yoga mates from Bihar School of Yoga. From L to R: Ravi, Akshay, Yoga Priya, Agya and Om.

The atmosphere was truly festive with ladies applying mehndi and donning men's saafa साफ़ा ! 

 

After a short break, the bride returns in gleaming white attire. Seeking husband's blessings- don't miss the smile on Gillian's face.

The happy couple. 

So, the moral of the story—weddings are made in heaven, surely—but also in Yoga Schools!

Cheers to the lovely couple. As we said earlier, both Gillian and Ravi love Yoga and they love each other too.
Both have adopted new names for their profession. Ravi calls himself  Atmagyanam whereas Gillian is Gangamurti as per their business cards. Their website www.swan-yoga-goa.com .

Wishing them a happy married life

-          Harsh-the-Ghumakkad/ 12^th March 2015