Hyderabad: Helping aged & infirm stay fit

Given the current pandemic situation, staying healthy and fit has become more important for everyone. It is more so for geriatric people who need a special focus, but unfortunately most are dragging without any.

Keeping this in mind and to encourage the old among the poor to have healthy lifestyle, a city-based NGO Kartha Foundation has started conducting Yoga classes at GHMC shelter home for urban homeless at Saroor Nagar.

B Anvesh, the founder of the foundation located at SR Nagar, says, "For last eight months or so, almost everyone is confined to home and leading sedentary lifestyle, which could lead to considerable stress and depression. We have come up an initiative to organise yoga classes every day from 6.30 am to 7.30 am at GHMC-run shelter home for urban homeless and one of the members of the NGO providing training for them at this home." he said.

Prasad Mora, 45, a yoga trainer and member of Kartha Foundation was a lecturer at a private college. The idea to help elderly stay fit occurred to him after the college he was working with was closed during the lockdown. "Due to the lockdown especially the elderly people were suffering from health issues. So I decided to train such people.

GHMC has let us use its shelter home at Saroor Nagar to voluntarily organise yoga classes and provide some physical and mental relaxation to the geriatric people in there," he said. "For the past two weeks, we have been doing yoga, feeling very fresh and energetic. For almost eight months we could not venture out of the home.

I'm thankful to the NGO for this initiative to teach us yoga," said V Renuka, 61, staying at the shelter home. "Yoga will definitely benefit the elderly. It will help them gain inner strength and make their minds strong. We are also planning to organise yoga class in other GHMC shelter homes," Anvesh adds.