It was 2017. I sat with my legs stretched, bending forward as I struggled to hold my toes with my thumb, index and middle finger, without bending my knees. I was attempting the Paschimottanasana and my Yoga instructor was Nanammal. She was 98 years old then and I still remember how she lovingly patted me on my shoulder saying,“Don’t worry. Once you start practising every day, it will be very easy.”
My lasting memory of her is the demo she did of Sarvangasana . She effortlessly balanced her entire body on her shoulders and then followed that up with Halasana where her legs travelled smoothly till her toes touched the floor behind her head. As I gaped at her, she smiled, “ Kaalai Ezhundadhum yoga is my policy.”
Nanammal died on Saturday (October 26, 2019). She was 99. “She was just a few months away from turning 100. A week ago, she fell from her bed and had been unwell,” says V Balakrishnan, Nanammal’s son. “Till recently, she as been touring Malaysia, Singapore and Muscat, giving yoga demos and talks on the radio. Even bedridden, her memory, eyesight and her hearing was sharp. She attributed it to her regular practice of Sirshasana. ”
Award-winning yoga practitioner V Nanammal, who passed away on October 26, 2019, had trained thousands of students in yoga in Coimbatore
- Nanammal has taught yoga to over 10 lakh students, of whom 10,000 are teaching yoga now. There are 63 teachers in her own family. Some of her students have won gold medals at international yoga competitions in China, Australia, the UK, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand
- She was was conferred the Padma Shri in January 2019
- She was awarded the Presidential Nari Shakti Puraskar Award in 2018
- She received Karnataka Government’s Yoga Ratna Award in 2014
Her student J Ranjani Jayakumar, who teaches yoga says ‘yoga paati’ peppered her classes with tips on home remedies. “She would say, add crushed garlic in warm milk and drink it to get good sleep... She always had cures for common cold, fever or stomach ache. She called everyone ‘saami’.” Ranjani says when Nanammal taught it was like a story telling session. “We hung on to her every word.”
Nanammal’s 60-year-old daughter P Rajamani, is also a yoga teacher. “My granddaughter, who turns five, now performs over 250 asanas and is readying for international yoga competitions in Thailand. Like my mother, she also shares health tips with her friends,” she laughs.
Balakrishnan says his mother was an early riser, and started her day with a cup of jeera water. She relished sattu maavu kanji . And never missed eating keerai with her meals. Dinner was a glass of warm milk and a banana.
Balakrishnan who was her constant companion says with pride that many allopathic doctors were her students. “They learnt pranayama from her. She also motivated children to do yoga. She was fond of saying, ‘Start them early. Then they will enjoy the benefits of good health their entire life’.”
