MP's Surya Namaskar draws 70 lakh, sets world record

MP's Surya Namaskar draws 70 lakh, sets world record

As Madhya Pradesh gears up to create a world record today for largest aerobics demonstration (multi location) by holding mass Surya Namaskar on January 12 (which also happens to be Vivekananda Jayanti) across the state, Muslim leaders have equated it with idol worship and issued a fatwa against it.

Meanwhile, state Chief Minister Shiv Raj Singh Chauhan has urged the Muslim community to avoid taking any offense claiming that the ‘Surya Namaskar’ in schools across the state is not mandatory.

At present, the record for largest aerobics demonstration rests with Kazhakistan's multi location aerobic where 48, 45,098 people participated. To break this record, it is necessary that more than 48, 45,098 people participate in Surya Namaskar.

It was a different morning for students in Government schools and colleges and most of the private institutions in Madhya Pradesh. They reached the premises to set a world record to be registered in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The School Education Department claimed around 70 lakh people, including students from more than 6,000 schools in the State took part in the event.

Defying the fatwa issued by some Muslim bodies in Madhya Pradesh, a large number of Muslim students were also seen participating in the record making Surya Namaskar event.

Rajeshwari Rai, a Class VII student of the prestigious Cambridge Higher Secondary School said, “Though it was very cold in the morning, we participated in the Surya Namaskar held in the ground of our school. It was enthusiastic to see our teachers too stretching out with us.”

However, the young girl was not aware that the event was part of any record creating exercise.

Alima Khan, a Class X student of the Government Bab-e-Ali school in the walled city said, “We participated in the Surya Namaskar event held in the school despite it being very cold. As it was a collective exercise we enjoyed it and are happy that we are part of the world record team.”

Abdul Sami, a Class V student of Jawaharlal Nehru School said that while participating in the event, he did not repeat some mantras recited on the occasion, but he enjoyed the stretching exercise.

Sajid Siddiqui of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), who was one of the dozen Muslim organisations that had opposed the Surya Namaskar, and brought fatwa against the event, while speaking to The Pioneer, declined to comment over the participation of Muslims students in the event, saying, “We had opposed the event as it was against the Constitution.

Five organisations of Muslims had opposed the event and appealed to the Muslim parents not to send their wards to school on the day.

The event is being held in the schools of Madhya Pradesh for the past four years on the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekanand, but this was the first time when the Government is claiming for world record.

The School Education Department had already intimated the officials of Guinness Book of World Records regarding this exercise. For the purpose, special arrangements were made by installing video cameras in all the campuses where Surya Namaskar was organised. The recording will be sent for review to those who handle the Guinness Book of World Records.

Thursday's event was an effort to break the Kazakhstan's record of holding world’s largest aerobics demonstration. The Guinness Book of World Record in largest aerobics demonstration is with Kazakhstan in which 48, 45,098 people had participated. The event was held on September 27, 2003 simultaneous multi location aerobics display was held, supported by Kazakhstan’s Presidential administration, to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was seen stretching not just himself as a participant, but also a part of the record bid. The signal to begin the Surya Namaskar was given via All India Radio. The enthusiastic Chief Minister was seen stretching out on the occasion, along with others at the local Naveen Higher Secondary School despite the fact that he was recently operated in his left palm. With 15 stitches, bandage was visible in his palm.

Official sources said it could take around a month for the decision of Guinness Book of World Records when Madhya Pradesh could set a new record.

Meanwhile, the Isai Mahasangh (IMS), that had been opposing the event stated that it would approached the Guinness World Records authorities asking them not to include the event, as it promotes communal discord in a multi-religious society. IMS Convener Fr Anand Muttungal told, "We are waiting for the news published in this regard. We would approach the authorities with the news clippings," he added.

MP's Surya Namaskar draws 70 lakh, sets world record Video

Read More

Bernice Bates - World's oldest yoga teacher

Bernice Bates - World's oldest yoga teacher

New York: At 91, Bernice Bates may not look like a typical yoga instructor but the Florida based great-grandmother has been named the world's oldest yoga teacher by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Bates has been practising yoga for the last 50 years and credits the ancient Indian exercise form for her years of good health.

The yoga teacher in the front of the room lay on the floor, her hands resting on her upper thighs. She lifted her right leg high in the air, foot flexed. Then she grabbed her right foot in her right hand and brought her leg toward her face as she raised her upper body a few inches off the ground.

Students in class smiled in amazement as they watched the teacher's knee graze her nose.

It wasn't just the pose that was amazing - it was the teacher's age. Bernice Bates is 91 years old, and she's more flexible than people who are a third of her age.

"If you can't quite meet your knee, that's all right," Bates told her class, gently.

Guinness World Records recently awarded Bates the title of "Oldest Yoga Teacher." While there might be other, older yogis somewhere in the world, Bates completed the lengthy documentation process required by Guinness. She was nominated earlier this year by her daughter.

Bates first began practicing yoga 50 years ago, after she saw it on a television program. As a younger woman, she taught swimming in Ohio at a YWCA.

These days, the great-grandmother teaches once a week at the community center of her retirement village located on Florida's Gulf Coast.

