Yoga classes in Chennai parks

Chennai: Fitness buffs, who make it a point to go to a park every morning to get their daily dose of physical exercise, now have another interesting option. The Chennai Corporation on Friday launched yoga classes in 26 of its parks across the city. The parks, where the classes, to be conducted by trainers of the Patanjali Yoga Centre, will be held include Tower Park, Anna Nagar, Thiru.Vi. Ka Park, Shenoy Nagar, Haddows Road Park, Journalist Colony Park, Natesan Park, T. Nagar and Nehru Park, Poonamallee High Road. The classes will be held from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., in two batches. Those interested in enrolling for the yoga programme could visit the parks and register their names with the instructors. The Corporation will pay the instructors, incurring a total expenditure of nearly Rs.5 lakh for the 26 parks annually. “The health benefits of yoga are being recognized world over now. The Corporation, too, realizing the importance of fitness and good health, introduced yoga lessons in all its schools,” said Mayor M. Subramanian, who inaugurated the programme at Panagal Park. The civic body was also offering yoga lessons for its drivers to help them concentrate better and drive safely. Several Corporation councillors were also practicing yoga regularly. The Corporation had also introduced yoga training for expectant mothers. “This initiative is to encourage all residents of the city to take up yoga lessons and lead a healthy and long life,” he said. On the advantages of yoga, the Mayor said it was yoga that helped him recover from an injury following a major accident some years ago. “Now, I practice my yoga lessons every day without fail.” The Corporation would also build yoga platforms in the parks to be set up in the Open Space Reservation (OSR) lands it has retrieved, according to Mr. Subramanian.