Performing chakrasana or the wheel pose, with the back bent backwards and the hands touching the ground, is no easy task. But artists of the Ability Unlimited Foundation made it look easy when they demonstrated their skills on the second International Day of Yoga here on Tuesday.
Not only did they hold the posture for several minutes, but they did it while seated in wheelchairs. Thirteen differently abled artistes four hearing impaired women and nine wheelchair-using young men demonstrated a range of yoga poses at the programme, organised by the Union AYUSH Ministry and the New Delhi Municipal Council at Connaught Place.
For 25-year-old Ashiq Usman, who wears a calliper on his right leg that was affected by polio, practising yoga for the past 10 years has helped increase flexibility and mobility.
“Before I started learning yoga, I couldn’t move much. But now my muscles have become freer. When we perform chakrasana, our backbone gets strengthened,” said Mr Usman. He can hold the posture for 30 minutes and is aiming to stretch that to an hour.
Foundation artistic director Syed Sallauddin Pasha said yoga was a form of therapy for the differently abled students. “It has made them more confident and more independent,” Mr. Pasha said.
Students from the Jnanasindhu School for the Blind in Karnataka also took part in the programme. Aged four to 15 years, the children were taught various yoga poses through the “touch and feel method”, said their teacher Shivanand N. Kelur.
“Children pick up the poses quickly. Not only has yoga helped them physically, it has also increased their concentration,” added Mr. Kelur.
Not only did they hold the posture for several minutes, but they did it while seated in wheelchairs. Thirteen differently abled artistes four hearing impaired women and nine wheelchair-using young men demonstrated a range of yoga poses at the programme, organised by the Union AYUSH Ministry and the New Delhi Municipal Council at Connaught Place.
For 25-year-old Ashiq Usman, who wears a calliper on his right leg that was affected by polio, practising yoga for the past 10 years has helped increase flexibility and mobility.
“Before I started learning yoga, I couldn’t move much. But now my muscles have become freer. When we perform chakrasana, our backbone gets strengthened,” said Mr Usman. He can hold the posture for 30 minutes and is aiming to stretch that to an hour.
Foundation artistic director Syed Sallauddin Pasha said yoga was a form of therapy for the differently abled students. “It has made them more confident and more independent,” Mr. Pasha said.
Students from the Jnanasindhu School for the Blind in Karnataka also took part in the programme. Aged four to 15 years, the children were taught various yoga poses through the “touch and feel method”, said their teacher Shivanand N. Kelur.
“Children pick up the poses quickly. Not only has yoga helped them physically, it has also increased their concentration,” added Mr. Kelur.