Yoga se hoga: Celebs suggest asanas to strengthen mind, body, soul amid Covid-19 crisis

“New challenges call for traditional solutions”. Mallika Sherawat made a point when she urged her social media followers to address the Covid-19 virus with the “wisdom” that lies in ancient practices like yoga, meditation and prayer.

Even as rigorous workout routines are being more talked about, the good old yoga is what a whole lot of other people, including celebrities, are indulging in and propagating, to strengthen their mind and body. 

For Esha Gupta, yoga is a way of life. She has been practising Iyengar yoga for six years now. “I’m otherwise a very hyper person and yoga keeps me calm. I’m not saying high intensity workout isn’t necessary. I also do it, but nothing helps like yoga. When you’re focused and holding a position, you tend to forget the nightmares,” she says.

Gupta dedicates 50 minutes to yoga and five minutes to savasana daily. Her favourite asanas include cat cow pose, Hanuman asana, downward-facing dog pose, parvatasana and standing forward bend pose.

Talking about what made her choose yoga to heal, professional swimmer-turned-actor Pooja Banerjee says it really helped her recuperate after her fatal accident on the sets of a dance reality TV show.

“Getting back to anything strenuous wasn’t the right thing to do at that time and I’ve never been a gym person anyway. But post the injury, agility was needed, and yoga came to the rescue. Yoga strengthens every part of the body and muscle and yet it offers immense relaxation,” adds Banerjee, who’s favoruite asanas include bhujangasana, navasana, tadaasana, vrikshasana and sukhasana.

Practising yoga for over a decade now, actor Kavita Kaushik recently got certified as Kundalini yoga teacher. She says, “Yoga helps you explore your best potential.  This ancient form of exercise has been helping in curing so many health and mental ailments since so long. Simple meditation and breathing exercises can do wonders,” she says.

Coaxing everyone to seek peace through yoga during this lockdown time, Kaushik mentions that yoga “must be done empty stomach”. The asanas she enjoys are chakra asana, camel asana, shirsha asana, nauka asana and briksha asana.

Like Kaushik, actor Arti Singh too recently urged fans to practice yoga. Actor Sushmita Sen’s social media feed is also full of her yoga sessions.

Highlighting the positives of the form, holistic health guru and yoga expert Mickey Mehta says, “Let fear be replaced by faith, let believe change your biology, let faith change your physiology, let your breath change your hormonology, let meditation change your psychology and let prayers change your spirituality… And all these happen when one practicses yoga.”

Yoga, Mehta avers, is the most ancient, and yet most modern way of wellness. “It embodies everything a wholesome betterment of mind, body and soul. Yoga means truth, togetherness, getting to know yourself, devotion, and also helps you integrate with nature.  It creates tolerance, resilience, increases your inner strength, concentration, cures indigestion, removes stale gases from your lungs, boost blood circulation, generate happy hormones…,” he continues, “Simple five asanas for beginners can be bhujangasana, parvatasana, pawan muktasana, vir badra asana and Tadasana.”

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