It's all in the mind

Mental health of city policemen has improved after yoga camp that began a year ago, but their physical health continues to remain poor. Alisha Coelho reports

Mental health of city policemen has improved after yoga camp that began a year ago, but their physical health continues to remain poor. Alisha Coelho reports

Alisha Coelho reports Last year, over 3,000 cops from the 40,000-strong Mumbai force signed up for a yoga course to better their mental and physical health.

Scrutiny of the progress report, last month revealed positive results in attitude, concentration, sleep patterns mental attributes, but physical health barely improved.
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Very few cops lost weight, neither did their digestion improve.

The yoga programme was devised by Additional Commissioner of Police Sadanand Date in October 2008.

This followed health checkups, which said that an alarming number of policemen suffer from hypertension and heart-related diseases, which point to long, stressful working hours, bad quality of food and improper diet
Said Ravi Dixit of the Kaivalyadham Yoga Institute, Marine Drive, "The programme is for just six days and we roll a new batch every week. When the cops are with us, they are extremely cooperative, but given the sheer size of the force and our limited resources, we can only do so much at a time."

"Some follow the programme even after it's over, some don't and therefore there's only bound to be a minimal decrease in weight and digestion problems will continue," he added.

Dixit is the honorary yoga instructor to Governor S C Jamir.



No skipping

What has, however, dramatically improved enrollments to the programme is that the time spent at the classes is counted as on-duty hours, unlike previously when policemen needed to skip classes in the event of bandobasts, nakabandis or other organised drives.

"This year, however, we've had to reschedule classes only thrice, once when 26/11 happened, another time to address an emergency situation involving Raj Thackeray and finally during the elections," said Dixit.

Date added it was not compulsory to join up, but "the interest in our programmes has grown tremendously and I even have officers who want to register for refresher courses after a month", said Date, adding that plans for an additional centre in the eastern region would add to the existing three centres at Santacruz, Kandivli and Marine Drive.

Said assistant teacher Shilpa Ghone, "When we first began the programme, there were some who attended only because they felt obliged to join up because their seniors had asked them. Now, they want to join up willingly."

Healthy, wealthy and wise
Commissioner of Police D Sivanandan recently ordered police canteens to do away with vada pav, misal, usal and puri bhaji and to replace them with corn, sprouts, idli, upma and poha.

Thank you, yoga

96%
Experienced a change in their behaviour after the six-day session

94%
Felt fresh and energetic

94%
Slept better

92%
Worked more efficiently

51%
Experienced a change in digestion patterns

57%
Lost weight

60%
Had better relations with their spouse

3,000
Police personnel have received yoga training