Vyasa Houston Observes World Diabetes Day

By Raghu Iyer

HOUSTON: “The World Diabetes Day” was commemorated on the 12th of November 2016 in Houston by VYASA, a research based yoga organization. The event was hosted at India House with a great success with over 100 participants benefiting from it. Two prominent Houston doctors spoke at the event about the nature of diabetes, how and why it affects people and how YOGA can help manage and mitigate Diabetes. The information lecture session was followed by the actual practice of yoga specifically helpful for diabetes. The event was brought to close with traditional prayer offering thanks and was followed by delicious Sattvic lunch sponsored by local couple, the Jilledimudi family.

The event was thrown open at 9 am sharp by the traditional lamp lighting ceremony. The lamp was lit by the chief guest Dr. Manish Rungta and the speaker Dr. Ulupi Choksi. Dr. Rungta, who is a gastroenterologist and the present president of India House Inc., offered the Key note address and spoke about the anatomical causes of Diabetes and how it has become a veritable epidemic in our modern society. The key note address was followed by a brief overview of VYASA by Shri Rajeev Limaye, a VYASA yoga teacher. Various activities of VYASA which range from Yoga research at M D Anderson Cancer center on different cancer like Breast, brain, lung etc., Stop Diabetes Movement (SDM) an ambitious project to control and manage diabetes throughout India and USA, providing professional YOGA Certificate Courses, yoga therapy certification courses and the Harris county Juvenile probation department were the highlights that was gracefully presented by Shri Limaye.

The main speaker Dr. Choksi who followed the VYASA overview spoke elegantly on the basics and understanding of Diabetes and the role of yogic lifestyle, left no doubt in the minds of the attendees as to the lifestyle choices that result in Diabetes and the role of yoga to control and manage the same. She also highlighted the genetic propensity of the South Asians for Diabetes and that they have to be doubly careful of their diet and lifestyle choices. An interesting result of the research she shared with the attendees was the fact that Stress has a role to play in the development of Diabetes; which is where she tied in the use of YOGA and the tremendous benefits it offers for the management of this disease. Dr. Choksi is an endocrinologist from Woodlands and the past president of American Association of Diabetes.

The presentations were followed by actual YOGA therapy protocol specifically for the control and management of Diabetes for a full 75 minutes a combination of postures, pranayama, meditation and relaxation. This practice was based on the research from VYASA at Bangalore, India. The program was kindly sponsored by Dr. Durga and Sushila Agrawal. Various upcoming programs of VYASA such as the next YOGA Instructors class starting January 2017 and the next Stop Diabetes Movement (SDM) camp starting in February 2017 were also announced before adjourning for lunch. Thus the event that lasted half a day came to a close.

VYASA Houston & Sewa international have been jointly organizing Stop Diabetes movement – SDM, a community based yoga research program for managing Diabetes through yoga in and around greater Houston area. Over 100 Diabetic participants have benefited from this already.

 

For more information on Stop Diabetes camps please contact vyasahouston@gmail.com or visit www.vyasahouston.org.