Small Yoga Stretch Previews Yogathon

Yoga’s popularity can be seen in the increasing number of people who schlep their rolled up rubber mats to gyms and studios all over town.

What participants may not consider while striking their downward dog or cobra poses is that they are subtle movements toward the divine in the view of many Hindu practitioners.

Enlightening people on the ancient roots of what has become a mainstream exercise and mediation practice was the idea behind the national Yogathon that kicked off Sunday, Aug. 29, at more than 104 temples, spiritual centers and churches nationwide.

The event was announced at an Aug. 27 Newsmaker.

“We thought yoga would be an intrinsic way to introduce our culture,” said Anju Bhargava, a member of the President’s Advisory Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and co-founder of the Hindu American Seva Charities. “It’s our way of community building.”

Organizers of the Yogathon anticipated that it would draw anywhere from 25 to more than 100 participants at each site. It marked the first time that many of the temples had conducted general outreach.

Bhargava said she planned to twist into her poses at a Baptist church in New Jersey near her home.

The Yogathon stressed dimensions of the practice that may not be emphasized in a typical yoga session. A core value of Hinduism, a religion practiced in India and elsewhere in South Asia, yoga is meant to be the union of mind, body and spirit.

“Yoga is much more than hot yoga,” Bhargava said. “That’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s a whole way of living your life. It’s not just exercise. We want to show it from an authentic Hindu perspective.”

Yoga also is helping Hindu Americans establish themselves in the United States. A substantial diaspora developed about two generations ago and is still searching for an identity, according to participants at the Newsmaker.

Although many Indian-Americans work in the technology industry and are well off, they don’t represent the totality of immigrant population, according to Bhargava. The Hindu American Seva Charities is a service organization set up in 2009 to help poorer newcomers like refugees from Bhutan.

“What gets lost are people who are not making money,” Bhargava said. “They’re hidden under the covers.”

Bhargava also is promoting yoga as a component of First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative designed to reduce obesity. Two yoga practitioners demonstrated breathing exercises at the Newsmaker.

-- Dipka Bhambhani, [email protected] and Mark Schoeff Jr., [email protected]