Siblings Anushka and Akansha Ranjan celebrate 'International Yoga Day' With Gulf News in Dubai
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00:00Happy National Yoga Day to all the Gulf News readers.
00:03For all the skeptics out there, I was one of you.
00:06Please adopt yoga, baby steps, start soon.
00:09But start, it'll change your life, change your mind, change your soul and your body.
00:13Happy Yoga Day to all the Gulf News readers, watchers and I'm an amateur yogini
00:19and all I can say is baby steps gets you to where you would want to be
00:23and something that helps you spiritually, emotionally, mentally is something which is good for you.
00:27So please try to get yoga as a part of your day.
00:30Even if it's 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, start somewhere, I'm sure you'll be happy.
00:36So we're here for International Yoga Day which is my favourite celebration of the year.
00:41I'm a new yogi, I'm a 4 year old yogi but I take it very very seriously
00:46and my heart and my soul is into yoga and what better way to celebrate it than with Gulf News.
00:52So she is a very advanced level yogini and she has been an influence as to why I wanted to get into yoga.
00:58So I'm an amateur, I would say that but it's something that I really enjoy doing
01:03because I have been very influenced by the teachings of Buddhism.
01:07So this seems like an extended version of that because Buddhism also involves chanting and breathing
01:12and yoga's biggest, I mean apart from the health and the weight and etc.
01:16whatever it helps you with physically, emotionally, mentally it gives you so much more peace and calm
01:21than any other workout form.
01:23So for me that is something which has been very attractive about yoga.
01:27So I'm super excited that we're here.
01:29So I go to this place called Diva Yoga which has taught me everything about yoga.
01:33So my trainer and I would still train and we have a group of girls that we work out together.
01:38So we did that, we continued our practice on Zoom.
01:41So every morning 10am, 4 of us girls with our trainer were on Zoom doing yoga.
01:46Because I said there's no way I'm skipping that, pandemic or no pandemic.
01:49In fact because of the pandemic, I needed to do it all the more.
01:52And she and mom would keep making fun out of me because like randomly at 6pm we're just hanging out.
01:56I said, guys I feel like doing...
01:58Stretching.
01:59No inversion, headstand.
02:00She would just love doing a headstand.
02:01So I was just like, guys I feel like doing a headstand.
02:03And they're like, Kiran keep doing inversion.
02:06We would just stand and she's like, guys I feel like I need to do an inversion.
02:10I need to be inversed.
02:12And then she would just go into a headstand and I'm like, why are you doing that?
02:15So for me personally, I've always been a major, major foodie.
02:18I really enjoy trying different cuisines.
02:21Wherever I travel, I try to find the most local food.
02:24I used to eat meat, which I've stopped now.
02:27So...
02:28Again my influence.
02:29Again her influence.
02:30You should be telling me your stomach is a graveyard.
02:32Your stomach is a graveyard.
02:33But you know somewhere, like that.
02:35Apart from that, like once we adopted our dog also, I got a little...
02:39Something just changed.
02:40And I was like, I can't do this anymore.
02:42I cannot eat meat.
02:43So it's been a year and a half I've not touched anything.
02:45Maybe over a year and a half now.
02:47So for me, food has been very, very important.
02:49But healthy eating also.
02:51Because I've always suffered from weight issues.
02:54Since I was a baby.
02:55I don't know if it's hereditary or what it was or is.
02:59But I cannot not...
03:01If I just eat normally also for like a week, 10 days.
03:04I'll just gain a lot of weight.
03:05Plus I have PCOD.
03:06So that's why yoga was something that was really helpful.
03:08Because it helps even control your PCOD.
03:11It helps with a lot of issues that women face.
03:15So that's why more than a workout.
03:16Because I would rather do my weight training also.
03:19I enjoy it because of these reasons.
03:21Like it controls your insides.
03:23Makes you feel good.
03:25Healthier.
03:26And yeah, so food can't stop.
03:28Won't stop.
03:29So got to do more stuff to control.
03:31I have the opposite actually.
03:32I eat to live.
03:34I'm not a foodie.
03:35I'm not a junkie.
03:36Like for me, Khichdi, Dal, Sabzi.
03:39I'm happy.
03:40Like these guys want to kill me.
03:41Even when we travel on the third, fourth day.
03:43I can be in Japan or America or Europe.
03:45I need Dal, Sabzi.
03:47That's me.
03:48Basic.
03:49I'm very basic.
03:50I just eat to live.
03:52But I've always been a health freak.
03:54I'm a crazy health junkie.
03:56But I don't go on fads and diets and stuff.
03:58I always want to eat home food.
03:59And satisfy myself.
04:01And move on.
04:02You know, I get a little upset with people when they say that
04:05Yoga is being bastardized.
04:07It's being too westernized.
04:08I understand what you're saying.
04:10But I've even gone to those LA classes in yoga.
04:12Which they say is not authentic at all.
04:14It still gives you something.
04:15You still leave the class feeling something.
04:17And that's what's important.
04:18So I feel yoga just...
04:20Also for women.
04:21A lot of women can't do weights.
04:23A lot of men can't do sports.
04:24Yoga is something you can do with yourself.
04:26It's so internalized.
04:28And it just...
04:29I think it's one of the rare workout forms or whatever
04:32That after one hour you're rejuvenated.
04:34And you're re-energized.
04:36So I think that's gaining momentum.
04:38People are realizing that.
04:39And because there are more forms.
04:40You know, your basic...
04:42Exactly.
04:44There are so many cooler ways.
04:45Now I do aerial yoga.
04:46I do yoga with bamboo stakes.
04:48It's obviously all being reinvented and stuff like that.
04:51So it has a taste for everyone.
04:54Coming to your point about people can't do it.
04:57I was one of them.
04:58Because I'm a very restless person.
04:59My mind is never calm.
05:01So for me, I felt like that time.
05:03I've become way more calm now in the last couple of years.
05:06But earlier, I was just always restless.
05:09I couldn't sit in a position for 2 minutes and just breathe.
05:12But now I've started realizing the importance of being with yourself.
05:17Giving just no thoughts.
05:19Just trying to control your mind as much as possible.
05:22Because the world is just moving so fast.
05:24Everyone is constantly stressed and worked up.
05:27It's just becoming very negative sometimes.
05:30So I feel many people are going to move into where I was.
05:35To where I am.
05:36Where it was like, oh my god, I need to get done with this.
05:38Because the workout was like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:40I'm done 45 minutes out.
05:41There's a lot of good music.
05:42There's always stimulants.
05:44You don't have a stimulant.
05:45You're just by yourself in your mind.
05:47So I feel like a lot of people are going to reach that point where they grow up.
05:50And they understand that being by myself is a good thing.
05:53And that's when I think they'll start adopting yoga more willingly.
05:57And not as occasionally as they're doing it right now.