AyurvedNews.com

New Delhi: Sting discovered it first; Madonna ushered it into the Celebrity Hall of Fame and now the ministry of tourism wants to ensure that there are enough trainers to get ordinary tourists enthusiastic on to its miraculous powers of well being.

The ministry plans to promote institutes to develop skills in yoga and traditional systems of medicine to position India as the global destination for wellness.

The first institute of this kind will come up in Sikkim. The institution is a partnership between the state government, ministry of tourism and the ministry of health.

“We are in dialogue with the department of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (Ayush) to draw up plans to produce the content for trainers,” a senior official of the ministry said. “Sikkim has taken the lead, but we hope more such institutes will come up in the future.” “These institutes will provide an opportunity to learn from a place that is recognized by the government. This way we can even guarantee the quality of people in the business.”

This institute will not only impart skills on essential asanas, but the healing touch of Indian medicines. “The focus will be not only on Ayurveda,” the official said.
“There are other kinds of medicines too and the idea is that we want to promote different Indian ways of healing.” China has already cashed in on its healing-products market and a recent white paper claimed that the industrial output value of traditional Chinese medicine touched $25.98 billion last year.

Yoga — which Jennifer Aniston has claimed to have saved her after her split with Brad Pitt— has been one of India’s most successful exports to the US, but its effectiveness has caught the imagination even in South Africa. On popular demand, the ministry of tourism is organizing a food festival with a yoga practitioner thrown in.

“Ayush has concentrated only on very theoretical knowledge so far,” the official said. “In these institutes, we will focus on developing core competency to look at India as a wellness destination to cater to a market.” While the ministry of tourism so far has only been promoting destinations in India that specialize in rejuvenation skills, this is for the first time that it is planning to get involved in manpower training.

“The ministry of tourism is also in talks with the private sector so that the students that come out of this institute get fascinated,”’ a senior official said. With healing the new exhortation even in India as countless spas springing up across metropolitan cities, the ministry hopes that its trained Indian healing practitioners will get employment.

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Attributing modern medicine’s popularity to its scientific validation, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Anbumani Ramadoss today said the government would spend Rs 120 crore for a similar purpose for Indian medicine to popularise it globally.

“Though Allopathy (modern medicine) has evolved as a successful medicinal system only in the last 150 years, it was mainly due to its scientific validation. The Centre has now initiated efforts to scientifically validate Indian medicine systems like Ayurveda and Siddha,” he said.

He added that yoga was also a billion dollar industry which the whole world is awakening to and the government plans to make it mandatory in schools.

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Renowned yoga guru Swami Ramdev is holding a week-long workshop in Toronto from October 12 to teach his unique brand of pranayama (breathing) exercises, which has won him thousands of followers across the world.

The yoga exponent had recently toured the US and Britain. “The week-long workshop will provide an opportunity to Canadians to get a feel for the anatomy of poses and pranayama, where asana and Buddhist mindfulness merge,” said Anil Bhasin, spokesperson for the workshop.

Bhasin said the workshop, which will begin on October 12, would provide an opportunity for participants to “invoke their innermost ‘centre of excellence’ or the link between spiritual and social activism”.

Ramdev will also impart training on how to apply the benefits
of yoga in personal relationships, he said.“Yoga concentrates on breathing techniques called Pranayama, postures for body flexibility and alignment, and creating a higher consciousness level by harmonising the body and mind for stress free living,” Bhasin added.

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Tokyo, Oct 1 (ANI) : Yoga exponent Baba Ramdev was a hit in Japan at the ‘Namaste India 2007′ festival. This year is being celebrated as the Year of Friendship between India and Japan. As an integral part of this celebration, “Namaste India 2007″ was organised in Tokyo on September 29-30.

Held at Tokyo’s Yoyogi Park, the festival aimed to enhance awareness about India by showcasing its culture, society and economy.

However, it was Baba Ramdev’s yoga sessions that drew maximum crowds with a large number of Japanese showing interest in the spiritual practice. He interacted with Japanese and gave yoga lectures and demonstrations.

Ramdev said the long-term objective of his lessons and the ‘Namaste India’ festival, was to create a prosperous, peaceful and harmonious Asia, with a special focus on India and Japan.

“It feels great to see Indian culture, traditions, customs, costumes being brought to Japan to make Japanese aware of India and its heritage. They have tried to establish a harmony between India and Japan,” said Ramdev. “Efforts like this, which try and bridge the gap between two cultures are really commendable,” he added.

The Trust founded by Baba Ramdev has set up institutions across India and he has helped revive Ayurveda, the traditional Indian medicine system, in India as well as abroad.

Hundreds of Japanese came to experience the beauty and variety of India’s culture, fashion, jewellery, textiles, films, dance and music.

