Yoga at 77: Meet the Montreal teachers devoted to making yoga free for all

As trendy as yoga has become in the recent years, it remains largely inaccessible to the general public. Physically challenging poses and expensive private lessons lead many to reconsider the meditative practice.

With the third annual International Day of Yoga approaching on June 21, Montreal-based yoga teachers Narendra and Neelam Kumar make it their goal to open yoga up for a broader public.

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For this year's event, Narendra and Neelam organized a free, two-hour yoga session at the Bharat Bhavan Foundation on June 17. That's where they have held weekly classes since 2009 as representatives of Patanjali Yog Montreal.

"You just bring a yoga mat and attend, and you will reap the benefits that will go long way in insuring your health," Neelam told CBC Montreal's All in a Weekend host Sonali Karnick. "You have the most important component and that's the body."

Getting healthier with age

Narendra is in his late seventies, but he couldn't feel better. In 1992, before starting to practice yoga regularly, he had a quadruple bypass surgery.

He also used to get frequent asthmatic attacks, bronchitis and take antibiotics every month, but he hasn't had any health issues ever since he started yoga.

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"I can sincerely claim that I have better health at 77 than I had at 47," said Narendra.

His wife Neelam took up yoga at 58 and started to give lessons only two years after. Now, at 68, she feels the mental and physical benefits of the yoga training. Her joints became more flexible, her headaches stopped and she does not get sinusitis anymore.

Focus on breathing

Both Narendra and Neelam attribute their major health improvements to the specific kind of yoga that they teach.

"In the West, there's more focus on the postures and in the East, [there is] more focus on the pranayama, which is the breathing exercises," Narendra said. "Postures and pranayama are two integral parts of the yoga program."

The main advantage of the breathing exercises is that they are easily accessible for older adults, according to Narendra.

"We have seen a friend of ours making a peacock posture and breaking her nose," Narendra said. "The pranayama is much safer and it gives you almost the same benefit."

According to Neelam, the breathing component of yoga also opens up the body more and allows people to be more flexible during the session.

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Can yoga be free?

The couple will resume their two-hour weekly Patanjali Yog lessons after the International Day of Yoga celebration on June 17. Narendra and Neelam say they teach the free yoga classes as a service to the community.

"The dream of Swami Ramdev, the founder of the Patanjali in India, is to make the health benefits of yoga accessible to the last household on the planet," Narendra explained. "And the only way to do that is to make it free."

I can sincerely claim that I have better health at 77 than I had at 47- Narendra Kumar

Neelam said it is especially rewarding to get positive feedback from yoga students who feel the benefits after several lessons.

"Some of [the participants] said that they feel very calm and at peace," Neelam added. "There are so many challenges in daily life, but they think they can handle it now."

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