Tuesday 3 April 2012

Yoga Break

Since India is the birthplace of yoga, it's not surprising the ancient discipline is practiced just about everywhere. Even at the Consulate, where one of Sarah's colleagues launched a five-minute afternoon yoga session last fall. Most afternoons, a group of anywhere from five to 25 men and women get up from their desks and take to the consulate courtyard to limber up.

The group even takes part on a Sari Friday -- when both local staff and American officers don the traditional Indian wear.

The crew, ready to get their five minutes on.


Stretching. Performing a move created by one of the group's
members in honor of Chennai's busy consular section:
a "Visa Stamping pose."





The practice is just one of the ways the consulate and some of its counterparts across India are using Indian traditions to balance their busy visa work. Because you can't take the journalist out of the Foreign Service Officer, Sarah even wrote a piece about how the Embassy and consulates are incorporating Indian traditions into their daily consulate lives for the State Department's State Magazine. You can read the piece here.

5 comments:

  1. Incredibly sane. Love it. Plus I'm totally jealous that Sarah gets to wear a Sari.

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  2. Yes, a little Yoga in the afternoon is good for everyone. Not only does she get to wear a sari once in awhile, it's the fabulous sawaar kameez sets she wears all the time that you need to check out.

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  3. If you and James do yoga - how have you incorporated yoga principles, limbs, practices into your work life? We have a proposal into our publisher for a book dealing with this. Do you know anyone who does incorporate this in their work life? Hope you guys are well - love following you on this blog. jamie

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    1. Just read your request from James' blog, I would be interested in talking with you more on yoga as not only a physical practice, but as a way of life. For background information, please see www.yogavision.net, where I have studied.
      Best,
      Anandaroopa
      ananduws8@yahoo.com

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  4. Beautiful ladies! Beautiful colors!

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