Power yoga, the fitness mantra of Bollywood beauties

 In this age of treadmills and ab crunchers, Bollywood actresses like Kareena Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty and Kangana Ranaut are among those banking on power yoga to shed extra pounds and look picture perfect at all times.

New age fitness gurus and yoga teachers who train Bollywood stars say the benefits of power yoga - a fast-paced and strenuous variant of the traditional Indian fitness technique - are indeed rewarding.

Power yoga and fitness consultant Leena Mogre, who has trained the likes of Katrina Kaif, Kangana and Sameera Reddy among others, says celebrities are increasingly getting hooked to power yoga.

'Most celebrities go for power yoga, which is a dynamic form of the art. They are getting inclined towards it because the benefits are beautiful and it has spiritual, meditational and overall advantages,' Mogre told IANS.

'Suddenly everyone has realised the importance and the worth of this form, which is really good. It is great for the body and if a good combination of yoga and other exercises are adopted, the results are great,' she said.

Power yoga includes strenuous exercises and this trend started during the mid-1990s. The who's who of Bollywood now boast of having adopted the method to acquire a perfect figure.

'I am completely into yoga. I think yoga has changed my life. My morning yoga practice that I do for an hour-and-a-half every day is something that keeps me going,' said Kareena, whose toned body and size zero became the talk of the town.

'The day I don't do it, I feel that my day doesn't go well and I haven't completed a task that I had to do,' she added.

Shilpa, who has one of the best bodies in Hindi filmdom, is into yoga in a big way and even brought out a CD called 'Shilpa's Yoga', which was released in June 2008.

'Yoga keeps my mind, body and soul fit. I had a neck problem and suffered from chronic spondylitis. So I started practicing yoga. I took professional training and it really benefited,' the actress told.

'I don't believe in starving myself to remain thin. I eat well, work out and practise yoga to remain healthy. If you want to get peace for the mind, body and soul, yoga is the only answer,' she added.

While young actresses have opted for power yoga, yesteryear beauties like Hema Malini and Rekha stick to the traditional yoga form and maintain that the practice has helped them maintain their charisma and keeps health problems at bay.

'Apart from dancing, one thing that I swear by is yoga. That's the secret of my fitness,' Hema Malini had said.

Getting inspired by the well-toned frames and sculpted bodies of our cine stars, health-conscious Indians too are embracing yoga in a big way.

'I have been gymming for the past two years, but somehow didn't get the desired results. Then I came to know that most people from the film world are making yoga a part of their fitness regimes and getting desirable bodies. So I also took to yoga and do it regularly,' Pallavi Dasgupta, a 22-year-old MBA student, told.

Even yoga instructors are getting lucrative deals in terms of increased clientele.

'In the recent past, my clientele has increased. Especially young girls inspired by Kareena Kapoor, who lost oodles of weight owing to yoga, are coming to me to lose those extra kilos,' said Yatharth Sehajpal, a Delhi-based yoga instructor.

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