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Wed 20 Apr 2022

6:30 PM - 8:00 PM (UTC+5.5)

Event Type: Date

Prana…The Life Force

One of the earliest discoveries in the Indian tradition concerning the human being is the recognition of a deeper multi-dimensional presence beyond the physical phenomenon. In brief, the Upanishadic theory of the Koshas underscores a multi-tiered model of the human being providing a structural framework to understand the mutual relationship between consciousness, mind, life force and matter. Of these the life-force or Prana assumes significance as it acts as a vital bridge connecting and influencing the physical and tangible- body on one side and the intangible-mind and consciousness. It has both dimensions- gross and subtle at once. It is Prana that makes the body vibrant and the mind alert. If life must be lived well and celebrated it is the Prana that needs to be invoked and consecrated. Whether one seeks a meaningful worldly life or a fulfilling spiritual awakening, Prana has the power to deliver both. Realising this important function, Indian tradition invested itself in exploring and mastering the multiple dimensions of Prana. This finds expression both in the textual and practice traditions of India especially in the realms of Tantra, Pranayama etc. Furthermore, the physical and psychological benefits of Pranayama practice has been well established through several scientific studies across the world.

When we speak of Prana, it is vital that we mention Lord Hanuman, the Prana Shakti that drives the life force of the Universe. It is by worshipping Hanuman, by meditating upon him, and by focusing on our Prana that we embark on the journey of self-realisation. This is why he is called Pavan Putra. And consciously watching our Prana during meditation is how we still our restless minds, turn inwards and embark on the most wonderful journey that anyone can ever take.

We seek to increase awareness of this subtle and yet powerful gift of India to humanity through the week-long ‘Prana… The Life Force’, highlighting the philosophical and the practical aspects of Prana & Pranayama, from 16th April to 22nd April, 2022.

Schedule

Date & Time Speaker Name Topic
Saturday, 16 April 2022 6:30 – 8:00 PM IST Dr Robert Svoboda Inaugural Session
Sunday, 17 April 2022 6:30 – 8:00 PM IST Dr Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani and Dr Vinaychandra Exploring Breath / Anatomy of Breath
Monday, 18 April 2022 3:00 – 4:30 PM IST Dr Latha Venkataram and Dr Prasanna Rao Significance of “Breath” in Pregnancy
This session will be a HYBRID session. The programme will be conducted LIVE at
Sagar Chandramma Hospitals, #1 Vanivilas Road, VV Puram, Basavanagudi, Bangalore 560004
Tuesday, 19 April 2022 6:30 – 8:00 PM IST Vinay Varanasi and Vivek Sadasivam Prana, Pranayama and Hanuman
This session will be a HYBRID session. The programme will be conducted LIVE at
Prabhath Kala Poornima, Padmavathi Arcade, #1, 1st Main Road, NR Colony, Bangalore, 560019
Wednesday, 20 April 2022 6:30 – 8:00 PM IST Dr Selvamurthy and Dr Deepa Prakash Fitness and Breath
Thursday, 21 April 2022 6:30 – 8:00 PM IST Dr Jayashree S Bhat and Smt Sudha Raghunathan Breath and Music
Friday, 22 April 2022 6:30 – 8:00 PM IST Dr R Rangan ji and Dr A Subramanian The Power of Breath
Speakers
speaker

Dr. Robert Svoboda

Ayurvedic Practitioner

Dr. Robert Svoboda is the first Westerner ever to graduate from a college of Ayurveda and be licensed to practice Ayurveda in India. During and after his formal Ayurvedic training he was tutored in Ayurveda, Yoga, Jyotish, Tantra and other forms of classical Indian lore by his mentor, the Aghori Vimalananda. He is the author of over a dozen books and has served as Adjunct Faculty at the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, NM, and at Bastyr University in Kenmore, WA.

speaker

Yogacharya Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani

Director of the Centre for Yoga Therapy Education and Research (CYTER), and Professor of Yoga Therapy at the Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Pondicherry

Yogacharya Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani is Director of the Centre for Yoga Therapy Education and Research (CYTER), and Professor of Yoga Therapy at the Sri Balaji Vidyapeeth, Pondicherry (www.sbvu.ac.in). He is also Chairman of the International Centre for Yoga Education and Research at Ananda Ashram, Pondicherry, India (www.icyer.com) and Yoganjali Natyalayam, the premier institute of Yoga and Carnatic Music and Bharatanatyam in Pondicherry (www.rishiculture.in). He is son and successor of the internationally acclaimed Yoga team of Yogamaharishi Dr. Swami Gitananda Giri Guru Maharaj and Yogacharini Kalaimamani Ammaji, Smt Meenakshi Devi Bhavanani. In recent years he has travelled abroad 20 times and conducted invited talks, public events, workshops and retreats and been major presenter at Yoga conferences in the UK, USA, Italy, Czech Republic, South Africa, Germany, Switzerland, Malaysia, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. He is currently member of numerous expert committees of the Ministry of AYUSH including its National Board for Promotion of Yoga and Naturopathy, Scientific Advisory Committee & Standing Finance Committees of CCRYN, Technical Committee of the Yoga Certification Board, Expert Committees for Celebration of International Yoga Day and the National Yoga & Diabetes program. He is Consultant Resource Person for the WHO and its Collaborative Centre in Traditional Medicine (Yoga) at MDNIY, New Delhi.

