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14ymedio.com | Society

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  Mastery of the body, challenge to the spirit

Luz Escobar, Havana | November 24, 2015

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Elsa Hermida, creator of a program that is applied in the teaching of yoga throughout the country. (Light Escobar)

Topics

yoga , health

In the 1990s, when many Cubans chose to flee the country on a raft, Elsa Hermida found in the practice of yoga the best way to cope with the crisis that surrounded her. In the tall church on Calle Reina he met Professor Eduardo Pimentel, together with whom he embarked on a path where meditation and asanas (postures) became an inseparable part.

In the parish of Centro Habana, Elsa Hermida and Pimentel, who would be her romantic partner for years, helped create a program that to this day is applied in the teaching of yoga throughout the country. For a quarter of a century, this smiling woman with infinite patience has helped hundreds of people come closer to such a unique physical and spiritual discipline.

Today she runs a community center in her own home, where three times a week the room fills with people practicing postures and stretches.

At first, she says as she sips tea, it was necessary "to do intense outreach to demystify what yoga was." At that time, the concept "was identified with a religion," he says, and "they even associated it with fakirism." He speaks calmly, without anxiety, as if all the stress of everyday life would end as soon as he crossed the threshold of his home.

"We went through a very bad stage in which intolerance was very strong"

Now, Elsa Hermida recalls all the work they had to do to reduce the prejudices that existed in the academic environment. Pimentel toured the houses of cultures and universities, looking for receptive people who would support the practice. Lectures, demonstrations and workshops were held to explain what it was about and its usefulness. "The psychology faculty gave him a very good reception and the philosophy faculty too," he says.

In 1993, Elsa Hermida held some workshops for children in the church. Today some of them are doctors and in their consultations they recommend their patients "practice yoga for spinal problems". The proud professor believes that such advice has spread in the health sector, thanks to the fact that many "have information that did not reach those spheres before."

However, these years have not been just a sum of rewards. "We went through a very bad stage in which intolerance was very strong. It was a time of total irrationality." He believes that the most difficult moments were motivated by ignorance and adds: "We assumed that it could only be stopped by giving other information as well as small drops of water."

Among the results of this constant work was the creation of the Cuban Yoga Association in 1990. At first there was a fight for it to be legalized independently, but it was impossible. Although Elsa Hermida considers that this situation does not represent a great obstacle, because "that was not the idea" but that the main objective has been to spread knowledge about yoga "and that was fulfilled", she points out with satisfaction.

Today the number of people who practice the discipline in the country has increased

Last June, the Association celebrated World Yoga Day with two days of classes, workshops and conferences. Today the number of people who practice the discipline in the country has increased, not only in the capital, but also in provinces such as Matanzas, Holguín, Ciego de Ávila or Cienfuegos. "In Cárdenas, there is a beautiful group that teaches classes every week in some halls of the Presbyterian church," he says after a slow sip of tea.

In Cuba there are other lines in the practice of yoga that are of a devotional nature. However, Hermida considers that "when something is channeled towards a devotional approach, people are isolated", hence his intention that anyone "can take advantage of this line: the same if they are Catholic, Buddhist or atheist".

Every Thursday, Elsa Hermida travels to Matanzas in a bottle to work with patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's and dementia. He teaches arts and yoga workshops in conjunction with Dr. Jesus Renó to stop the development of these conditions. The sessions take place in the Palacio de Junco and the experience will also be extended to the Faculty of Medical Sciences of that city.

The work of the Association is not exclusively pedagogical, meditation retreats, demonstrations and seminars are also organized. Some of these retreats are promoted on TripAdvisor to attract foreigners interested in the practice. In the Guanajay prison, a project has been developed to alleviate the rigors of confinement by teaching inmates postures and meditation techniques.

Hermida explains that most of her students seek relief from physical ailments or depression. Many arrive trying to placate the anxiety caused by everyday problems. She says that one of her students arrived with herniated discs, cervical and lumbar. Two years after beginning the practice of yoga and after undergoing an MRI, her doctor exclaimed: "Whatever you are doing, keep doing it, because the change is total."

Most of those who attend yoga at Elsa Hermida's house are women between 35 and 50 years old

It also has students who come from the world of business and business administration. Elsa Hermida believes that in Cuba "there is a marked rate of depressed people, because when crises in society worsen, that is what happens." He often meets "people obsessed with elementary problems in life, like looking for something to cook every day."

She gives the example of one of her students who "before worked in biotechnology and is now a private entrepreneur, because she didn't pay her bill with her salary." The woman often tells him that after starting the classes she feels more in control of herself, "more centered."

Most of those who attend yoga at Elsa Hermida's house are women between 35 and 50 years old. "Women are very affected by stress," he considers, but he believes that the real reason for such a female presence in his room is that "they tend to be closer to disciplines that challenge the spirit." Finish the tea and smile knowingly.