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VIDYA DESHPANDE
If you are looking for holistic body conditioning, forget your early morning walk, your treadmill and exercise routine. Instead take a class in rhythm martial art. This form of exercise-cum-martial art uses the fluid movement of dance forms, the stretches of exercises and the self-defence portions of various martial arts.
The result: You are not only fit, but fightingfit at that. Rashid Ansari, a well-known martial art exponent, has worked out this regimen into a class formula and will be soon dispensing it from Reebok's Club Excel aerobic studio. Ansari is an exponent in various forms of martial art, especially Taekwondo, T'ai Chi, Jijutsu and some other forms of Chinese martial arts. For the last 20 years, he has been teaching martial arts to students from his backyard studio in Delhi University. At the same time, Ansari has been involved with theatre groups helping them with choreography and movement. Ansari has been holding classes on movement for National School of Drama students regularly. He alsoused to offer similar lessons based onmovement at Studio Espirit, Panchsheel Park, which has exercise classes exclusively for working people.
``Rhythm martial art is not just exercise, it is also not just martial arts, instead it is a fairly fluid form with an aerobic routine rolled together with ballet movements and basic self-defence,'' says Ansari. A typical class which would start off with warm-ups and the exercises would include rhythmic stretching, pirouettes, deep stretches, and jumps, all done to some jazzy music. After the basic workout, Ansari has some two-man exercises in self-defence. ``These are very basic martial art steps which are a mixture of various forms,'' says Ansari. Ansari has put together defence tactics from not only Taekwondo and Jijutsu but also from a Brazilian martial art form called Kapuria. But it is not as if you can become an expert in martial arts after this class. But what you will definitely learn is how to fend off unexpected attacks like a wrist hold, a slap or ashove. ``It is very useful for everyone to learn to basic self-defence so that they can protect themselves or at least fend off an attacker till more help comes,'' says Ansari.
The self-defence portion can teach a person how to break out of a wrist lock, side-to-side evasive movements or any other such situation that may be encountered in day-to-day life. The course also has some bits of breathing exercises and other mind-relaxing methods like massage and acupressure techniques thrown in to make it a holistic experience, says Ansari. ``The basic idea is to make a person mentally and emotionally aware helping him or her to get a wider perspective and at the same time keeping the body active and fit,'' he says. ``Many times a corporate executive is not able to handle stress at work and home. Holistic exercises like this can help the executive cope better with stress. It is a simple routine that can make you feel rejuvenated,'' he says. For the moment, Ansari's classes are complimentary for aerobic students atthe Reebok studio as a test case. ``But we are planning to offer classes two to three times a week depending on the response from the crowd,'' says Ansari.
Rashid Ansari can be contacted on telephone at (011) 725 6435
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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This story was printed from Net Express located at http://www.expressindia.com. Net Express provides a portal to India, with news from The Indian Express and The Financial Express along with sites on travel and tourism, the entertainment industry, the power sector, the environment and much more.
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