DHARMAPURI: You may have heard of stressed-out policemen taking to yoga to unwind. But in a village in this district, a retired police sub-inspector has become a yoga ‘guru’ and dedicated his life to spreading the benefits of the ancient Indian exercise regimen among the locals.
T Venkatesan (59), who served in various police wings including intelligence, is now busy teaching yoga to school students and children in Ajjipatti village in Jarugu panchayat here.
Venkatesan said, “Ajjipatti, my hometown, is one of the most backward villages in Dharmapuri with a majority of residents being addicted to the bottle. In 2010, I introduced yoga in the village and went to each house and spoke to them about its significance. People gradually changed and started to learn the exercise system.” “I had set up a Manavalakalai Mandram centre in my village and donated my house to it,” the retired policeman claimed and added that after yoga training, more than 15 people in the village had given up their addiction to liquor.
He has been giving yoga training to the students in the Jarugu Government Higher Secondary School for the past four years. He said, “The pass percentage has been increasing gradually after the yoga training.”
“In my law enforcement career, I had witnessed many brutal murders, accidents and crimes which caused me high stress. I used to become angry with my wife and family members due to the work pressure. However, after I took to yoga, everything changed,” he said. Venkatesan received yoga training from Manavalakalai Mandram, founded by Vethathiri Maharishi, in 2002.