Yoga and meditation is catching on among youngsters today. Be it for managing stress, living mindfully or for work/college-life balance, youngsters are leaning on yoga and Management by Consciousness, the ongoing two-month programme for MBA students at Prestige Institute of Management and Research is testimony to this. Dr Yogeshwari Phatak, director of the college and the curator of the workshop says, “Yoga and meditation sessions are common in schools but rare in colleges. This is our attempt to wake students up to conscious living.” We spoke to youngsters across the city, who have incorporated yoga and meditation into their routines, and here’s what they have to say.
Starting fresh
Ritika Dua, an MBA student at Prestige Institute of Management and Research, who attended the new workshop says, “The session on mindful eating taught me to focus on the food that we eat and enjoy our meal.” For student Suby Babychen, yoga helps in “building resilience, endurance and gives us time and space to reflect.” Harshdeep Baweja adds, “The timings of our workshop are from 11.30 am till 12.30 pm . We have our regular lectures after that from 1 pm . Those of us who are taking these sessions, have noticed that we don’t even yawn through the rest of the afternoon in class.”
Youngsters make up 80 percent of yoga students
Barun Kushwah, who runs a yoga centre in the city, feels, “Most of the youngsters join yoga classes to understand and discover what they want from life. They are able to do this by calming their body and mind through yoga and meditation, developing better concentration and focus, through various ancient techniques. Eighty per cent of enthusiasts who come to our classes are college students who have taken up various professional courses, but are not certain about their bigger objective in life.” However, pilates instructor Arjun Chugh feels that boys are still focussed on external fitness. “They prefer going to the gym which is not bad. But yoga and exercises like pilates keeps people fit externally as well as internally.”
Working professionals embrace yoga
Young working professionals feel that yoga helps them deal with work pressure. Mayank Pratap Singh, an entrepreneur, says, “In the initial two years of my career, I was under a lot of stress. Yoga helped me deal with stress and develop clarity of mind.” Another working professional, Winee Singh shares, “I am managing an apparel store and my job keeps me on the move all day. I developed Sciatica and extreme back pain. Six months ago, I started practicing yoga and it has made me gain strength and my lower back ache is under control. Yoga has also helped me regularise my menstruation cycle and cope with stomach cramps.”
