30% jump in yoga practitioners across big cities: survey – The Hindu

ASSOCHAM study says gymnasiums across metros have seen a spurt in number of members

The number of yoga practitioners has increased by up to 30 per cent across all metros in India, says a survey-cum-analysis released by ASSOCHAM on Monday.

The survey was conducted during the course of past two months in the wake of the International Day of Yoga celebrated globally on June 21.

Spiritual development

According to the survey, students, stressed-out young professionals, CEOs and retired people have embraced yoga in large numbers and gymnasiums across metros have seen a spurt in the number of members willing to practice yoga for health and spiritual development.

“There has been an increase of up to 30 per cent in the number of people who have taken up yoga. Most of them are inspired by the celebrities endorsing it and the media attention that yoga has garnered,” noted a survey on ‘Yoga or Gym’, conducted by the ASSOCHAM Social Development Foundation in 10 metros — Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai.

ASSOCHAM representatives interacted with 100 gym trainers/ fitness professionals and about 1,000 people sweating it out at the gymnasiums across the aforesaid cities to ascertain which is a better workout regime.

Majority of the gym trainers said the number of female clients had gone up by 50 per cent after they started conducting yoga sessions at their gyms. In general, the number of yoga practitioners had fuelled by about 25-30 per cent during the course of past one year, said the survey.

On being asked which is a better workout regime, about 25 per cent gym regulars said they had switched to yoga after first few sessions owing to increased flexibility, toning, strengthening and other benefits of meditation and breathing exercises, noted the ASSOCHAM survey.

Many even said that yoga had helped them fight everything from addiction and lower back pain to diabetes and ageing, in addition to boosting overall well-being.

Additional benefits

Additional benefits like improved digestion and concentration, together with less fatigue and tiredness have helped people in performing better at work. Some even said that they no longer felt guilty if they skipped the gym for a day or two as yoga can be practised at home and even at office.

However, a majority of gym trainers advised to combine yoga with gym sessions to get the desired results.

“Yoga has grown in India from an ancient spiritual practice to big business and premium lifestyle, considering that there are an estimated four crore yoga practitioners across the country spending about Rs 1,000 crore on designer yoga-wear, mats, towels, luxury retreats, thereby promoting the fitness industry,” said Mr D.S. Rawat, secretary general, ASSOCHAM, while releasing the findings of the survey.