Oriented on making people closer

Sunday, May 21. It would seem that an ordinary spring day on the eve of the summer heat. And yet it was not quite ordinary, because it was the first day of Wellness in the Turkmen capital. The unusual event was organized by members of the parent committee of the Ashgabat International School, as well as high school students and volunteers.

At the entrance, guests were greeted by tables full of a variety of goods: sports equipment, healthy food, eco-cosmetics, candles, books on psychology - in general, there was not a single corner that was not related to wellness, health and well-being. Visitors also had the opportunity to rent a bike to stretch, enjoy the fresh air or compete with friends.

The Ambassador of India, Vidhu Pithambaran Nair, made an opening speech in the gym of the school, who spoke about the Indian philosophy of the unity of man with nature, their harmonious coexistence and purification of the mind with the help of yoga.

As a continuation of the event, the guests attended a session with an invited life coach, or, more simply, a professional adviser. Coaching is a type of psychological counseling that combines elements of psychotherapy and coaching.

Next, the guests had a choice between 3D fitness and four types of yoga at once: classical, hatha, fly and kundalini. What is the difference?

With classical yoga, everything is clear. Fly yoga is a type of yoga using special suspended hammocks, i.e. literally "in the air". Kundalini and hatha yoga are among the most popular trends today, although they appeared in the 5th-6th centuries. Hatha yoga is a system that combines physical exercises and psychological techniques to calm the mind. And in kundalini, more attention is paid not to the physical aspect of development, but to the mental one, more precisely, to raising the spiritual energy from the lower chakra upwards.

— We thought that it would be interesting for many people to just try this or that activity for 20 minutes and decide for themselves what they would like to do, what they like. Turkmenistan is a dynamically developing country, and the population pays more and more attention to health: people walk more, mass bike rides, health days, sports marathons and promotions are held, - Aigul Davlieva, one of the organizers of Wellness Day says.

— We are happy to promote new ideas. The reason why we started all this is because people have increased anxiety lately. The sources of excitement are different: natural disasters, the consequences of a pandemic, stress at work ... In this regard, we wanted to give people the opportunity to relax, teach them new skills and techniques that they can use to relax, get rid of stress, - Aigul continues. - The date was also not chosen by chance: exactly one month later, on June 21, the world will celebrate International Day of Yoga, and today's event, as it were, starts the countdown to the holiday in honor of one of the oldest spiritual practices.

After a warm-up and good stretching, physical relaxation, a mini-lecture on neurographics awaited the visitors. The speaker was Byagul Atamuradova. She told the audience about a relatively new direction in psychology, which appeared about ten years ago. As the name implies, neurographics is a graphical method of organizing thinking, as well as transforming one’s own state and attitude to a problem without words, only “drawing” the problem while thinking about it.

Maya Esenova, a visiting psychologist with significant experience, continued the topic of understanding human thinking. Her speech was dedicated to mental health: "How our emotions affect the feeling of happiness, what we can do to feel better and how our hormones are involved." The guests liked the session, and after it, many approached the psychologist for advice and mini-consultations.

After talking about psychology, the visitors again went for relaxation: hatha yoga, kickboxing, zumba and meditation. When leaving, everyone took with them some new knowledge, experience, someone else and purchases, but most importantly, everyone was really able to relax and get rid of stress. And at the end of a busy day, a cool spring rain fell, as if enveloping the city with a light atmosphere of calm.

Saparguly MAKHTUMOV

Photo: author