The FINANCIAL — After three years of successful activities in Georgia, Edita Dilanyan, founder and director of Ananda Yoga Center, is going to create an Association of Yoga in Georgia and certify those who want to learn yoga professionally.
“This is the plan for the future. I would like to make a kind of chain. I want to certify people and offer them a place to work. Today our classes are still very professional but we cannot give out certificates unfortunately. Yoga is becoming more and more popular in Georgia. The demand for professional trainers will increase and by that time Ananda Yoga Center will be able to meet this new demand,” Dilanyan told The FINANCIAL.
Meanwhile, Ananda Yoga Center is represented in Georgia by two branches, one on Barnovi Street and the other on Kavtaradze Street, and offers different kinds of facilities to its Georgian customers. The Center has just celebrated its third anniversary with many surprises, offers and gifts for customers.
As part of the celebration, the Center has organized open days from 10-16 November, so anyone who has never tried yoga before can come and learn all about it, as well as receive a special gift – a welcome pack for three free sessions at Ananda. For its existing customers, Ananda continued its summer sale up until 10 November – offering an unlimited monthly ticket for GEL 99 plus two welcome packs for friends as a gift.
In addition, within the framework of the anniversary celebration, during the day of 11 November, Ananda held a yoga media event that was attended by representatives of the media, the main purpose of which was to promote healthy living. And in the evening there was a party held with the participation of Ananda Yoga Center’s teachers, along with surprises and gifts for clients.
“I can say with confidence that after 3 years yoga has now become popular and fashionable in Georgia. We brought yoga to Georgia, have created a trend and now have a new task – to direct people in the right way. We want to show them that yoga is not just about having a flat stomach, tight buttocks and a great body. Most of all it is about health, philosophy, self-awareness, and most importantly of all – harmony,” said Dilanyan.
“When I was first getting established, the Center was kind of an extreme project because nobody believed that yoga could become so popular in Georgia. But I can say that within the last two years yoga has become very famous, it has become kind of fashionable and we are very happy about that,” she added.
“When you do yoga it works on three levels – mental, physical and spiritual. When you start yoga you will feel yourself becoming addicted to it. It is like a good drug. The Kavtaradze studio was opened a year ago. In the first month we had about 100 students and now they number about 500. More ladies come to us than men – 70-80 percent of our customers are women,” she added.
Dilanyan also runs a yoga centre in Moscow, which she opened six years ago. She was born and raised in Tbilisi but in the ‘90s her family moved to Moscow. After visiting Tbilisi three years ago and seeing that the yoga market was not as popular as in Moscow, she decided to open a branch here.
“My first yoga centre was in Moscow. In Russia yoga has been very popular for about ten years. The difference between the Russian and Georgian markets is that in Russia people already knew what yoga was. But in Georgia it took time for people to understand what yoga was and why it was good as part of a healthy lifestyle. It is still taking time but I am seeing some very promising improvements. What makes Ananda special is its Indian trainers and the specific style that we offer,” said Dilanyan.
The progress made in the last three years at the Ananda Yoga Center has been gradual. First, it was only focusing on fitness, but soon other elements of this globally popular activity were being practiced in Georgia. For example, they recently started running weekend yoga tours to different parts of Georgia where participants, in addition to resting, learn the philosophy of yoga.
Weight loss and therapeutic yoga, which helps to treat back pain problems, are the most popular classes at Ananda Yoga Center, according to Dilanyan.
“Many people have back pain problems in Georgia, so we offer special classes for them, which are very popular. The biggest request from our customers in Georgia is for weight loss. This is the most frequently-made request, followed by those wanting help with their backs. In such cases they first need to visit a doctor and then come to us. A great deal of attention is given to the therapeutic programme on back pain relief, for which the Center’s masters use Iyengar Yoga. The most important thing in yoga is to do it regularly and to slowly improve your level,” she said.
As well as Iyengar, Ananda Yoga Center practices two other classic areas of Yoga – Hatha and Ashtanga (dynamic Hatha).
Ananda Yoga Center offers special programmes like corporate yoga classes for companies, in addition to yoga for pregnant women.
Ananda Yoga Center has also opened its doors to young customers. Kids’ yoga, intended for children aged from 6 to 12 years, entails classes lasting an hour and includes a variety of “asanas” (positions), like strengthening one’s posture, breathing practices and stretching.
“We have different levels to suit anyone who wants to practice yoga, so they can join us anytime. Starting from 5 year old children and finishing with 65 year old people we have a wide range of levels and varieties of yoga which all different ages of people can enjoy.
“Kids’ yoga helps with the concentration of thought, develops memory and makes for a healthy spine – three elements that are essential for children during adolescence. And kids like it. They practise different postures of animals, so it is also fun for them,” said Dilanyan.
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