speaker

Dr. Vinayachandra Banavathy

Director of Indica Yoga

Dr. Vinayachandra Banavathy is the Director of Indica Yoga, an Indic Academy platform that offers authentic, immersive and transformative yoga experiences across the world. He holds a PhD on psychological insights in the Vedas from Pondicherry University, besides Master’s in Sanskrit, English, Yogic Science and Applied Psychology. He is a dedicated teacher who travels across the world conducting courses, lectures and workshops on a unique blend of Yoga, Psychology and Sanskrit. His publications include a report on Standardization of Yoga Terminologies for WHO; a book co-edited with Dr. Anuradha Choudry titled ‘Perspectives on Indian Psychology’, published by Jain University Press, another book co-authored titled ‘Happiness: Indic Perspectives’, published by Development Foundation, besides a few articles, papers, booklets on Yoga, Indian Psychology, Culture and Spirituality.

speaker

Dr Prasanna Narasimha Rao

Professor Emeritus, SDM Haasan

Dr Prasanna Narasimha Rao in his distinguished career has been constantly involved in bettering the healthcare of the society in various positions and responsibilities. In his 27 years as head of the institute at SDMCA&H, Hassan he has been able to make it as an institute par excellence in Ayurveda education and healthcare. He has been instrumental in development and administration of five hospitals with three educational institutes of Ayurveda across Karnataka under the aegis of SDM Educational Society. Developed MoU with international universities, industries, institutes of national repute and NGOs in field of skill development and research. As Dean (Faculty of ISM) in Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, (RGUHS) Karnataka he pioneered in motivating and incubating perseverance for research and higher education among AYUSH fraternity. During his tenure, doctoral programme in ISM was introduced; besides it, financial assistance for research and publications were also initiated. By being part of advisory boards across universities, he has enhanced the quality of education in Ayurveda and healthcare. Globally, his expertise has been utilized by many international universities / organizations for development of Ayurveda. As Chairperson for AYUSH Accreditation Committee of National Accreditation Board for Hospital and Healthcare (QCI), he constantly strives to better the quality of healthcare services and to enhance safety standards across India.

speaker

Dr. Latha Venkataram

OBGYN, Rangadore Hospital

Dr. Latha is one of the few doctors in India, who is specially qualified and trained in Obstetric Medicine. She has extensive experience in Medical disorders in Pregnancy (high risk pregnancy) both in United Kingdom and India. Dr. Latha has received MRCOG (United Kingdom, 1992) & MRCP (Dublin, 1994).She has also been awarded the fellowship of RCOG (FRCOG). Dr. Latha is one of the first in India to have combined clinics for medical disorders in pregnancy like Diabetes & Pregnancy clinic, recurrent pregnancy loss clinic. She is a consultant in Sagar Chandramma Hospitals, and leading OBGYN in Rangadore Hospital.

speaker

Vinay Varanasi

Storyteller & Artist

Vinay Varanasi calls himself The Jack of All Trades. An architect by day, Vinay has been in the field of architectural and design education. He set up a start-up that looks into ways of adding value into the way architecture is taught. They conduct immersion programs which has been their flagship focus in terms of taking architects and designers on rural journeys, and exposing them to how our design is present in the grassroots and the complicated layers around this. Vinay also studied design education with a focus on how to design better education. Vinay does not think he is a storyteller per se, because he does not have the boxes to check, saying he has formally learned it. His strong interest in all things Puranic goes back to as long as he can remember, and I think the explanation comes in terms of both storytelling - orally and visually - comes through art. Vinay wants to create an experience for people, such that they leave with a feeling; neither they have to leave with facts nor do they have to remember anything. Vinay also writes lyrics and a few pallavis.

speaker

Vivek Sadasivam

Carnatic Musician

Vivek Sadasivam is a Carnatic singer who began learning music at the age of five under his grandfather and grand-aunt in Kolkata. He comes from the direct Shishya Parampara of Shri Muthuswami Dikshitar. His great-grandfather Shri Ananthakrishna Iyer learnt under Shri Ambi Dikshitar who happens to be the great grand-nephew of Shri Muthuswami Dikshitar. After being in Kolkata for generations, the family moved to Bangalore. Vivek continues to learn under his father and under Shri Rudrapatnam Thyagarajan and Shri Sanjay Subramanyam. Prior to taking up music full-time, Vivek pursued an engineering degree and also worked for a few years. However, he decided to dedicate himself to music thoroughly and has been performing for the past fifteen to twenty years.

