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With a target to impact the lives of 5 million users, SARVA and Diva Yoga has announced a through our one-year free yoga and mindfulness programme across the globe in the next 365 days. IANSlife spoke to Sarvesh Shashi, Co-Founder, SARVA and Diva Yoga, who talks about the initiative, and how yoga is growing across the world. Excerpts:

Q: Tell us more about this initiative?

A: The one-year free yoga program is actually the brainchild of the year 2020. We all struggled with our health and fitness in 2020. Insomnia was rampant. A lot of people experienced stress over the pandemic and the lockdown, which is when most of them turned to some sort of wellness programmes at home. That's when we chose to start giving yoga classes for free. And members really benefited from these.

As 2021 came, we thought it was time to ramp it up. Anxiety about the lockdown ending is causing just as much stress. Travelling with public transport, dealing with the busy lives today became harder and more challenging with the added stress of a pandemic. Hence we decided to keep going with the free yoga programme that would allow everyone to explore how yoga can benefit them, because this is the moment that we have to endure our fears and step out. Do away with our anxieties and restart again. Hence, the one year free yoga programme, promises to introduce different forms of yoga to someone from the comfort of their home and empowers them to do more with their health.

Q: How do you see yoga growing in India?

A: By absolute leaps and bounds. Globally there are 200 million yoga practitioners in the world, half of these are in India as well. Yoga has been the authentic practice from India and we are re-awakening to the power of this practice. More and more beginners want to try yoga. And we're also glad to say that more than half of our SARVA app users are beginners. It's great to see that more and more beginners are attracted to the practice of yoga.

Q: How has yoga changed your life?

A: I started practicing yoga at the age of six and I felt a massive shift in my existence in my teens. I took up yoga to become a star cricketer of sorts but life had something entirely different planned for me. I defined my life with the three A's -- Arrogance, Anger and Attitude, which disappeared as I realised how powerful the practice of yoga can make someone.

Q: How would you motivate people to include yoga or any other form of exercise in their daily life?

A: I think movement is critical for the body and the mind. For the body because statistics are showing us, the longer we sit, the worse we're making our health. So, start small and simple. Even if it's a 5-minute yoga routine and slowly make space for more. And movement for the mind is essential in two ways, the more you move, it balances your happy hormones, it puts you in a good mood. The second way is yoga or meditation allows you to move your focus inwards. So as the body moves, we must remember to move the mind inwards as as well.