An Indian-origin schoolboy who is under-11 United Kingdom national yoga champion has been titled the ‘British Indian of the Year’ in the young achiever category for his accomplishments in the field.
An 8-year-old Ishwar Sharma in both individual and artistic yoga has won a series of titles and in June a gold medal at the World Student Games 2018 in Winnipeg, Canada representing Great Britain.
“I believe I am competing with myself rather than anyone else, which makes me challenge myself to do the difficult postures,” said the schoolboy, who studies at St Michael’s Preparatory School in Kent.
“I will always be a student of yoga and am deeply grateful to my teachers for the wisdom they have shared with me,” he said.
At the sixth annual awards ceremony held in Birmingham last week, he was named British Indian of the Year in the Young Achiever category.
“We feel proud of his achievements and it has improved his academic performance. We want him to inspire adults and other children with this lifestyle habit,” said his father Vishwanath, himself a keen yoga practitioner.
He and I perform Vedic Yoga with choreography to music, which includes Hatha Yoga postures with Acroyoga and artistic yoga, he said.
The family is primitively from Mysore, home to world-renowned yoga gurus, and travel to the region yearly.
“He rejuvenates himself there and would love to stay for more time and get yoga training with the teachers there,” added Vishwanath.
His son has performed in more over 100 events across the UK and worldwide and among his many skills is the ability to chant up to 50 ‘shlokas’ from the ‘Vedas’ and ‘Bhagavad Gita’.
At Turkey in May, he won a gold medal at the Euro Asian Yoga Championships and has as well performed
“Ishwar is determined to spread awareness about yoga and its benefits, especially among children,” his father said.
By Sowmya Sangam
