Houston gathers for a stretch
Thousands celebrate first International Day of Yoga
They twisted their bodies and stretched their spines. They raised their arms high, closed their eyes, tried to find balance on just one leg.
About 2,000 people — newbies and masters alike — lined up on colorful mats Sunday, nearly filling an exhibit hall in the George R. Brown Convention Center for the first International Day of Yoga.
“Let’s take a deep breath in,” said yoga instructor Shriram Sarvotham, who opened the morning’s session. The crowd — a broad mix of cultures, ages and levels of experience — breathed with him, lifting their arms skyward, bending deeply at the waist and suspending their bodies in a sitting “chair” pose.
“Notice the strengthbuilding in the quadriceps; notice the strengthbuilding around the knees,” Sarvotham said. “Notice the elevated rhythms of the heartbeat and the breath.”
All told, about 3,500 Houstonians signed up to join Sunday’s event, which was celebrated in cities around the world. After the morning’s group workout, the day included meditation, yoga demonstrations
and talks about the discipline’s health and therapeutic benefits.
The celebration first took shape last fall, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the United Nations General Assembly to call for an annual worldwide celebration of yoga. The idea got support from 177 countries, and a resolution to designate June 21 the International Day of Yoga won unanimous support.
Modi’s idea had two goals: to help promote exercise and healthy living and to promote unity among people and countries. And yoga — which
originated in India — has the power to connect people, said organizer Harish Parvathaneni, the consul general of India in Houston.
“Yoga is physical exercise, but on a deeper level it’s about unity of heart and action, unity of mind and body, unity of man and nature,” Parvathaneni said. “So that’s the focus: At least once in a year, if we can re-orient people’s focus and perception to thinking a little more about themselves, the communities they live in, the countries they live in and the problems that affect all of us.”
Diverse group
To organize Sunday’s celebration, the consul general assembled a diverse group of cultural organizations and yoga practitioners of all stripes, from Ashtanga to Bikram. While other big cities in the United States had multiple events spread out at different locations, Parvathaneni said, “in Houston we said, ‘No, let’s all try to get together.’ And the beauty is, everyone agreed.”
The crowd included some beginners and many longtime yoga devotees, including University of Houston Chancellor and President Renu Khator, who chose a spot in the second row.
“I do yoga every day,” said Khator, who learned the ancient discipline as a young woman in India. She uses it to maintain balance in her life, she said — and to keep herself flexible and strong enough to wear the high heels her job demands.
Susan Welli joined a group of friends from her yoga class for the morning workout. After eight years of classes, she, too, credits yoga for helping her find balance.
“I’m far less reactionary to anything negative in life,” Welli said. “You become more fluid with everything, I think.”
More than 24 million Americans practiced yoga in 2013, according to a Sports & Fitness Industry Association survey — a number that has grown substantially in the past couple of decades. “It’s now been very well accepted by Western culture and is in the mainstream of Western culture,” said Ashok Garg, president of the Indo American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston. Yoga is “not a religion,” Garg said. “It’s not a culture, either — it’s a discipline. It’s the discipline of mind and soul.”
Jay Patel, who attended Sunday, started practicing yoga after a friend encouraged him to try it.
“I’m in the computer field; I sit all day on the computer, and I used to have pain here,” he said, pointing to the back of his neck. “I took up yoga and within a month or two, that pain’s gone. I’ve never had it since then.”
‘It’s calming’
But he’s quick to point out the mental benefits he’s experienced, which are just as important to him. “It’s calming,” Patel said. “It’s kind of an escape for me.”
Billie Gollnick, 87, directed the crowd through a series of basic moves: the tree pose, bridge pose, thunderbolt pose. Gollnick, who’s been teaching yoga since the ’60s, urged the group to move slowly and carefully, to hold the pose and appreciate what their bodies could do. “Always take time to relax and enjoy before you move along,” she said.
Peggy Reid, who has practiced yoga for a decade, came to the convention center with her husband, Joe Reid. The two met — of course — in a yoga class.
“I started yoga for stress, but it’s become more of a way of life,” she said. Besides exercise, yoga brings her calm, peace and a chance to escape everything.
“It can be an individual practice,” Reid said, “but it’s so beautiful to see everybody come together today.”