It’s important to embrace your identity as an individual and set aside a time-frame to appreciate the beauty of life, both the little things and the larger picture, says the trio of Divya Srinivasan, Ishani Appaya and Ranjani Sivakumar. The trio will host a unique five sensory immersive yoga experience (organised by Rutland Gate Yoga Studio) in the city this weekend. An attempt to help individuals connect with their inner self minus worldly disturbances and worries, the event has participants experiencing their sensory capabilities —to see, eat, hear, listen and smell, in their purest form. After an impressive turnout in Chennai few weeks ago, the event offers a novel experience for Hyderabadis.
The event commences with a yoga session and participants are made to disconnect themselves from gadgets. They’re later blindfolded and made to do similar asanas, just to understand how the world changes when you can’t see and how it helps to focus on your task minus visual distractions. This is also an attempt for make participants become more aware of what they hear. As Divya Srinivasan and Ishani handle the yoga segment, vocalist Ranjani Sivakumar will perform classical music live and also teach select slokas or songs in tune with the sensibility of the audience. A Sathvik meal completes to the event, demonstrating how smell and taste are complementary.
Ranjani Sivakumar adds, “Our senses work in tandem. Sound and smell trigger memories, it becomes a deeply personal experience that leads you to an exclusive mental space. Most of our earlier participants have felt the event helped them rediscover their personal interests; precisely why we’ve been doing it in smaller groups. As opposed to experiencing music visually by seeing a performance, you experience it aurally here.”
Cutting out distractions was a key element behind the concept’s ideation, yoga instructor Ishani states. “Every time I am in a class, I keep thinking about how clean is the floor, why’s the speaker not loud enough and why is the dog barking on the street! So, the first step through this concept was to eliminate vision, build a sense of aroma within the event space and make a participant feel conscious only about their own self. Savouring those littler nuances, like the lunch that we more often eat like a duty, this experience has you savouring it more.” The trio made it a point to not make the flow of events feel sacrosanct, their focus is to retain the organic nature of the experience.
“Every body has its own sense of intelligence and rhythm, it’s important to awaken that,” says Divya Srinivasan, who feels performing yoga to music is indeed a very lively combination. She says the experience isn’t novel, it’s something we’ve been doing since the Vedic times. What’s significant is its current day relevance and its re-emphasis on living a more natural existence. “It’s a decision that one needs to make and keep practising,” feels Divya.
(Yoga for the five senses will be held at Saptaparni, Banjara Hills on September 3, 10:30 am)