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Kathmandu – A huge yoga camp scheduled to take place in the Nepal capital was cancelled at the last moment. Swami Ram Dev, a popular Yoga guru from India, was supposed to preach to a crowd of some 30,000 people who had registered for the event. Despite political backing and police protection the meeting was considered very dangerous to go ahead with.

The episode is indicative of the increasingly tense situation in Nepal, in prey for the past few days of clashes between Maoists and the regular army. Maoists recently quit the ruling coalition to protest against the decision not to abolish the monarchy, announcing their intention to resume their guerrilla fight until the state becomes “truly secular.”

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New Delhi, Sep 20 - Using yoga to treat a disease is just another example of using nanotechnology in medicine, according to leading yoga and spiritual guru Swami Ramdev.

‘In yoga, we use breathing techniques to treat a disease. This provides oxygen to the affected parts of the body,’ said Ramdev during a talk on science and spirituality ‘Bridging the gap: Nanohealth’, held as part of the fifth global knowledge millennium summit on bio and nano technology here Thursday.

‘Just as nanotechnology has the potential to send nano particles within the body system to seek out and treat afflicted parts, pranayam in yoga sends oxygen to the remotest parts inside the body which need oxygen for cure,’ he said.

Peter Grutter, professor of Physics in Canada’s McGill University and a world leader in nanotechnology research, who was the other main panellist in the discussion, appreciated Ramdev’s use of yoga in curing diseases. Read the rest of this entry »

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Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev said India was already a super power from the social and cultural point of view but it should also be an economic super power. To achieve this, the concept of Swadeshi should be promoted.

He further said by promoting Yoga and ayurveda, annual expenditure of Rs 5,00,000 crore on health services and allopathic drugs trade could be cut down by 50 per cent and the huge amount of money saved thereby could be used for the country’s development. The Yoga Guru also said population control and planned economic development were essential to make India a super power.

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MUMBAI (Reuters) - An Indian spiritual guru is teaching yoga and meditation to a group of war-weary Iraqis, whom he hopes will extend their new-found inner peace to their nation.

The 55 men and women — chosen by the Iraqi government — live on an expansive spiritual retreat in southern India and will follow an intensive meditation and rhythmic breathing regime for a month to learn about an alternative lifestyle.

Waking up at five every morning, they participate in yoga classes, meditate, help in the kitchen and take part in spiritual discussions, public speaking classes and spiritual singing as part of their physical, mental, emotional and social development.

Under the tutelage of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, one of the world’s most popular spiritual leaders, the youngsters also learn about leadership qualities so that when they go back they can lead their local communities.
Read the rest of this entry »

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With a strong mission to promote health, productivity and fewer sick days, SalesQuest, a Lawrence MA based high tech market research firm, recently offered their employees a paid membership to a local farmer’s market, giving them weekly fresh produce to take home to their families.

LAWRENCE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–SalesQuest, (www.salesquest.com), the sales intelligence company formerly known as SELIGENCE, today announced that it has recently added “fruits and veggies” to their benefits program.

Last year SalesQuest made a commitment to the health of their employees by offering to pay for unlimited classes to a local Yoga Studio, Yoga Unbound (www.yogaunbound.com) also located at 60 Island Street. Yoga Unbound Director Gail Mann explains, “It is really great that companies like SalesQuest understand how a yoga practice can increase their bottom line and at the same time keep their employees in shape both physically and mentally.”

SalesQuest co-founder Ryan Murray heard about the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program being offered through Groundwork Lawrence (www.groundworklawrence.org) to local residents and employees of businesses located in the KGR Building at 60 Island Street in downtown Lawrence. He felt that it would be an excellent idea to offer the plan to their employees. The CSA program provides fresh produce grown at the local Brox Farm in Dracut MA. Along with other CSA shareholders, the SalesQuest employees will receive boxes containing a variety of vegetables, fruits and cut flowers weekly for 13 weeks during the summer and fall. “We already offer other healthy programs such as yoga and meditation and we feel that this is another way to promote healthy, productive, and happy employees”, explained Murray. According to Rose Gonzalez, CSA Program Manager for Groundwork Lawrence, “We started the CSA program to encourage better health and increase consumption of fresh, locally-grown fruits and vegetables. Having a company sponsor CSA shares for their employees helps us create a broader impact than we had ever dreamed.”

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The noted Indian Yoga Guru Ramdev is visiting Nepal next month.

The Indian Yoga Guru and promoter of Ayurveda treatment, along with a team of 150 followers, will visit Nepal from September 22 to 27.

He will hold Yoga camp in the capital, according to the organisers of the Swami Ramdev Yoga Bigyan Shibir main organising committee.

The camp will be held in Tundikhel where over 15,000 are expected to participate. The organisers have informed that price for participating in the camp will be Rs 3000, Rs 1500 and Rs 500 per person.

Source:  Nepalnews.com

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