Indian PM Modi spreads message of fitness

INDIAN premier Narendra Modi shared the secrets to his morning fitness regimen in a video posted online last Wednesday.

It follows a trend of homemade motivational fitness videos from prominent Indians, including cricket captain Virat Kohli, trying to tackle obesity and poor health in the country of 1.25 billion.

In the latest addition, Modi, 67, implores Indians to follow his example in a two-minute clip shot in the lush garden of his New Delhi residence.

“Apart from yoga, I walk on a track inspired by the Panchtatvas or five elements of nature – Prithvi (earth), Jal (water), Agni (fire), Vayu (air), Aakash (sky),” Modi ( right) says in the video viewed nearly 200,000 times within hours of being posted.

“This is extremely refreshing and rejuvenating. I also practise breathing exercises.”

In one clip, Modi, clad in a black tracksuit, walks backwards over a treaded lawn with his hands clasped in a prayer pose, before stretching over a large boulder.

He then proceeds to a specially-designed path around a large tree, balancing on its edges before walking over pebbles, wood and water, as he pumps a wooden staff from side to side.

The teetotal vegetarian then stands before a Buddha statue in his garden, breathing through one nostril. Later he sits on a rock, sharply taking quick breaths in a meditative pose.

The sexagenarian premier claims he operates on little sleep and his devotees have bragged about his physique, especially his rumoured 56in chest.

A passionate yoga enthusiast, Modi has also touted the benefits of the ancient Indian practice via a cartoon avatar of himself performing sun salutations and downward dogs.

Government ministers were quick to heap praise on Modi for his “unparallelled energy levels”.

But others impressed.

“Majority of middle-class citizens live amidst #stink from open defecation by #slumdwellers & smoke from waste burning & fuelwood,” posted one Twitter user, Naresh Minocha.

Despite the tranquillity depicted in Modi’s backyard, experts often warn Indians against exercising outdoors in New Delhi and other major cities due to terrible air quality.

Levels of harmful airborne pollutants in the capital reached 14 times the World Health Organisation safe level on that Wednesday Modi’s video went viral, according to the US Embassy website. – AFP-Relaxnews were less