Yoga isn’t only about attaining physical fitness. For Odissi dancer Rashmirekha Das, it is a guide to spiritual transformation.
It rejuvenates her mind, brings clarity in thought process and adds coherence to her lengthy Odissi performances. The 36-year-old artiste believes that Yoga has helped her evolve as a classical dancer.
As a child, she suffered from chronic bronchitis. Consequently, she developed breathing problems and remained asthmatic for long.
Though she was a passionate dancer, asthma prevented her from taking to the stage. She was on the verge of quitting Odissi.
But destiny had other plans for her. In 2016, she joined the art of living classes in the State Capital. As part of the training, she learnt Sudarshan Kriya - a form of Yoga that involved special breathing exercises developed by Yoga guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar.
“I took kinds of medicines to get rid of the breathing problems. From Ayurveda, homoeopathy to allopathy, I tried all but to no avail,” she claims.
However, turning to Sudarshan Kriya let her open the doors to good health and life. As claimed by Rashmirekha, she started practicing the breathing technique from December 25, 2010 and in only 40 days, she was cured of her ailments.
Since then, there has been no looking back. Today, she is the head of the department of performing arts at a reputed private university in Bhubaneswar.
She has trained thousands of students, including foreigners, in Odissi. Besides, she also teaches them Natya Yoga or dance therapy, incorporating techniques of Yoga and Odissi.
At the World Cultural Festival 2016 held on the banks of Yamuna river in New Delhi, Rashmirekha trained 1,665 Odissi artists from across the globe.
All these artists performed on a single stage. And Yoga, she says, helped her unite and synchronise these artistes of various origins.
She used to start the rehearsals with Sudarshan Kriya.
The rhythmic breathing techniques helped her harmonise the body, mind and emotions of her students.
“In order to become a good classical dancer, you must be able to portray the emotions on stage. Yoga helps you do that. Most of the compositions are about the Lord. Since Yoga makes an artiste spiritual, the ‘Abhinaya’ becomes more graceful,” she explains.
Today, Rashmirekha also runs a Yoga centre for dancers along with her husband who has also learnt the art of Yoga from her.
Like Rashmirekha, Bangalore-based Odissi artiste Bijayani Satpathy also practises Yoga for improving her stamina as a dancer.
Artists put their bodies through unimaginable trauma to make their dance performances look effortless, fluid, perfect in line and form.
Realising this, Bijayani has devised a special method for conditioning the bodies of classical dancers using Yoga.
“The demands of classical dance forms on the body of an artist are no less than any high-performance sports.
It is important that we prepare our body accordingly and relieve it from the extreme performance-related stress and fatigue,” explains Bijayani.
In a popular dance village Nrityagram, her training in Odissi starts with physical conditioning.
Her body conditioning technique consists of an understanding of anatomy specific to the body of an Indian Classical dancer, martial art techniques like Kalaripayattu and Aikido, principles of Yoga and Pranayanam, basics of ballet, Indian and western contemporary dance techniques and general techniques of strengthening and healing used by physiotherapists and sports doctors.