Private cos bend it in style, hop onto yoga bandwagon

The Narendra Modi government's push to popularise yoga among the public has caught the fancy of even private companies.

The International Yoga Day was celebrated across the world on Wednesday and IndiGo, for one, marked it by holding yoga sessions across 39 airports in the country. "For us at IndiGo, being healthy is not just about physical fitness, but it's also about creating fitness into everything we do be it our operations, customer relations or financial stability of the firm. We believe it starts with being fit as individuals," said Aditya Ghosh, President and Whole-Time Director, IndiGo.

Jabong, one of India's leading online fashion destinations, and Mobikwik, the online recharge and bill payment solutions company, conducted chair yoga sessions for its employees. One of the simplest forms, the chair yoga is performed sitting on a chair or standing and using the chair as a prop.

Practising chair yoga increases blood circulation, improves feet, toes, hand and finger movements, balance, stimulates elimination of body toxins and betters posture. Both Jabong and Mobikwik, sources said, have shelled out Rs 25,000-30,000 to get yoga experts to train their employees in yoga. "Yoga is one of the oldest forms of exercises known to us. We not only wanted to celebrate the International Yoga Day, but wanted our employees to have fun and see it as an entertaining exercise rather than forcing them to do it. It has been our constant endeavour to introduce new initiatives for our employees to provide them with a conducive work environment," said Jabong's Chief Human Resources Officer, Parul Gupta who did the asanas, along with other employees.

Many across Corporate India seem to have taken a leaf out of Modi's endorsement of healthy living through yoga.

Companies provided yoga mats and branded sportswear, brought in highly-paid instructors and booked halls in five- star hotels to encourage employees to join their events.

IT major HCL on Wednesday invited guests for short talk on yoga, held meditation sessions and also made employees take pledge to include yoga in their routines. While e-commerce giant Amazon organised sessions for its employees across 17 centres in the country, real estate major DLF organised a special camp for its staff in Gurgaon and got yoga experts to train them.

Reebok, the global athletic footwear and apparel company, collaborated with the Ministry of Ayush to organise early morning yoga sessions at popular locations in the city, including DLF Cyber Hub, DLF Promenade, DLF Saket, Mall of India, Connaught Place and Raahgiri.

"We are delighted to continuously partner with the government to promote yoga and its benefits, encouraging more and more people to practise it as a way of life," said Silvia Tallon, Senior Marketing Director, Reebok India.