speaker

Dr Selvamurthy

President, Amity Science, Technology & Innovation Foundation

Dr Selvamurthy is a Distinguished Scientist and served as a Chief Controller, Research & Development (Life Sciences & International Cooperation) at DRDO. He is presently working with Amity University as President of Amity Science, Technology and Innovation Foundation and Director General for Amity Directorate of Science and Innovation. He is spearheading the research and development activities for the health and wellbeing of the armed forces.

speaker

Dr Deepa Prakash

Food and Nutrition Scientist, Kadamba Foundation

Dr Deepa Prakash is a Scientist at Kadamba, an organization working on Green Nanoscience, Functional Foods and Allied Sciences. She is also Principal Consultant at Anna Brahma Consultancy. Deepa also works on IoT and AI in food industry, medical sector and agriculture from Atusya Technologies. She has earlier worked as a Scientist at CSIR-CFTRI. She has got her doctoral degree from Mysore University.

speaker

Sudha Ragunathan

Carnatic Musician

Sudha Ragunathan is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, singer and composer. She was conferred the Kalaimamani award by the Government of Tamil Nadu in 1994, Padma Shri (2004) and Padma Bhushan (2015) by the Government of India, and Sangeetha Kalanidhi by Madras Music Academy in 2013. Trained under Dr. ML Vasanthakumari in the gurukula style, it involved considerable amounts of listening to the teacher and other practitioners to absorb their style and oeuvre.

speaker

Dr Jayashree S Bhat

Audiologist, Speech Language Pathologist, Manipal University

Dr Jayashree S Bhat is an Audiologist, Speech Language Pathologist and Swallowing Therapist at Manipal University. She is also the Founder principal of Taranga School for the Hearing Impaired Shimoga and Bhadravathi. Guided more than 60 PG dissertations related to Audiology Speech Language Pathology. She received a grant to conduct a study on “Pranayama and voice related quality of life among teachers” by SATYAM Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, 2015. Some of her notable work on Pranayama are “Immediate effects of “Ujjayi Pranayama” on aerodynamic, acoustic and self perception parameters of voice in professional voice use; and Effect of Bhramari Pranayama on the Acoustic and Aerodynamic Parameters of Voice in Normophonic Females.

speaker

Dr R Rangan ji

Vedic Scholar

Dr. R.Rangan ji is a man of wisdom and simplicity. He was awarded Yoga-Vidya-Varidhi, a doctoral degree in Yoga from S-VYASA University, Bangalore. He is a master of Vedas, Vedic Sanskrit, Upanishads and epics. His main inspiration is Sri Rama, whom he calls as his friend, philosopher and guide. He learnt Advaita-Vedanta in a traditional way from Sri Sivarama Krishna Shastri. Then he learnt the texts of Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita schools by himself out of interest. He learnt Vyakarana and Sahitya from Sri Thirumalachari, Bhakti- shastras like Bhagavatam from Sri Sri Krishnapremi swamigal, Sri Balakrishna Sastri and Sri Hariji. He has written a commentary of Brahmasutra in Sanskrit. Uniqueness of this commentary is that it is based on Rig-Veda and Ramayana, while other commentaries are based mainly on Upanishads. He wrote thousands of research articles on Ramayana, Mahabharata, Vedas, Vedanta and Yoga before the age of twenty seven. He has published papers related to traditional Vedic education in the International Journal of Yoga.

speaker

Dr A Subramanian

Director of Adhyatma Yoga Academy, Bangalore

Dr A Subramanian (Subbu ji)- an Electronics & Communication Engineer, had shifted to the human engineering of Yoga- Spirituality inspired by Masters like Swami Vivekananda. He has been a well acclaimed teacher of Classical Yoga for nearly two decades. A sadhaka since childhood, he is an initiated disciple of Swami Atmasthanandaji Maharaj of Ramakrishna Math, an ardent devotee of Sri Sri Krishnapremi Maharaj and one of the senior most students of the Yoga Scientist Dr H R Nagendra Guruji. After obtaining his Master’s degree in Yoga from S-VYASA Yoga University and Doctorate in Yoga- Spirituality from Hindu University of America, he had served as a Senior Faculty at S-VYASA for about twelve years. Hundreds of Yoga Teachers trained by him are successfully teaching across the globe. He has developed unique Yoga Modules based on classical techniques of Yoga to benefit people of all walks of life like SMART Yoga (Stress MAnagement through Relaxation Techniques of Yoga), Energy Engineering and Krida Yoga (Yoga in a play way method for Kids). Currently the Director of Adhyatma Yoga Academy at Bengaluru, Subbu ji also teaches at institutions including Indica Yoga, Pyramid Spiritual Science Academy and at the Yoga Department of the Bangalore University. Renowned for his fun filled discourses and workshops; he had moderated a popular interview series with well accomplished stalwarts in the field of Yoga called “KAAPI WITH YOGI”. He has authored a few books namely Pranayama - The Energy Engineering & All the Best!