NCC cadets take yoga commands

15-day training camps in preparation of International Day of Yoga on June 21

April 24, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 05:38 am IST - MANGALURU:

NCC cadets learning yoga at St. Aloysius High School Ground in Mangaluru on Thursday.— Photo: H.S. Manjunath

NCC cadets learning yoga at St. Aloysius High School Ground in Mangaluru on Thursday.— Photo: H.S. Manjunath

For the last one week, over 100 cadets of the National Cadet Corps (NCC) at the St. Aloysius High School grounds here, have not been taking commands such as “peeche mud”, “daine mud” or “savdhan” from their officers.

Instead, they are getting commands to slowly bend forward and backward, to the right and left, with slow breaths, from G.N. Kushalappa, a yoga instructor and therapist. They begin practicing yoga by chanting “yogena chittasya padena vaachaam, malam shareerasya cha vaidyakena, yopakkarotam pravaram muneenam Patanjali pranjalir anatosmi”, a prayer dedicated to Maharshi Patanjali, the father of yoga.

The cadets are undergoing 15-day training in yoga daily for an hour from 8 a.m. at the ground specially to prepare them for International Day of Yoga on June 21. They are part of the 13,000 cadets who are being taught yoga at different venues in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Shivamogga and Madikeri under 18 Karnataka Batallion, NCC, from the beginning of the month for the occasion. One batch of cadets completed the 15-day training in Moodbidri on April 15.

“Children have also become victims of lifestyle diseases. The training is also aimed at making them maintain good health,” Colonel M.R. Chowdhury, Commander, 18 Karnataka Batallion, NCC, told The Hindu . Since last year yoga was being taught in the annual camps of NCC daily for half an hour, he said.

The nation-wide training module has been designed by the Union Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy. As many as 67,000 cadets are being trained in Karnataka and 12.50 lakh cadets in the country particularly for International Day of Yoga on June 21, he said.

Mr. Kushalappa, who was being helped by three more instructors, said that about 700 cadets who have been trained would perform mass yoga in the city on that day.

A cadet Mohammed Shawad said that he had pain in his leg after he met with a road accident some time ago. After practicing yoga for over a week he felt that the pain has reduced.

Damodar, another cadet, said that he was learning yoga in his school too. “But here we get personal attention from instructors,” he said.

Harish, another cadet, said that it was for the first time he was learning yoga and it felt good.

Cadets are being taught 15 simple asanas

Training also includes pranayama, dhyana

United Nations last year declared June 21 as International Day of Yoga

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