By HEMA EASLEY
HEASLEY@LOHUD.COM

What if you could, in the comfort of your home, perform a simple exercise that not only kept you trim and flexible, but also improved memory, calmed anxiety and detoxified the body.

Area Indians are working to popularize a yogic exercise called “surya namaskar” or sun salutation that is believed to offer all the above benefits and much more. It is performed every Sunday at the Balagokulam, or children’s school, at the Ranganatha Temple in Pomona, and Indian community leaders say they will hold classes for the public if there is a demand for it.

The exercise is simple enough and requires no prior training. Preferably performed at dawn - hence the name sun salutation - it involves a series of 12 backward and forward bending postures and stretches, and some breathing exercises.

Dr. Sankaran Krishnan, a pediatric pulmonologist at Westchester Medical Center, does the surya namaskar every day and swears by its efficacy. It is good for the lungs, kidneys, reproductive and gastrointestinal organs, says Krishnan, and also tones up the nervous system, promotes sleep and calms anxiety.

“Obviously it’s not a cure for schizophrenia,” said Krishnan, who lives in Blauvelt and is a spokesman for the India Cultural Society of Rockland. “We strongly believe that surya namaskar is a form of yoga that can benefit all ages. It is a popular form of alternative treatment” for common problems.

The India Cultural Society of Rockland is one of many Indian organizations in the United States that are encouraging surya namaskar as a way of promoting Indian culture. Last month, a “marathon” was held between Jan. 13 and 28 in which thousands of Indians across the nation performed the exercise with the goal of completing 1 million sun salutations.

In Rockland, Westchester and Orange counties, more than 200 people participated in the marathon and performed close to 12,000 sun salutations.

Gauri Manglik, 18, of Elmsford, was among the high performers. She did a total of 435 and 260 at a time.

“We were really tired,” said Manglik, who is studying economics and South Asian studies at New York University. “I was surprised I could do so many. It was very satisfying. The idea was to set a goal and to achieve it.”

The history behind the therapeutic exercise is unclear.

Many proponents of surya namaskar trace its origins to ancient Indian yogic tradition that was lost over the centuries.

It was rediscovered, they say, by a Hindu king from the Indian desert state of Rajasthan in the late 1920s. The king, a wrestling enthusiast, performed the exercise before a visiting British writer, who was so impressed that he wrote a book that eventually popularized surya namaskar across the world.

Others say the exercise was an invention of the king based on the exercise regimen of wrestlers at the time.

Whatever its origins, the exercise has a following much wider than the Indian community.

Paula Heitzner, who is considered the doyenne of the ancient Indian practice of yoga, has been teaching sun salutation in Rockland for 40 years.

“The value of the sun salutation on a physical level is that it brings the body into flection and stretch,” said Heitzner, who teaches yoga at the New Age Center in Nyack. “Spiritually, it allows us to recognize the greater aspect of life as you salute the sun. It puts us into proper perspective.”

Reach Hema Easley at heasley@lohud.com or 845-578-2442.

Source: THE JOURNAL NEWS