Technology has simplified our life, no doubt, but it has brought its share of complications as well, especially related to our health and well-being. From cleaning to ordering food, or even switching on our fan, everything is remote controlled now so that we don’t have to move from where we are sitting. Owing to our sedentary and inactive lifestyle, even simple things like climbing stairs or squatting have become difficult for most people.
This Yoga Day we speak to yoga trainers in the city who tells us the importance of functional mobility, why focusing on strength and flexibility alone won’t work, and how yoga can bring a lot of mobility into our system along with Pranayama and meditation.
Beginner-friendly asanas
“It is not about being the next Bipasha Basu or Hrithik Roshan; it is about retaining our ability to do functional movements that we used to do easily as kids or young adults like walking, running, sitting on the floor, or even using an Indian style toilet,” says Sinduja Krishnakumar, one of the co-founders of Pawga, who organizes pet yoga workshops in the city. According to Sinduja, kids as young as 12 find it difficult to sit on the floor, cross-legged, these days. “We focus on beginner-friendly asanas that help people practice functional movements, which involve multiple joints. An intelligently designed yoga practice tackles multiple functional movements. It always came with the package, but it has been given a name now,” adds Sinduja.
Not “yoga” enough!
Initially, yoga was taught with a warm up sequence of hip rotations, arm rotations, neck rotations and such - aimed at bringing mobility into our joints before we even began the actual practice. “As the ashtanga, vinyasa and other styles from the west took on the main stage this aspect was dropped as it was not “yoga” enough. Now we see things come full circle with teacher training programmes focusing on mobility and bringing a range of motion back,” says Rohini Manohar, founder, Chennai Yoga Studio.
Shifting focus
Functional mobility refers to an individual’s ability to move around and perform everyday activities safely. “Today’s workout regimes - yoga or the gym - focus on strength and flexibility without working on this element. Yoga was created with the intention of keeping the body and mind healthy. It shifted its focus around the 90s to being a flexibility and strength-based activity. When we add functional mobility back into the picture, health becomes a usable gift. Mobility training can solve a lot of things like tennis elbow, frozen shoulders, stiff backs, and tight hamstrings and help people lead an active life. Modern lifestyle has made us lose a lot of mobility and mobility training is essential in countering that,” says Rohini.
Incorporate simple movements into daily lives
About the changing trends in yoga, Mansi Gandhi, yoga teacher and entrepreneur, says, “Every year for Yoga Day we see the focus shifting. Sometimes it is mental health, at other times it is strength training. What the society wants gets highlighted each year. Gadgets have been ruling our life for quite a while. But its impacts are becoming more visible now. As gargets overtake our lives our physical movement becomes less and less. Earlier, we were a lot more mobile. That was our lifestyle. Since we are mostly inactive these days it has become necessary to incorporate simple movements into our daily lives. This is where functional mobility comes into play. Yoga can bring a lot of mobility into our system along with Pranayama and meditation,” she adds.
Perfect your craft
Not just for movie stars and athletes, functional mobility is something everyone needs in their life, irrespective of their age, says Divya Rolla of Cultfit. A yoga trainer, dancer and air pistol shooter, Divya says she is not a fan of the variety of different trends that come out each year claiming to be yoga. “Yoga is a lifestyle. Asana practice, which is part of yoga, builds tremendous strength and mobility in one’s body, which then allows the person to be better at everything else they do. It’s truly life changing. Everyone irrespective of their age or profession needs functional mobility. You can be a power lifter, runner, golfer or a senior citizen who walks every day. You will end up injuring yourself if you have no mobility. My father is a golfer and as part of his training he is advised to do meditation and yoga for the lower body. I’m a pistol shooter and yoga based exercises helps me a lot in perfecting my craft. I’ve incorporated a lot of dynamic stretches in my routine,” Divya explains.
According to Divya, yoga has always been about functional mobility but people are only figuring it out now. “To improve their performance many athletes are now doing yoga training and have even openly said how it has helped in their performance. We have power lifters in Cultfit who are practicing yoga. And now they are able to lift without injury,” she adds.
Building habits
According to Sinduja, it is not about finding the solution to a problem after it arises, but about building habits that help us avoid the problem in the first place. “We hope more workouts and fitness activities take functional mobility into account and talk about its benefits so that more people will understand how much we all need them,” she concludes.