A year in review for Yoga Bharati: 2014

Twelve years of bringing authentic yoga, ancient wisdom and modern research

Twelve years of bringing authentic yoga, ancient wisdom and modern research As a volunteer-managed global community, we work to foster a better understanding of yoga’s benefits, therapeutic applications, life transforming effects and wisdom traditions. We bring yoga classes for general wellness yoga courses for students who want to teach yoga, and yoga therapy to heal those with chronic ailments.

Volunteers in the community

Yoga Bharati has trained 350 yoga teachers that now volunteer in local communities to offer our holistic and research-driven approach to yoga. Just this year, we delivered about 3000 class-hours of yoga asana sessions in our communities, including special classes for kids, seniors, stress management and therapy. We continued our expansion, adding more public classes in Sunnyvale, Milpitas and the Tri-Valley in the SF Bay Area.

An Authentic Yoga Therapy and Research fellowship

Yoga Bharati is committed to building a world-class research culture that can scientifically validate the benefits of Yoga Therapy, and to bringing authentic Yoga Therapy to our community.

Therapy classes for special groups – we have yoga therapy classes running continuously in Cupertino, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, Milpitas and Fremont. This year, we have conducted workshops on Yoga for back, neck, shoulder and knee pain, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, obesity and metabolic disorders, vision disorders for children and teens, prenatal and postnatal workshops.

Yoga Centric Lifestyle Intervention Program (LIP) with Yogaksema – Yoga Bharati launched LIP, an integrative therapy for people with various ailments from back pain to anxiety to cancer rehabilitation under the guidance of Dr. Naveen Visweshwaraiah of Yogaksema Bengaluru. We’re glad to report that more than 50 participants consulted Dr. Naveen and took lifestyle intervention and yoga therapy for 3 months. We received a lot of positive feedback on the health benefits of this program. Details about LIP at: www.yogabharati.org

We have conducted conduct corporate Stress Management workshops and Stress and Yoga Breathing workshops at offices, healthcare institutions and education institutions. Our volunteers also conduct free yoga classes in their offices regularly. Workshops were conducted at Dharma and Yoga Fest organized by HSS, NIIT global conference and other events.

Surya Namaskar Yagna (SNY) 2014 – we conducted SNY as both ‘yagna’ and also a pilot cohort study. More than 500 people participated throughout America for the yagna. The theme of the closing ceremony was group practice of 108 sun salutation cycles (yagna). More than 60 people from age 3 to 75 years, donning meditative blue YB T-shirts, participated in the closing ceremony yagna. The published report is presented with details on Yoga Bharati’s website. CLOSING REPORT URL

Yoga Teacher Training 2014 More than 25 students from age 13 years – 60 years took Yoga Instructors Course (YIC) aka Yoga Teacher Training at Sunnyvale location. It was a 3 month course from April-June 2014 and ended in a yoga retreat at Sivananda Ashram. Sri.N.V.Raghuram, the spiritual founder and Chairman of Yoga Bharati conducted the philosophy course for YIC students.

CSE Yoga Teacher Training 2014 Center for Spiritual Enlightenment (CSE) and Yoga Bharati offered the first jointly conducted Yoga Teacher Training course at CSE’s San Jose location which was attended by 15 students. It was a 3 month course from Aug-Oct 2014. Rev. O’Brian, the head of CSE conducts philosophy course for the students.

Creating lifelong Yogis by catching them young Yoga Bharati has a unique focus on building youth ambassadors and lifelong yogis. In the past few years we have begun showing special attention to the youth during the YIC course as well as creating opportunities for them to channel their energy and develop their leadership skills.

Youth in Yoga Teacher Training Eight youth, 3 boys and 5 girls, ranging from 8th through 12th grades participated in our Yoga Teacher Training in April. The youth were not new to yoga since 7 of the 8 had previously attended Explore Yoga 2013, Yoga Bharati’s youth summer program. The youth participated very enthusiastically in the practical sessions and enjoyed their stimulating group discussions during the breakout sessions conducted in class and at the Sivananda Ashram retreat.

Summer Kids Camp 2014 Five day long summer kids yoga camp was conducted early 2014 and well attended. Below are some fun facts about 2014 Summer Kids Yoga Camp.

