SDM Camp Conducted by Sewa
HOUSTON: A 10 day camp for Stop Diabetes Movement (SDM) completed on Sunday February 15. This was the 5th such camp being organized in Greater Houston by Sewa International in association with VYASA. In the recent past the camps at Keshav Smriti, Katy, The Woodlands & Downtown Houston were very successful.
This 10 day camp was held at the beautiful recreational facility in Sugar Land, provided by the philanthropist Jugal Malani. The camp was attended by 24 participants every day for 2 hours. The camp instructors were Daksha Shah, Sarika Phalak and Armin Kasnavia. The integrated approach of yoga therapy for SDM is designed by SVYASA yoga university based on concepts taken from the traditional Yoga scriptures (Patanjali Yoga sutras, Yoga vasishtha and Upanishads) that highlight a holistic life style for positive health at physical, mental, emotional, intellectual and spiritual levels, Because one understand, that health is not just a state of absence of diseases, but a state of wellbeing at various personality levels. The integrated Yoga module includes a variety of practices and not just the physical yoga postures. The practices include joint loosening, breath exercises, postures, deep relaxation, meditation all of which is aimed at revitalizing and providing deep rest to the mind & body. Yogic counseling is aimed at understanding the need for life style change and preventing the relapses by yogic self- management of psychosocial stresses, Yogic concepts of health and disease, role of mind in managing Diabetes. They also explain how mind can heal the body through Yoga. All these sessions were conducted by well trained clinicians and yoga therapists. Dr Sudha Rajan spoke eloquently about the epidemic “diabetes” and the effectiveness of yoga. Vishwarupa Nanjundappa spoke about the results which the camp participants noticed within 10 days. The graph (FBS & PPBS) results showed the results of sugar levels pre & post camp for the participants. In order for all the participants to qualify and achieve the accurate level of results; the camp would be continuing for another 10 weeks on Saturday only and the results will be measured at that point also.
Shri Arvind Thekdi was emcee of this concluding event. A cross section of participants were picked up at random and requested to summarize their thoughts about their individual experience from the camp. Four of the participants shared as to how relaxation had helped them & relieved so much stress. Some of them mentioned that their energy levels on each day after the camp had risen and had led to more productivity. Among the invited guests were Council man of Sugar Land Harish Jajoo and Himesh Gandhi. Both of them were amazed to see the results of what Yoga had to provide to our metaphysical body. Jajoo volunteered all the assistance which the City of Sugar Land can provide for such camps in the future and he would personally attend too. Gandhi spoke about the mission of City of Sugar Land which promotes healthy Lifestyle and is considered among the top 10 cities which are health conscious. This kind of camp would be useful to a large community in the future and he promised to provide any assistance needed in the future. Dr Virendra Mathur who has been a long time Houstonian & an accomplished cardiologist was very impressed with the camp results and appreciated and encouraged the SDM effort put together by SEWA and VYASA. The other invited guests Jugal Malani & Gaurangbhai Nanavaty supported such endeavors and were keen listeners to the comments from the camp participants. All the invited guests were given a book on Swami Vivekananda. The organizational update for SEWA was given by Arun Kankani and for VYASA by Smitha Vishwarupa.
After the brief presentation and the vote of thanks by Vibhuti Shah the attendees were served with a dinner feast catered by Madras Pavilion and was generously sponsored by Nexion Health. The program volunteers were Arvind and Manjula Thekdi, Vibhuti Shah, Pallavi Dhairyawan, Madhulika Tewary and Madhukar Adi.
About SEWA International
Sewa International is a Hindu faith based nonprofit charity registered under the Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3). Mission of Sewa is to serve humanity in distress, aid local communities, and promote volunteerism. Sewa has 38 chapters in 22 states across the US. Sewa runs disaster relief/rehabilitation projects and have been involved in Hurricane Katrina (2005), Super Storm Sandy (2012), Maharashtra Drought, and Uttarakhand Flood (2013) relief. Sewa undertakes development projects in India, Sri Lanka, Peru, Guyana, and Kenya, and service projects in the US such as Bhutanese Refugee Empowerment, Adopt-a-highway, Diwali Food Drive, etc. In Houston, Sewa launched Family Services program last year and conducts monthly workshop series useful for families besides organizing Get Inspired Houston Youth Internship program for Houston and YFS Summer Internship program for US youth to serve in India. Sewa also organizes monthly voluntary event to help various non-profit serving in Houston Area.
Visit www.sewahouston.org or contact at info-sdm@sewausa.org.