Commentary by Aniya Burse
Have you heard of Surya Namaskars? They are a series of 10 yoga poses and breathing techniques done consecutively, first performed by ancient Hindus to honor the sun god Surya.
This semester, as part of the Surya Namaskar Yajna program, a group of 10 volunteers from the Carmel chapter of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh conducted a Surya Namaskar workshop for College Wood Elementary School students. Two 30-minute sessions were conducted for fourth- and fifth-graders, with a total of 100 to 120 students attending each session led by four teen HSS volunteers with the help of six adult HSS volunteers.
The workshop started with a brief presentation introducing HSS and yoga, after which the kids participated in warmups and a few rounds of Surya Namaskars. We concluded the session with breathing exercises to cool down.
Both groups of students seemed to enjoy the workshop, and so did the teachers. We plan to build off this experience with all our students at College Wood.
We loved hearing the principal’s feedback, and it has encouraged us to do more of these kinds of workshops in the future. All of us at HSS hope to bring the benefits of yoga to everyone.
Aniya Burse is a teen volunteer with Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh.
