The ancient Indian yoga once banished from the country by a Communist leader is all set to make a home in the Kremlin next month when the new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev who practises the art, takes over.
Prodded by his wife Svetlana, President-elect Medvedev had joined the thousands of Russians eager to learn the Indian art of yoga.
He now takes pride in his ability to perform 'shirshasana', a headstand pose.
Former President Boris Yeltsin's tennis revolution had resulted in the birth of a whole constellation of Russian superstars like Kurnikova and Sharapova.
His successor, a Judo black belt holder and mountain skier Vladimir Putin gave boost to oriental martial arts and mountain skiing in the country and if the trend continues, Russia will soon be standing on its head, TV channel said.
"And if this trend is to continue under Medvedev, Russia will soon have more yoga schools than India," it observed.
Last year in an interview to magazine Medvedev, the then First Deputy PM looking after major social and health reforms had said "Little by little, I'm mastering yoga."
Yoga, he explained, helped him relax from the stress of work. "I can even stand on my head," Medvedev told a magazine last month.
In late sixties under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev the only Indian professor of yoga at the Moscow-based Institute of Physical Culture was asked to quit and the yoga department was closed due to its connection with Hindu religious practices.
Source: DDNEWS
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