78-yr-old widow of retired army officer on a yoga mission, trains soldiers

Padmini said that yoga is essential for soldiers as they discharge their duties under stress. “Not only them, everyone should do pranayama and yogasanas every day. This should be considered an essential part of our daily routine," she said.

Bengaluru: A 78-year-old widow of a retired soldier from Bengaluru is setting a new fitness benchmark by performing yoga with soldiers at thousands of feet above sea level in challenging weather conditions and running yoga and pranayama camps across the country. Padmini Jog Sevaspirathi, hailing from Bengaluru, studied at London University.

After completing her B Sc in Home Science, she married Colonel Pratap Jog and have two children. After her marriage, Padmini didn't like being idle and did a Montessori course and taught children for free. After her husband's retirement, they reached their home town Nagpur. Padminis' interest towards yoga grew at a yoga camp in Nagpur.

''That got both of us attracted towards yoga. Both of us started practising at home. After a few years, we completed the yoga teacher's course under Ramdev Baba's training in Haridwar. Later, we did more yoga courses and conducted a charity camp at Sehore near Bhopal in which 600 people participated. We travelled all over the country,'' Padmini recalled.

She has conducted yoga camps at schools, colleges, old age homes, rotary clubs and Senior Citizens Associations. However, a tragedy struck Padmini in September 2014 when her husband Pratap died of a heart attack. This made Padmini expand the yoga camps to army soldiers. A month after her husband's death, Padmini started a solo journey with a camp at Bengaluru Army Public School.

She has so far conducted 940 camps for soldiers. Notably, she has also conducted yoga camps at 12,300 feet above sea level in Jammu and Kashmir. Padmini said that yoga is essential for soldiers, who perform duties with anxiety and stress. “Not only them, everyone should do pranayama and yogasanas every day. This should be considered an essential part of our daily routine," she said.