Thursday, December 23, 2010

Tech meets Tradition - Hindustan Times

Ancient meets contemporary at Planet Health, the interactive digital museum on yoga and ayurveda at the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga in the heart of New Delhi. Close on the footsteps of the international museums veering towards participatory displays to engage the new tech-savvy generation with no patience for one-dimensional gallery exhibits, the Union Ministry of Health has set up, what it calls, “the first of its kind museum on traditional medicine”.

The displays fuse traditional art and craft with modern computing imagery, touch-sensitive sculpture and interactive installations.


“Nobody has the time for scriptures. We have presented traditional knowledge in a modern format to intrigue people enough to want to know more,” said S. Jalaja, secretary, Department of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Naturopathy, Siddha and Homeo-opathy) under the Union Ministry of Health.


And intrigue it does. Arushi Khadelwal, 15, jumped back in surprise when the carved lotus on a pedestal she accidentally touched, triggered off an audiovisual commentary  by Swami Niranjanananda, chief patron of the Bihar School of Yoga in Munger.


“I knew the museum was interactive, but the location of touch sensors is far more innovative than the red and black buttons that say ‘push me’ at science museums,” said Khandelwal, a student of DPS R K Puram, New Delhi. The displays are by Ranjit Makkuni of Sacred World, whose team has also done installations at the Eternal Gandhi Multime-dia Museum at Gandhi Smriti in Delhi.


“The word, Yoga, has a Sanskrit root,  yuj, which means to unite or join. Even though the presentation is in an interactive three-dimensional exploration format, the exhibits rely on scientifically-validated concepts and traditional manuscripts,” said Dr Ishwar V. Basavaraddi, Director, Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, which has a faculty of 20 to teach yoga to 500 students, including 120 diploma students.  


“The present venue for the exhibition is temporary — it’s at the Institute of Yoga till October 31 — but we hope to find permanent display for it at the National Museum,” said Jalaja, who conceptualised the project.


This is not the Department of AYUSH’s first encounter with technology. Drawing lessons from the long-drawn battle over neem and turmeric patent infringements, India set up the world’s first Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) database to stop bio-piracy way back in 2001. The R7-crore TKDL project took nine years to list 2,00,000 formulations from Auyurveda, Unani and Siddha schools of medicine in over 30 million pages from texts in Sanskrit, Hindi, Arabic, Urdu and Tamil, to name a few. TDKL makes the information available in five foreign languages: English, Japanese, French, German and Spanish.


“This is just the beginning. We put together Phase I focusing on Yoga and Ayurveda in a rush to meet the Commonwealth Games deadline. The complete museum will be a mine of information,” said Jalaja. We’d like to wait and watch. Or, in this case, touch and participate.


More info at : http://yogatips.infoplugin.com/

The Firm Stability Ball 55cm

The Firm Stability Ball 55cmSimple, versatile, and fun to use, the Firm Core Stability Ball is designed to challenge your balance, stability and flexibility through various low-impact exercises and movements. Included with the package is a 30-minute core training video that guides you through a variety of techniques that you can adapt to your training, stretching, rehabilitation or other workout routines. The ball is made of tough, burst-resistant plastic, a special material that resists tearing and, if punctured, deflates safely and gradually. Available in several fashionable colors, the 55-centimeter ball is sized for users measuring between 4 feet, 8 inches and 5 feet, 3 inches.

Price: $24.98


Click here to buy from Amazon

Bryan Kest Power Yoga Complete Collection

Bryan Kest Power Yoga Complete CollectionAnyone wanting to get in shape like the stars need go no further than Bryan Kest's videos. Kest teaches wildly popular yoga classes in Santa Monica, California--so popular that stars like Rhea Perlman, David Duchovny, and Elisabeth Shue willingly sweat alongside the hoi polloi in Kest's packed, ancient loft studio. If you don't happen to be in the neighborhood, not to worry: Kest's yoga videos are nearly as good as being there. Volume 1: Energize is a beginner level class that nonetheless is smartly designed to provide challenges for all levels of users. Kest's Jersey-boy voice at first seems in contrast to the serene environment and inner-peace objectives, but it gradually becomes soothing and hypnotic in its own right. Stretches and strengthening moves are alternated with just enough repose to keep even first timers on track. After mastering Vol. 1, practitioners can go on to Volume 2: Tone or Volume 3: Sweat to further challenge themselves. As long as you keep in mind Kest's personal mantra--"If you're doing the best you can, you're doing this class perfectly"--you and this video should have many satisfying years of workouts together. --Anne Hurley

Price: $19.98


Click here to buy from Amazon