Unity for fitness

A healthy mind in a healthy body seems to be the mantra of Jaya Prakash Narayan All India Institute of Medical Sciences (JPNAIIMS).

To help beat stress, the super-speciality health hub has planned to make its students and faculty members sweat it out together in a yoga class.

JPNAIIMS director G.K. Singh told The Telegraph: “At our health hub, we try to give students the best faculty, the best environment and the best of everything. But as you know, medical students have to cope with a lot of stress owing to their hectic schedule and vast course. So rejuvenation is vital for them. I think nothing can be better than yoga to beat the stress. So we thought why not start yoga classes in the college.”

Hriday Narayan Jha, a city-based yoga expert, said: “Yoga can help medical students increase their physical, mental and emotional well-being through self-realisation. The different asanas help us connect with ourselves. They can help increase the students’ reasoning and memory power in a great way.”

Students of the medical college believe taking part in yoga classes with their teachers will help break the ice with them.

“Our teachers are very friendly. There is no doubt in that. But I feel by taking yoga classes with them, we, the students can connect better with the teachers,” said Kaushal Kishore, a first-semester MBBS student of JPNAIIMS.

Jagdish Singh, Kaushal’s classmate, said: “We share many things with our teachers. But some students hesitate to speak to them. The yoga class will help such students break the ice with teachers.”

JPNAIIMS administrative officer Rajeev Narayan said 30 faculty members and students have so far approached him for the yoga classes.

“The yoga expert would take hour-long sessions at the college every evening from the third week of March. Students and faculty members would have to pay Rs 50 a month,” said director Singh.

He added that students and faculty members would get to learn different sets of asanas during the entire week.

“The expert will teach different asanas everyday. He has already prepared a chart for it. He would teach neti, dhoti, tratak, kapalbhati pranayam, sandhi among other asanas in the class,” added Singh.

While neti and dhoti asanas help to purify the internal organs, tratak asana helps improve concentration level. Kapalbhati pranayam helps improve the flexibility and remove cough-related problems,” said Singh.

The faculty members too are full of praise for the college taking such an initiative.

C.M. Singh, a teacher of community medicine department who has registered for the yoga classes, said: “I am waiting for the class to begin. I have been a sportsperson since my college days. So I know yoga can help me stay fit and in shape,” said Singh.

“However, for teachers it would be a little tough to match the level of students. They are young, so their bodies are more flexible compared to us. But we will try harder to match them,” he added.