Deep breaths and easy yogic asanas will be the order of the day in the next edition of ‘Yoga by the Bay’ at Marine Drive. In a bid to get more senior citizens to participate, holistic health guru Mickey Mehta has devised a ‘yo workout’, which will simplify the classic Surya Namaskar or Chandra Namaskar for senior citizens with arthritis or back pain.
“When senior citizens become helpless, that is the worst part of their life,” says Mehta, attempting to explain why he champions yoga for the elderly.
“The idea is not to succumb to disease because disease is the culmination of wrong choices. We want to empower senior citizens with yoga.”
On the last Sunday of every month since July, thousands of people have thronged to the sea face, yoga mats in hand, for the newly-launched ‘Yoga by the Bay’, a joint initiative of Shaina NC’s NGO I Love Mumbai and holistic health guru Mickey Mehta, which is supported by The Times of India. September’s edition, however, was postponed to Sunday, October 4, because it clashed with Ganpati visarjan.
“This initiative is excellent. There’s a different feeling when you do yoga near the sea,” said participant Neha Joshi, who has been practising yoga for over a year. She was visiting with her entire Yoga Plus group on the last Sunday in August.
“The event started after the tremendous response to World Yoga Day on the 21st of June when around 8,000 people came out despite the rain,” explained BJP politician Shaina NC. “Yoga is very niche but at the same time, it is growing rapidly in the city of Mumbai, maybe because of the location we have. It is really a good endeavour.” The event returns on the last Sunday of every month on a 1.3km stretch, extending from Pizza By The Bay at Kilachand Chowk to the Marine Drive flyover. In the past, themes have ranged from ‘International Yoga Day’ to ‘Clean Mumbai, Green Mumbai,’ which was marked by the distribution of saplings. “This time we are trying to focus on senior citizens,” adds Shaina.
“We are trying to make this into an outing for senior citizens, as well as give them time to themselves when they are well looked after by trainers.” At the last edition, KC College students like Abhinav Singh were out in full force. “Yoga is more fun in a group,” Singh told TOI, adding that the movement was particularly great for senior citizens, who would benefit from all the “positive energy”.