The yogasana project in Auroville’s bioregion

Ever since UNESCO declared 21st June as International Yoga Day, momentum on yogasana keeps gathering.

With a much needed fillip coming from the government of India, Auroville took the initiative last year to introduce ten simple yoga asanas for daily practice for children and adults in the region.

Teaching yogasana to village children dates back a few decades when Varadharajan a senior Aurovilian who sought the Mother’s blessing on doing service for the villages, he started Arulvazhi School in Morattandi village where he had been teaching yogasana among other topics.

A team of senior Aurovilians – Ashoke Chatterjee, Varadharajan and Thillai Ganapathi guided this project which consisted of two components. One was the propagation of yogasana through three short films made by Yatra Srinivassan of Yatra Arts Media depicting real world problems and their possible solutions by yogasana practice. These films were broadcast by the local Doordarshan (Pondicherry TV Station) and made available on social media websites.

The second component was a demonstration of yoga asanas by Arulvazhi School students in ten villages. Yoga teachers Anandou, Muthukumari and Velmurugan were sources of inspiration and awe. This year, Muthukumari brought girls to villages for the yogasana demonstration which is unusual – a girl practicing yogasana!

We also conducted yogasana programmes in two government run schools nearby in an effort to plant a seed to revive an ancient Indian mind-body programme which may be a panacea for modern-day maladies.

The reception of this initiative in the villages has been overwhelming and efforts are now continuing to reach out to adults through TV channels and social media. We enjoy support from the community for this useful and purposeful project. We also hope for the community’s support in the future.