Shameem Akthar - Yoga in the Workplace

Shameem Akthar is a certified yogacharya trained with the SivanandaYoga Vedanta Center, Kerala. A columnist with several prestigious publications like Mid-day, India Abroad, Rediff.com, Savvy and Life Positive, she teaches and holds workshops related to yoga in Mumbai where she lives with her husband Saisuresh Sivaswamy and daughter Jahnavi Sheriff.

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First published by westland ltd 2010

Copyright Shameem Akthar 2010

All rights reserved

1098765432

ISBN: 978-93-80032-82-5

Consult your doctor before beginning any new exercise programme. The author and publishers assume no responsibility for injuries suffered while practicing these techniques. If you are elderly or have any chronic or recurring conditions such as high blood pressure, neck or back pain, arthritis, heart disease, seek your doctors advice before practicing.

Design: design-on-u

Photographs by Fawzan Husain

Printed at Manipal Press Ltd., Manipal

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, circulated, and no reproduction in any form, in whole or in part (except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews) may be made without written permission of the publishers.

Model credits :The author Shameem Akthar was assisted by her daughter Jahnavi Sheriff.

A ta loose end after my first book, I wrote to Tariq Ansari, the dynamic publisher of Mid-Day Publications, asking if I could expand on my weekly capsules on office yoga for his newspaper, into a book for them. He reluctantly responded that a book was not on his agenda just then.The same week Subashree Krishnaswamy called on behalf of Westland Ltd, asking me for a list of book ideas, and office yoga was one among several I sent. She, as well as the publishers, liked this idea the best. This is, therefore, a book that was meant to be.

If you are reading this book, then you are part of that energy loop of some things that are meant to be. A loop which reaches right back to my Sadguru Swami Sivananda, since for me, everything I do is a gift from my Sadguruwhether it be my own personal practice, asana jaya or victory over a yoga pose, or my own yoga writings. If a gift can also be an offering, then this book is both.

I thank my asana guru Prahlada for infecting me with his superlative energy and amazing grace as a teacher. This book is an attempt at imitation: trying to copy his stupendous energy and givingness as a teacher. His ability to multi-task, yet retain a cheerful buoyancy of spirit is what I wish to copy and had tried to, while compiling this book.

Though some of the practices are existing classical ones, most others had to be rethought and reset in an office atmosphere. Many practices are created or adapted exclusively for this book.

Here, I also wish to thank all those media editors who had the guts to promote yoga writing when it was a far cry from the fad it has become today: this includes Andrea Costabir (Savvy), Meenal Baghel (both when she was with Mid-Day, and now as editor of Mumbai Mirror), Suma Verghese (Life Positive), Meeta Bhatti (Harmony magazine), Tinaz Nooshian (Life@work section, Mid-Day), Archana Pai (New Woman), Nikhil Lakshman (Rediff.com and India Abroad), N. Radhakrishnan (MansWorld), Yeshwant Vyas (Aha Zindagi), Praveen Chopra (former editor of Life Positive).Their support has been an invaluable part of who I am as a yoga writer today.

Last but not the least, my husband Saisuresh Siva swamy and daughter Jahnavi Sheriff, who complement my love for yoga by participating in its magic too.

A ncient texts describe yoga as a union between the divine soul and the ordinary self. Today we know it simply as the coordination between our body and our mind. We no longer need to think of yoga as something done exclusively by those who reside in the caves of the Himalayas. Our ancient yogis had created such a powerful tool that it could be, and is still being used effectively to deal with modern-day stress and strain, emanating from demanding jobs and hectic lifestyles.

Yoga teaches us the ability to delve deeper into our minds to examine our reactions to lifes challenges. This clarity helps us take on the pounding of daily life, so that we are able to remain positive and optimistic, come what may

Stress is not just a creation of the mind. Often, it is created by lifestyle changes: a sedentary job, excessive dependence on gadgets, continuous exposure to electromagnetic radiation and artificial lighting, awkward meal timings, late or irregular hours of work, excessive travelling or commuting, and even from ones inability to allot time for exercise. All or any of these factors can wreak havoc on our health.

Taking all the above factors into consideration, my student Shameem Akthar has come up with a simple and efficient way of using yogic practices wherever you are at the work station or in your kitchen. These adapted yogic practices can be neatly integrated into your work and family environment. They demand very little in terms of time, yet promise to infuse you with health, both mentally and physically.

I consider this book an effective companion for both the officer-goer and the homemaker. It comes in handy for all those who have to juggle both these roles seamlessly in todays times.

Prahlada

Prahlada is a senior and direct disciple of Swami Vishnu-Devananda. He trained under Swamiji from a very young age and is currently director of the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center in Toronto as well as a Hatha yoga teacher in the teachers and advanced teacherstraining courses conducted worldwide at Sivananda ashrams.

I f you dont make time for a little pain now, be prepared for greater pain later on, a wise saying that makes huge sense in this age of gadget-induced, deskbound lifestyles.

Our aim is to shake you out of your stupor and make you realise that a lifestyle married to the desk is, in the long-run, more devastating and dangerous than swimming in the proverbial shark-infested waters. We want to prod you out of it gently, along the way showing you some classic yogic poses that have been adapted to a desk-bound lifestyle.

This book has been developed keeping in mind all our workaholic friends who are committed to their workstations round the clock. However, it works just as well for couch potatoes who never venture out of their drawing rooms and are forever glued to their TV sets. If a sedentary life is your chosen way, we tell you how to create the best workout within that lifestyle.

This, however, doesnt imply that our regular gym-goers have nothing to gain from this book. Research proves that exercise relegated entirely to one part of the day is not very effective if the rest of the day is spent largely in a passive manner. This book rectifies that lacuna.