Bhubaneswar, Jan. 28: The scenic beauty and religious ambience of Puri attract many foreign tourists every year. Now, the city is also offering them traditional fitness techniques such as yoga and naturopathy.

A number of visitors from Europe, Australia and the US are taking part in an ongoing workshop on traditional physiotherapy, including yoga, in Puri.

Local fitness guru Madhusudan Ray, who is conducting the yoga classes, says that more foreigners than local residents enrol for his fitness workshops.

“I feel that if we are the children of Lord Jagannath, the visitors are the children of Lord Balabhadra and thus are our brothers and sisters. In fact, they have been following my fitness routines for 20 years,” said the former gymnast, who holds special yoga training sessions in the natural environment such as gardens and the beach in the city.

A trained malkhamb gymnast, Ray met with an accident in 1980 that followed health disorders such as blood circulation problems. He went into depression and was even diagnosed with cancer thereafter. However, yoga and naturopathy cured his ailments. Soon he learnt the techniques from professionals and has been imparting the fitness classes since 1987.

“I heard about the fitness classes 10 years ago from some friends in England. I had a spinal chord injury which could not be treated well despite using modern methods. So I joined the camp and was benefited immensely,” said Damien, an Australian, who has even set up centres of Ray’s fitness techniques in Sydney.

Some of his trainees have also opened centres in New York, Los Angeles and Florida. “We even represented the yoga and ‘ashtanga’ physiotherapy he taught us at a naturopathy conference in Australia and it received a great response,” said Damien.

Aga from Poland feels the techniques of yoga and naturopathy are very efficient. “It really makes you feel change in your physical fitness level and is a holistic treatment for all types of ailments and injuries,” she said.

At present, about 20 foreign participants are training at the fitness camp that started last week. “Our fitness training is not time-bound. The participants train with us till they are healed or satisfied with the training,” said Ray, who recently returned from Rishikesh after conducting a workshop there.