Her students are usually a decade or two younger than she is.

Each class begins with a short discussion - on a recent day, Bates talked about the importance of flexing and caring for one's feet - and then Bates takes the class through a series of about a dozen vinyasas, or yoga poses. She uses a soft blue mat and wears black ballet slippers while teaching.

She ends with a guided relaxation while playing New Age music on her portable cassette player.

Bates believes in gentle yoga: no sweaty, strenuous or competitive stretching in her classes.

"You may not do it perfect, but there's no perfect person," she said.

She talks about her students who have benefited from her teaching: two women in their 80s, a couple in their 90s, a handful in their 70s.

"They feel great," she said. "It makes your whole body whole again. It's good for anybody. It's good for chair sitters, it's good for pregnant women. Anybody."
Bernice Bates - World's oldest yoga teacher awarded by Guinness World Records video.



Incoming search terms:
World's oldest yoga teacher, Bernice Bates photo, Bernice Bates yoga teacher picture, Bernice Bates yoga video, World's oldest yoga teacher 2012, oldest yoga teacher in New York, oldest yoga teacher in the world, Bernice Bates yoga class address, World's oldest yoga instructor, oldest yoga instructor in the world 2011,
World's oldest yoga teacher in Florida, female oldest yoga teacher, 2012 World's oldest yoga teacher, 

Read More

Non Stop Yoga set Guinness World Record by Canadian Yoga Teacher

A Canadian yoga teacher on Tuesday claimed to have created a Guinness record by performing yoga non-stop for 32 hours.

The current Guinness Record of marathon yoga is 29 hours and four minutes.

But yoga instructor Yasmin Fudakowska-Gow, 28, on Tuesday claimed that she has completed her 32-hour yoga marathon at her Om West yoga studio in Pointe Claire Village on the Island of Montreal.

Pending Guinness World Record certification, she said, she holds the record for the longest yoga marathon. Guinness records need at least six people to be present at the venue of the event all the time to authenticate them.

During her yoga marathon, the Canadian also raised money for the Stephen Lewis Foundation which is working to combat AIDS in Africa.

Before undertaking the yoga marathon, she completed 108 surya namaskars, or sun salutations, for 108 consecutive days.

"August 3 is my final day of this 108x108 project. It has been an unbelievable adventure so far and a profoundly transformational experience. I have learned from so many great yoga teachers," she said.

"To complete this journey, on August 2 and 3, I am exploring what it would be like to do a prolonged practice and in doing so, have decided to challenge the Guinness World Record for longest yoga marathon, which is 29 hours and 4 minutes. This record has never been attempted by woman nor by a Canadian. My goal is 32 hours,'' the Canadian said.

Like the US, yoga has also become very popular among Canadians in recent years. Major cities like Toronto and Montreal boast a large number of yoga centres.

Read More

World's Largest Yoga Class set World Record 2010 - Standard Hotels and Jetblue

What does it look like when 10,000 people downward dog? Well, something like what we saw yesterday evening in New York City's Central Park, when Flavorpill partnered up with the likes of Standard Hotels and Jetblue to create a world record for the largest yoga class ever.

a whim to check it out, after registering last-minute and printing our free ticket. With the class scheduled to start at 7pm, the line to enter at 6pm snaked through what seemed like half of the park, coiling down paths, under bridges, over rocks and down grassy hills.

The offer of a free tote, Gaiam yoga mat and more sure helped get the word out, and by 7:30pm we were all an example of the power of social media when mixed with free stuff and the outdoors as we began to do downward dogs, sun salutations and cobras until rainclouds surprised everyone.

When all was said and done, over 13,000 had registered for the event and they made the record. If only the weather had cooperated, we'd have seen 10,000 people doing far more advanced poses, but don't worry too much; there'll be a rain date.
Dharma Mittra led the crowd in a chanting of "Om" before Brower taught a single sun salutation before the Parks Department required the event be shut down for rain. "Twenty thousand hands and ten thousand hearts full of gratitude later, the rain poured down," Brower wrote today on her blog.

Not all was lost. Participants spent a couple hours mingling in the sunshine before the yoga itself began, enjoying one another's company and entertainment by musical performer Reggie Watts, and taking in the sheer scale of the experience.

"This isn't just a yoga event, it's a cultural event," said Mark Mangan, co-founder of Flavorpill, who hosted the event. Flavorpill's other founder, Sascha Lewis, is a longtime yoga student of Brower's.
"Take your practice home with you. Be in the moment. Celebrate life. This is what it's all about," he told the crowd of anticipating yogis, minutes before the rain.



World's Largest Yoga Class in New York set Guinness World Records 2010 Video

Read More

Warrior Pose yoga set Guinness book of world record

Over 200 yoga fans gathered on the beach early Saturday (20 March) morning, dressed in white and ready for a shot at the record books for a simultaneous yoga pose.

The group all formed the warrior pose, creating an impressive line down the beach.

The record attempt was photographed from an aerial helicopter, but even more important to those who participated was their commitment to Honouring Women Month.

A package containing photos and video proof of the record attempt will now be submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records.

Source: cayman27

Read More