Chronicling 50 years of yoga and more

KOCHI: Way back in 1952, a Class IV student happened to be part of an activity organised in his school in Edappally that decided the path of his life. The event was a yoga demonstration by Chandrahasan, a Hindi professor from Maharaja’s College. The professor was also a yoga master.“The professor showed the students naulikriya, which is one of the shadkriyas in yoga. This caught my father K P Bhaskara Menon’s attention and the very next day, he joined the M O Manuval Ashan’s classes to learn the nuances of yoga,” said Mukundakumar, the youngest son of Bhaskara Menon. Today, the institution, ‘Life Yoga and Gym’, which the latter began in 1970, is celebrating its golden jubilee on Tuesday.

“He set it up during a time when we didn’t have centres with both yoga and gym training,” said Mukundan. The idea to set up Life Yoga and Gym came to Bhaskara Menon after he got a job with FACT. “In 1993, he took voluntary retirement from FACT and started Life Aquatic Club to train people to swim,” said Mukundakumar.  

Right from the very start, Bhaskara Menon gave training in both yoga and gym simultaneously, said his son. “When he started, he had just nine disciples. However, as the institution completes 50 glorious years, it has seen thousands of famous and well-known people who underwent the training successfully,” he added.

“My father would always say that one thing which satisfies him the most is the role he played in turning a lot of people from the path of self-destruction and depression,” said Mukundakumar. In the past two decades, Life Yoga and Gym centre has been able to bring in many new programmes as per the requirements of the changing times. Bhaskara Menon was conferred with the Yogaratnam title in 1996 during the World Yoga Summit that was held in New Delhi.

His sons are following his path and have been handling the daily affairs of the centre, besides training. “We are four brothers — Madhava Menon, Udayakumar, Suresh Menon and me,” said Mukundakumar. Of these four, the youngest two are running the centre. While Suresh Kumar began training under his father before training at the National Institute of Sports, Mukundakumar achieved fame as a fitness trainer. 

According to Mukundakumar, since the health department has eased restrictions on training or practising yoga, the centre has been conducting sessions with 10 persons at a time with strict adherence to Covid protocols. “People are coming in to strengthen their lungs and also heart. It is believed that the virus attacks weak lungs,” he said. However, due to the pandemic, the golden jubilee celebrations have been toned down.