Ujjain : When desire to learn something overwhelms one, then nature paves the way for its manifestation. A standing testimony to this fact is 10 year old, Lakshya Sharma, an avid yoga practitioner, who has been creating ripples across the fitness regime in Ujjain. He teaches yoga postures with amazing alacrity and deftness. Besides this, this young prodigy is working incessantly towards restoring the old glory of the yoga discipline. He spoke candidly to Free Press, where he threw light upon various aspects of yoga, including its various postures, their benefits and much more.
On being asked what made him pursue yoga, he said “My father Pankaj Sharma is a very renowned and eminent yoga teacher. He has been practicing and teaching yoga for the last 20 years. He is adamant about sharing and disseminating this erstwhile knowledge far and wide, so that everyone learns to stay healthy. He is also of the opinion that we must not forget to restore our long forgotten ancient traditions and practices. Even my mother Mahak Sharma, took lessons from him and now she has been practicing yoga for many years, therefore, I owe it to my parents for providing me with a conducive environment, for my skills to flourish and enable me to pick up requisite knowledge.”
When we asked what he found intriguing in yoga he replied, “At the age of five, my father began to teach me yoga. He goes to various platforms for delivering lectures and making people practice various yoga forms in Ujjain and nearby cities. Since my childhood days I have been accompanying him everywhere. I find this discipline of staying fit so intriguing that my interest about learning and practicing various postures is growing with each passing day. My passion towards mastering this regime is so overwhelming that day and night I keep going through every information or material related to yoga.”
He has also bagged an amazing feat of doing 40 postures in 4 minutes. Elaborating more about the record he has created, he pointed out “I have been practicing these postures since the age of five. Performing them in such short span of time and with great agility takes years of practice, therefore, I found myself at ease while performing these postures.”
On being asked on the kind of platforms he performed on, he responded “We have taught these forms on various platforms, from inmates of the central jail to children of various schools. Besides this, not only did we teach policemen, politicians, social workers but also the public at large at various functions.”
When asked about the benefits of yoga he said “There are many health benefits, but major benefits are reduced stress levels, weight control, better digestion and controlled blood pressure and sugar, all in all, a hale and hearty body and mind.” On being inquired how he plans to take yoga among younger generation and public at large he said “I along with my family have been doing our bit and we will continue to do so even in the future. My parents have formed a society “Lakshya yoga education, training, research and therapy institute,” in my name under which we hold various workshops and sessions across various platforms. We go to many private and public platforms and various social and political organizations. During Simhastha, we had imparted training to 25,000 police personnel for better health and stress management. We are hopeful that slowly and surely, we will bring about a refreshing change and turn our society into a healthier one.”
“A healthy mind lives in healthy body. We must keep our body fit, in order to keep our mind fit,” he signs off.