The first ever PGI workshop on Yoga and Yoga therapy was held in three phases in PGI, Chandigarh. The morning witnessed about 200 individuals who learnt the theory and practice of shatkarmas particularly highly demanding Gaj Karee and Vyagrakarni for which mr Savant had fasted for past 48 hrs. He demonstrated fountain like ejection of water from mouth using yogic practice and power. Later many people learnt Jal Neti and Vaman kriya from him. It was followed by Dr Rajvi Mehta’s demonstration of Iyengar Yoga asanas. This was followed by an excellent discourse on science of consciousness.

The academic session was inaugurated by Dr Jaideep Arya the Chief coordinator of Patanjali and also on Govt’s inter ministerial committee on Yoga education. Dr Anil Bhansali, Prof and Head of Endocrinology talked about importance of integrating ancient techniques with modern medicine for management of metabolic disorders. The plenary talk was given by Dr Sat Bir Khalsa from Harvard Univ, who gave an overview of yoga based research and its superior clinical outcome over excercise benefits and emphasised the self regulatory aspect of yoga which is not incorporated in western philosophy. This philosophical perspective was theorised by Dr Pankaj Srivastava in his talk who spoke about Raj yoga, Karma yoga and Gyan Yoga. Dr Rima Dada from AIIMS elaborated on the evidence based effect of Yoga with her data which showed gene based changes in patients of infertility and Depression

The panel discussion attracted overwhelming participation and all the questions were directed towards urgent need for integration of Yoga with modern medicine for the benefit of patients.