Ever since Myra had fractured her leg during the summer holidays, she would sit on the balcony and watch. As she lived on the first floor, she could talk to the children, from the balcony.
It was 7 a.m. on June 21— World Yoga Day. Myra was excited to watch people from her building attend the yoga session organised by the building committee. Everyone was grumpy, as they stood watching the young yoga instructor. She had put up a notice near the lift, asking residents to wear comfortable clothes, and to bring their yoga mats. She had also asked them not to eat anything before the yoga session.
Myra giggled when her father threw her mother a dirty look, for, she had dragged him for the session. As everyone spread their yoga mats, Myra’s father looked up. She gave him a thumbs up, and he smiled as he returned the gesture.
“Welcome. I’m Divya, your yoga instructor,” the young, athletic girl said. “The United Nations General Assembly has declared June 21 as the International Day for yoga, since 2015. It is a physical, mental and spiritual practice that originated in India. Now, the west has also embraced it.”
Tension release
“First, the breathing exercises,” Divya smiled. “Shoulders straight, arms by your side, take a deep breath, slowly exhale all your tension. Do this 20 times. When you inhale, imagine the sun’s rays energising you; when you exhale, let go off all your anxieties.”
Myra watched. Ram uncle, from the third floor, burped loudly as he inhaled, inviting a scowl from his wife. Lata aunty sneezed when she took a deep breath. Her own grandmother coughed a few times.
“Now, relax,” Divya said. “Sit down on your mats in padmasana or the lotus position. I know that many of you will not be able to cross your legs completely; do as much as you are comfortable with.”
Myra giggled as the uncles and aunties groaned and grumbled about their aching limbs. Finally, after several minutes of moving their legs this way and that way, everyone was in the lotus pose.
“Good,” Divya said, approvingly. “Now, close your right nostril and inhale from your left. Do this 10 times.”
Pressing their right thumbs over their right nostril, everyone took deep breaths from their left nostrils.
“Now, close your left nostril and inhale and exhale from your right nostril 10 times,” she demonstrated.
Everyone, including Myra did as instructed.
“Lie down on your back,” said the instructor. “Take a deep breath and raise your right leg six inches above the ground. Hold for two seconds and exhale while lowering your leg. Finish 10 counts with your right leg, then do the same for your left leg.”
Myra watched her parents and grandmother. Her grandmother had barely raised her leg an inch off the ground, while her father had raised it very high.
Divya shook her head disapprovingly at the two of them. “One has barely lifted her leg, while the other has lifted it too high,” she said. Bending down, she raised Myra’s grandmother’s leg, putting her hand underneath her grandmother’s knee while the lady kept the leg steady.
Then, turning to Myra’s father she said, “If you raise your leg too high your leg will begin to hurt,” she gently lowered his leg.
“Now, as you inhale, lift both your legs as high as each one of you is comfortable with; hold for two seconds and lower your feet as you exhale.”
Myra wished that she could have done the asanas . It looked so easy, though most of the residents were struggling with it. An hour later, everyone lay down in shavasana or the corpse pose.
Closing her eyes, Myra imagined each and every part of her body relaxing. A feeling of peace swept over her. She decided that when her leg healed, the first thing she would do was to sign up for yoga classes in school.
