For the past five years, a community of 2,000 people gather in the scenic surroundings of Cubbon Park to celebrate the world's oldest method for better health and well being.
What began as an initiative to give back to the society gradually grew into a movement to gain wellness by celebrating yoga and spreading awareness about its benefits: something the 'Yoga Mat-ters' are proud of and passionate about.
Radhika Chaliha, a yoga teacher, began this initiative five years ago with entrepreneurial couple Radhika and Varun Arya primarily for awareness-creation. Now the group holds yoga sessions in various themes like Natya Yoga — combining dance and yoga postures — and Acro Yoga — a blend of acrobatics and yoga.
"We host an annual fundraiser event with 'one day, one voice' as the theme. We raise funds for an organisation working to prevent human trafficking. As a part of this event, teachers and students completed 108 sun salutations with the guidance of the teachers," Radhika said.
When the group first gathered at Cubbon Park in July 2013, it was an empty space, except for a few joggers. "We were excited to gather all yoga practitioners to practice yoga in natural surroundings. We also wanted to introduce the various forms of yoga to the public," Radhika added.
Children aged six to elders over 70 gather under the picturesque Tabebuia tree in the park. Each session have nearly 60 participants.
Participants bring a yoga mat, props like cushions and a bottle of water to comfortably practice the postures. "When we started in 2013, we would have a session each month, but for personal reasons we had to reduce the sessions to once in three months," Avantika, one of Radhika's student, said.
Asked about future initiatives, Radhika said Yoga Mat-ters would combine discourses on yoga with workshops to spread awareness. "We might bring down the number of sessions at the park, but would consider hosting talks, discourses and workshops on yoga that would benefit the community," she said.