In this community, neighbours do yoga together
Residents taking part in free community yoga took the Dubai Fitness Challenge as a group
It’s 6.15am. This Dubai neighbourhood is bustling with activity as residents and pupils begin their day. But in a small patch of greenery within the community, a group of 30 people — a few in their 60s and 70s — is in perfect equanimity.
Residents of Discovery Gardens and The Gardens have been gathering for their free community yoga near Street 9 at Discovery Gardens every day, including weekends, for quite some time now.
Starting at 6.15am and ending at 7.30am, the participants perform their poses together, meditate and motivate each other to pursue a healthy lifestyle despite their hectic schedules.
Organised and led by Aditya Kapur, the community yoga is open to residents of all ages and all fitness levels. He was inspired by a non-government organisation in India that taught yoga to people for nothing in return. As the month-long Dubai Fitness Challenge (DFC) is encouraging every Dubai resident to be active for 30 minutes daily, Kapur said the group decided to take it up. “We accepted the challenge to motivate them and ensure they will do yoga every day. Further, the challenge adds discipline into their daily schedule” Kapur told Gulf News.
The benefits are visible to the participants. “My wife has lost 3.5kg in the last two months, and my elder son has lost 1.5kg,” said Indian resident Ankurkumar Dungrani. Filipino couple Rachel and Art Los Banos have also seen tremendous improvement in their health. “My husband has lost 17kg, and I have lost 8.2kg. We sleep better at night and get fired up to wake up early. It helped strengthen our marriage in that we’re doing things together and the yoga poses help us a lot,” Rachel said.
Harish Sivaraman, who does yoga with his elderly parents, said: “Think of yoga as a recurring bank deposit with a lockin period of 15 or 20 years. You will certainly thank yourself for doing it regularly later on. ■