Turkmenistan goes ga-ga over yoga

Yoga is becoming increasingly popular within a year of the Indian Embassy setting up the Ashgabat Yoga and Traditional Medicine Centre in Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan.

 

The centre was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July 2015, following an MoU between the countries on cooperation in yoga and traditional medicine.

 

The facility has come up at the white marble city - as gleaming Ashgabat is called - in the city’s newly constructed Bagtyyarlyk Sports Complex ,where 1,600 people, including a majority of Turkmen, have enrolled for yoga and become regular practitioners.

The centre has become a major attraction among Turkmen and members of the diplomatic community, says TV Nagendra Prasad, the Indian Ambassador to Turkmenistan.

 

For those wondering where exactly this former Russian republic is, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the west, Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the east and Iran and Afghanistan to the south.

 

Most parts of the country is a desert, chiefly the Kara-Kum, one of the world’s largest sand deserts. Turkmenistan declared its sovereignty in August 1990 and became a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States the next year, along with 10 other former Soviet republics.

 

As part of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, two Yoga teachers have been deployed here from India. At any given time of the day, more than a hundred Turkmen can be seen stretching, bending, meditating and practising various techniques in different postures on neatly laid out mats.
 

The hall, where the classes are held, has large framed photographs and paintings depicting men and women in yoga postures on its walls.
 

Sanjeev Kumar, one of the instructors here, has been a yoga practitioner for 15 years. He is amazed at the response from the locals.

 

"Indian culture is welcomed in this country where people are very friendly. Initially, we were in a dilemma whether we can fill up the hall, but we are amazed at the response. All these people started coming here without much canvassing,’’ he says.

 

While registrations have touched 1,600, around 800 have been practising here regularly for many months now. These include women, children, office-goers as well as elders.
 

The regulars have been telling their instructors how their lives and general health has improved with the breathing and meditation techniques and are encouraging their relatives, neighbours and friends to also visit the centre.

 

As the demand has touched a new high, the instructors conduct seven one-hour sessions a day. Earlier, the centre used to be open for only three days a week, but now it is open for six days a week.

 

"We are looking at ways to meet the increasing demand as the Yoga centre has become the cornerstone of cultural relations between the countries. Yoga has become a standing example of the close cooperation between the people of India and Turkmenistan apart from many other initiatives,’’ says Prasad.
 

It has also helped that the oil-rich state’s President, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, gives special importance to the health of his citizens and has launched several initiatives for healthy living, including yoga. Incidentally, the UN has recognised Turkmenistan’s five million population to have one of the lowest percentages of smokers.

 

While yoga has become one of the major landmarks of increasing bilateral engagement between India and Turkmenistan, India has also signed an agreement called the Ashgabat Agreement, which includes the laying of a gas pipeline between the oil-rich republic and India via Afghanistan and Pakistan.
 

The 1,800 km TAPI pipeline has been planned through Turkmenistan’s shared 750 km long border with Afghanistan, through Pakistan, and enters India at Fazilka in Punjab.
 

Apart from the regular sessions at the Yoga centre, at the State Medical University, Ashgabat, a Yoga therapy course with two credit hours a week has been offered to medical students. Indian yoga teachers have already conducted the course here successfully for two semesters.
 

These teachers are also visiting the Saparmyrat Niyazov Hospital to introduce this ancient Indian art to doctors, staff and patients.

 

A special yoga session was held for mothers with differently-abled children recently at the request of an NGO. Truly, the flavour of yoga diplomacy is spreading after Modi requested the UN to announce June 21 as International Yoga Day.