Continuing Our Daily Workout - Yet Another Interesting Way! Why Don’t We Replace the Boring Exercises and Other Workouts by Our Traditional Classical Dances or Martial Arts?

 Now, we are talking about various ways of keeping ourselves physically, mentally, and emotionally healthy! We are prioritizing our daily workouts and spending a good amount of time on that, right? Starting from walking, exercises, yoga, workouts at gym, and in the process of making this workout interesting we have found zumba… 

Recently, I read an article on Supernatural Virtual Reality workout. Someone's feedback on that is ‘The virtual reality workout not only had me working up a serious sweat, but it was also a game-changer for my mental health’. Another one  ‘Beautiful scenery and a huge variety of great music, along with encouragement from fitness experts, added all of the elements needed for a fun, rhythm-based, gamification of exercise’.

There are many articles about exercise: how to make exercise enjoyable, tips for making exercise easy, alternatives for the routine exercise, and the list goes on…

This made me to think, what the people might have done to keep themselves fit in olden days? Actually, they were more healthy and fit than us, right?

Our culture has taken care of the fitness of the people! Classical dance forms like Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, and Manipuri are a few traditional dance forms from various part of our Country. Further, the martial arts starting from Yudha Kala, Malla yudha, Kushti, Silambam, Kalaripayattu, Gadka, Adimurai etc. are also practiced by our people. 

Now, people are doing research on why Bharatanatyam is special and beneficial and how the martial arts help people become strong etc. It is really wonderful to note that people had that understanding and made classical dance and martial arts as part of their life! It’s like all inclusive life they have lived, isn’t it?

Research says there are countless benefits of practicing bharatanatyam, for that matter any of the classical dances! Starting from improving the flexibility of our body, it increases stamina. Niranjana is a bharatanatyam dancer. She started learning it when she was 7 years old. I have witnessed her flexibility and her stamina in her arangetram, at that time she was 11. The program went on for three hours, during the complete program she was dancing with full energy covering the entire stage and finally after the dance when she was honouring the chief guest with a smile, he remarked how she was energetic after such a long powerful performance. That flexibility and stamina are due to her dance practice only. 

The expressions and the mudras facilitate in improving flexibility. All the dance forms including bharatanatyam have body movements which helps the dancers to get strong muscles. Also, they have to stay in certain postures for a few seconds. So, practicing the dance forms increases our stamina! 

The facial expressions such as movement of eyes, eyebrows, neck displayed to show the various feelings like happy, sad, anger, … (navarasas) helps in strengthening the facial muscles. That’s the reason the bharatanatyam dancers have the grace in their eyes and look young!

Various poses and movements are part of bharatanatyam. The Karanas, the body movements, help in increasing the balance of the body. In many poses dancers will stand on one foot, particularly the Nataraja pose, showing the fish pose etc. Staying in that pose for some significant time definitely increases the balance!

I can say, by observing Niranjana dancing, memory power and concentration increase if you practice bharatanatyam. She has to remember all the steps, the mudras, hastas, karanas and the poses in the same sequence as she practiced, as there should be a perfect synchronisation between the orchestra, singer, nattuvangam and the dancer, right? People used to wonder, how does she remember all the steps? She can remember only if she concentrates and practices. So, for those who dance, concentration, memory power and mindfulness (living at that present moment or mental awareness) will increase, what do you think?.

Due to this fact, practicing bharatanatyam can be one of the remedies for the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD),  a neurodevelopmental disorder that causes patterns of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. Interesting to know this, right?

Bharatanatyam dancers need a lot of energy as they have to exhibit different movements, steps, the rhythm & beats and expressions while performing the dance. This helps in blood circulation which in turn helps us keep good physical health, particularly a healthy heart!. Dance and fitness go together. we can get the same benefits of doing yoga or exercises from dance practice also, even more than that, that too in an enjoyable way.

In that article on Supernatural Virtual Reality workout, concluding remarks goes like this: “Moving is easy and natural when there’s music. Supernatural Virtual Reality workout  includes a large library of songs, and it’s easy to find a workout that includes a particular artist or songs in your favorite genre. With the music rolling, swinging your arms, ducking, and stepping in time to the beat, feels like dancing”.

So, they suggest Virtual Reality workout as it feels like dancing. Why go for the simulated one when the original itself is available? There is a way for everything in our heritage. We can revisit our heritage to gain the traditional knowledge and live a beautiful life!