· 22 number of participants · 40+ number of kids camp hours · 200+ hours of yoga camp volunteering · 1500+ minutes of yoga, meditation, chanting · 7920+ number of wheat seeds sown during camp · 8640+ square inches of drawing and coloring activity · 15872+ square inches of art and creative yogic activity Details available at: GOOGLE DOC FOR KIDS CAMP REPORT Natural Vision Improvement for Children through Yoga

We also initiated the Project Vision Workshop as a part of Natural Vision Improvement program. We have completed 3 workshops in the past one year. Out of them the second workshop results motivated us to compile and bring a professional paper on Yoga for Vision. 15 children participated in this workshop to improve their vision challenges such as Myopia, Hyperopia, Astigmatism and Lazy eyes. Some children participated simply to improve their memory, focus and concentration. Below are the significant results of the workshop.

Clinical Results

Improved Vision – 20%
Headache Relief – 10%
Easing Burning Eye/ Eye Strain – 10%
Reduction in allergy symptoms – 20%
Improved Sleep – 20%
Improved Appetite – 10%
Subjective Results Improvement in social skills & participation – 40%

Details of the institutional report can be found Here

Promoting awareness of Yoga, Vedanta and Ayurveda

Yoga Bharati hosts prominent speakers in the fields of Yoga, Vedanta and Ayurveda. In 2014, we arranged pranayama and meditation workshop and discourse by Shri N.V.Raghuram from VYASA on Bhagawat Gitaa Saara.

Dr Naveen KV of Yogaksema Stress and Lifestyle Clinic visited San Francisco bay area during the month of March. Yoga Bharati organized workshops and seminar on Evidence Based Yoga and Integrative Therapy during this time.

The later part of this year (November 2014) is a month of Satsangs, Parenting workshop, and workshops on Viveka Chudamani, Bhagavad Gita, Bhajagovindam and Atma Bodha by Swami Bodhananda Saraswati. Active partnership with local organizations

Over the years, Yoga Bharati has passionately served the community and has created a niche position for itself in the local volunteer organization network. We consistently contribute and support local events in various roles – as specialists in yoga and also as enthusiastic participants. This year was no different.

Sevathon 2014: This was held in the month of July. Yoga Bharati has been a key partner of Sevathon since it’s inception. This year Yoga Bharati conducted Yogathon in Baylands Park sunnyvale, California. There were more than 110 participants. The participants practiced 27-108 sets of Suryanamaskars as per their capacities on the day of the event. Unish Corporation sponsored Yoga Bharati team as with every year. Yoga Bharati expects more participants in the coming years.

Yoga Bharati has taken an initiative to collaborate and work in various fields of yoga alongside the Center for Spiritual Enlightenment (CSE). One such area is Suryanamaskar Yagna (SNY). Volunteers from Yoga Bharati have continually attended various programs offered by CSE during the course of this year. We actively partnered with CSE and conducted the Yoga Teacher’s Training at their facility where 15 students took the training.

Roadmap for 2015 In 2015, Yoga Bharati will work with greater resolve towards our goals, building on the momentum in previous years. In addition, we’re planning a few new projects that are outlined below.

Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutations) 2015 Competition – We invite everyone to participate in SNY like every year, and in addition we are also preparing and training for a competition of practicing 108 Surya Namaskars around Ratha Saptami day on Jan 26th when we conclude the Yagna (Sun Salutations Marathon).

Yoga Teacher Training 2015 – This year, we are likely to have a Yoga Teacher Training in March 2015, either in Sunnyvale or Hayward. Another Yoga Teacher Training may be held at CSE during the second half of the year.

Yoga Therapy Teacher Training 2015 – We are set to launch the next batch of Yoga Therapy Teacher Training in Feb 2015.

Yoga Retreat 2015: We will be conducting a yoga retreat in Sept 2015 that is open to public.

Retrospective Study on various different ailments including Back pain, Diabetes, Hypertension, Asthma/Allergies will be undertaken. Another study will focus on the retrospective study on Prenatal Yoga for more than 300 women we have given yoga and made a difference in their lives.

Support Us

With your generous support, we at Yoga Bharati have been able to take up significant programs to promote Yoga in a holistic way. Your further contributions will strengthen our resolve and initiatives. Please see the link below for ways to contribute generously towards