'Ab se hoga train main Yoga': Mumbai women lead commuters to perform asanas in local trains

To mark International Women's Day, yoga teachers and enthusiasts from the city came together to give Mumbaikars a crash course in yoga on board locals on Monday, March 7.

For the fifth consecutive year, Heal-Station (a yoga learning platform) in association with Western Railways celebrated the day with a unique theme, 'Travel Time as a fitness time', chanting 'Ab se hoga train main Yoga' slogan.

A group of 25 to 30 yoga teachers boarded the train from Mumbai's Borivali at 9 AM to teach yoga techniques to people heading to offices and colleges adhering to Covid protocols.

Begining from Borivali, they alighted at each station on the Western Line to either change coaches or change trains while giving yoga instructions and performing asanas on the go until they reached Mumbai Central.

FPJ spoke to Ruchita Shah, a yoga instructor/organizer and founder of Heal-station who has been part of this for the last five years.

"I used to go to Kemps Corner back in 2017 where I learned and practised yoga. I have been doing it since then every day. It is the least we can do to calm our busy mind 15-20 minutes a day," Ruchita said.

Talking about 'yoga in trains', she said, "There are a few yoga asanas that can be practised even in a crowded train and people have actually done that with us."

In a video shared by Ruchita, the people can be seen performing yoga exercises while sitting inside the train.

"I wanted to bring a bit of relaxation to people of the city. The people followed and performed yoga exercises that we showed them without any hesitation," says Ruchita.

"We thought of making use of their commute time for fitness. They hugged and thanked us while getting down to their respective stations for taking them on a peaceful journey even for a very little time," she added.

According to Ruchita, women travellers practised yoga while travelling. It was a mesmerizing experience for women commuters when they discovered that they could use their travel time by doing simple yoga practice.

Western Railways, together with Mumbai's yoga teachers/instructors have been doing these kinds of activities for the last 5 years. The idea is to make the tiring train journey of a Mumbaikar - healthy, happy and stress-free.

Published on: Tuesday, March 08, 2022, 03:10 PM IST