Q: What is the purpose of The Art of Living Yoga Club?
A: The Art of Living Yoga Club at AU is affiliated to the Art of Living Foundation which is the largest volunteer based NGO spread more than 150 countries worldwide. The purpose of Art of Living Yoga Club is to create awareness about yoga, breathing and meditation techniques and their immense usefulness in improving the quality of our lives.
Q: How did you become interested in yoga?
A: I was introduced to the Art of Living (AOL) programs by a close friend in India around 4 years ago. In the YES!+ (Yoga-Empowerment-Service program plus) program that AOL offers, they taught us these breathing and meditation techniques. The benefits of these tools that I found in my life were amazing. I was so impressed by this profound knowledge that I chose to be a volunteer and help others benefit from it.
Q: How do you encourage members to "live" yoga?
A: In the AOL Yoga club here, we do free weekly Yoga sessions open for all people. In these sessions, we do simple yoga exercises to promote better health and stress relief. For those who are interested in more intensive practices, we offer 5-6 day AOL workshops where we teach advanced techniques.
Q: What does "living yoga" mean to you?
A: I would rather call it as the "Art of Living" and this term is self-explanatory. Everybody is leading their lives from different levels. Art of Living helps you to shift from mere existence to a fully blossomed life, from a life that you HAVE to live a life that you want to live.
Q: What are the benefits of yoga?
A: Yoga coupled with breathing and meditation has immense therapeutic and holistic benefits. It is difficult to list all of them here. Please visit aolresearch.org to read about the benefits of AOL programs.
Q: How often should you practice yoga to get those benefits?
A: About half-hour to one hour daily is sufficient.
Q: How often do you practice yoga?
A: We do our individual practices daily and meet once a week to practice in group.
Q: Have you personally experienced benefits of yoga?
A: Yoga improved my health and personality tremendously. From a rather shy and short-tempered person, I changed into a calm and pleasant person. I could manage myself much better. I had more time and energy for myself as yoga makes one super-efficient. I started seeing life from a completely fresh and new perspective.
Q: Does yoga strictly pertain to the exercises, or is there more to it?
A: Yoga is a way of leading a naturally peaceful and happy life. Physical exercise, breathing techniques and meditation are an integral part of it.
Q: When and where does your club meet?
A: We are currently in the transition phase and are in the process of fixing a day and time. Also, it depends on the availability of venue. We keep our members informed about our meetings through e-mails.
Q: How can someone join if they are interested?
A: They can e-mail me at vipa35@gmail.com or Gautham Jeppu at jeppugp@auburn.edu.
Q: Does it cost anything to join?
A: There is no cost for our membership.
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