Yoga is the source and essence of our culture, has its roots and flowers in every one of us in various dimensions. Yoga Patti Nanammal is a classic example of this profound wisdom; 99 year young Yoga Practitioner and Teacher.
Ms Savitha her granddaughter is our SNS, ECE, Student. This made our interview appointment very easy. With students when we discussed upon interview questions, mode various questions came and one common feature we all wondered was how she is able to perform yoga consistently at this age. With this wonderment and excitement, we approached the Ozone Yoga Center. We had a pleasant greeting from the family, then Yoga Patti came in to the room, her face was glowing with grace, draped in a simple sari with vibuthi in her forehead, she had no shake in her bodily movement. We thought of an interview in our mind initially but when she started to speak it became Sathsang.
Background and Early life
Yoga Patti, is an extremely healthy person, her voice is cool but clear, never she had used any glasses to read, she can thread a needle in no time, she has a photographic memory never misses a minute detail of events and ever stepped into a hospital for treatment. Till this day she practices yoga asanas, meditation, and pranayama, without a single day break. Born in 1920 in British Era in a family Zammen Kalaiyapuram she moved to Ganapathi after marriage, She learned yoga from her very young age from her Grandfather, Mr.Mannarswamy. She was a master in martial arts, she won first prize in District level Silambattam Contest when she was 14 years young. She got married to a Siddha Medicine Practitioner. Her Mother-in-law felt strange-looking at the yogic practices of Nanammal. One day her Mother-in-law had a hamstring and now yogic practices of Nannamal came handy which healed the injury and from that day the entire family practiced yoga.
Life Style
She gets up very early, uses neem stick for brushing and starts doing her yogic practices, she does all her work by herself. Her food consists of mostly millets, vegetables and Sanjeevini(traditional organic multigrain porridge). She does not touch sugar or any artificial flavors’, consumes only honey and jaggery. She says in her time everyone in the village knew silambatam, kabadi, swimming and had millets as chief food. She made an interesting observation about pranamam(breathing yogic practice)said that helped people to play kabadi well, play Nadaswaram with a deep breath and take deep dives into the water.
Family
She has 6 Children and 12 Grandchildren and 6 Great Grand Children, all of these pregnancies are natural deliveries and we happened to meet some of them(of course Ms. Savitha is a national level Yoga winner), all of them are performing yoga and follows an organic diet. The kids are given Kadalamittai,elurundai, and other natural sweets/snacks. It was an amazing picture to see grandmother, son, and grandson performing yoga together.
Mission and Work
She teaches Yoga to this day and has also created Yoga Teachers globally. Her mission is to spread yoga as a culture which should be taught within a family. Her son Mr.V.Balakrishana is now actively practicing and teaching Yoga in their Ozone yoga center since 1971 Her house is filled with herbal plants and students who come to learn yoga.
Most of the students were girls there; she spoke in detail of women health. In particular Pregnancy can be a simple and painless process if women can blend their yogic practices with proper diet. In pranayam we hold our breath in various forms and push it fast out, which is the key for natural pregnancy. All her family members stand as an embodiment of health. She spoke in detail of herbs and there uses, she said many Europe countries may be clean with lush green but only our country/culture has a plethora of herbs and know secrets of its usages.
Awards and reorganizations
She is invited to almost all countries and associations of the world. She is quite shy to speak of all these awards she has got, with a smile says” I accept these awards as a love of people and it would also spread awareness of yoga”. While receiving Nari Punskar, Priminister Modi was impressed by her and honored her with a separate private dinner.
She had received hundreds and thousands of awards, just a few to mention.
- 2016- National Nari Shakti Puraskaraward received from former President of India Pranab Mukherjee
- 2017- Government of Karnataka‘s Yoga Ratna award
- 2018- Country’s third highest civilian award the Padma Shri
- 2018- Rotary club‘s Lifetime achievement award
Message – She is a woman who had seen almost a Century. Time slipped away the Sathsang was coming to its closure, I did a namaskaram and touched her feet, she firmly got my hands looked into my eyes and said, ”Son, what you want my blessing? Just do yoga, my blessing is always there for you’.
Student Team – Ms. Savitha( Civil), S.L.Priyanka, Savitha, P.Priyanka (ECE), Sathish (Mech)
Staff Coordinator/Writer – R.N.Raja Ravi Shankar, AP/English- SCD
Department of SCD 