“Iyengar Yoga came rather incidentally to me, visiting Goa and attending a few sessions there exposed me to it. Our practitioner there really inspired us to understand Iyengar Yoga and so after coming back to Surat, I knew this was something I needed to seriously take up. Several trips to Mumbai’s Iyengar Institute and over two years of religious practice has helped us reach this far”, says Dr. Sonal Jain, a physiotherapist and an integral part of the Iyengar Yoga Surat Group when asked about the birth and structure of the group. The group consists of people equally passionate about this discipline, they are a bunch who really aspire to bring this practice to everyone’s notice and spread awareness of its vast benefits. Since most of the group consists of doctors, they understand its importance and how it affects health positively. Dr. Nandini Limdi and Dr. Jain believe that Iyengar has helped them enhance their lives and wish for everyone to explore this arena.

The effect of Iyengar has been seen all over the world, gaining mass followers everyday and that effect will now be seen in Surat too. The Iyengar Yoga Group of Surat wants to bring this change in our city, introducing Iyengar Yoga to the masses, breaking myths of what it means to be a Yogi, showing us various ways and styles to perform Yoga. Iyengar Yoga specially gains such vast following for breaking barriers of traditional forms of Yoga, using various props like ropes, pillows, blankets, straps, etc. It not only concentrates on flexibility but also on the optimum use of energy and building body strength, focusing on the nuances of each asana until proper alignment is achieved. Garnering popularity in the west as Sports Yoga, Iyengar Yoga has been a benchmark for people wanting to work their bodies to the point of exhaustion and feel energized.

A discipline he believes to be “the quest of the soul for the spark of divinity within us”, B. K. S. Iyengar promotes yoga has a spiritual activity and a fantastic healer for various issues we live with each day. A study suggests that Iyengar Yoga has been helpful to women in the recovery process of breast cancer. Added benefits include improvement in core strength and flexibility, pain relief, a toned body and a calmer mind.

As the International Yoga Day approaches, The Iyengar Surat Group geared up and held first set of its practices at various places in the city. Starting from 17th June, the group has set up practices with various associations like Surti Runners, Club 35+, Surat City Gymkhana etc. The registrations were in numbers of hundreds and each practice had an overwhelming response from the participants. The success of the events has motivated the group immensely and wishes to take this forward and bring about a healthy change in the Yoga scene of the city.

The group’s main goal is to create awareness, about Iyengar Yoga and how it is bound to bring positive transformations in everyone’s life. They urge everyone to practice it, no matter the age, gender and physical conditions. They strongly promote that this yoga is for everyone and wishes for all to explore it. So let’s not limit ourselves to just the known and find it in us to experience something different, something unique and breaking our own set ideologies to welcome fresher ones. Let’s support their passion and help our minds and bodies along the way.