Stop Diabetes Movement (SDM) Yoga Camps Motivates Participants for Healthy Lifestyle
By Nikhil Jain
HOUSTON: Sewa International and VYASA organized ten-day yoga camps from February 24 to March 5. The camps were held simultaneously at three locations in the Houston area (Sugar Land, West Houston & Katy) and 65 people participated. The camp is specially designed for diabetic and pre-diabetic people to help them manage and control high blood sugar levels with yoga routine and holistic approach. SDM camps are being conducted all across the country, so far 14 Camps have been conducted in Houston area and 10+ camps in other cities in the country. More than 300+ people have participated in these camps, from all walks of life, since the time these camps started.
The ten-day camp included daily yoga routine, educative sessions from medical doctors and specialist on diabetes, stress management, food habits and diet. At the closing ceremony held at Keshav Smruti on Sunday, participants shared about the transformation the camp brought in their lifestyle and in managing diabetes. One of the participants, Gaurav from Sugarland, says “I started eating right and doing personal training and yoga. After the SDM camp, my blood sugar levels have come down significantly and now I am a living example of how Yoga and nutrition works”. Jyoti from Katy mentions “I was diagnosed with pre breast cancer and could not move my left hand due to chemo, but by doing the “Asanas” at the camp, I am able to take my hand all the way up”. Another participant, Rahul, who attended the camp in Arya Samaj, says “I have attended a lot of Yoga sessions before, however the Yoga Therapists in this camp paid great attention to details; doctor presentations were pretty good.”
Jay from VYASA presented data on the results of this camp. The drop in participant’s fasting blood glucose level and post prandial sugar levels was noticeable with just 10 days of practice (based on the readings provided by participants before start & at the end of these camp). The program concluded with Nikhil Jain offering vote of thanks to all the participants, doctors (Dr. Sudha Rajan, Dr. Ulupi Choksi, Dr. Sejal Desai, Dr. Kavita Patel, Dr. Shilpan Shah and Dr. Namrata Rathod); camp yoga therapists (Meena Kankani, Satya Pappu, Vijay Jilledimudi & Jayachandran Chandrasekaran); SDM core volunteer team (Anuja Deshpande, Sripriya Joysula, Vibhuti Shah, Arvind Thekdi, Naina Patel and Noopur Saptnekar); VYASA Houston Directors Vishwarup Nanjundappa & Smitha Mallaiah and their team; Unique Industrial Product Company, Arya Samaj of Greater Houston, Keshav Smruti and Swath Yoga Studio for providing their facility and partnering to conduct these SDM camps. A delicious and nutritious potluck meal was served to end the program on a high note.
These yoga camp were extremely successful and the participants are now looking forward to keeping up with the practice and come back for a follow up session in 4 weeks. Sewa will conduct the next set of camps in various parts of Houston, from Sep 9 to 17. These camps are free of charge and have refundable deposit after participants complete all the sessions.
For those who want to know more about SDM Diabetes Yoga camp or want to volunteer, please email at info-sdm@sewausa.org or text (713) 834-4909 / (281) 546-8202.