On 4th December, 2018, we conducted a session on “Brain Games” by Ms. Bharti Iyer. She is a yoga exponent and conducts these games for children as well as adults. Ms. Iyer explained how these brain games help us remain smart and alert. It is important to practice these games as they help us keep diseases like Alzheimer at a distance. She conducted exercises for the right and left hemispheres of the brain. Students were also given some games to play to check how fast their brain works. The session concluded with playing the music to remove negative energy. After the session, the students felt energetic and had a calm feeling. It was a wonderful session!

1st December is celebrated as World AIDS Awareness Day and various programmes are conducted all over the world in an effort to create awareness about this dreaded disease. We also encouraged our students to present a skit on the topic with the objective of making more and more students aware about the situation in the society. Students took up the role of writing the script and presenting the various characters. It was a wonderful team effort and helped us in understanding how the society still views AIDS and patients suffering from AIDS and suggested ways to change the attitude towards them.

As part of our continuing efforts to maintain physical and mental well-being of our students, they also have regular interactions with our counsellor, Ms. Yvette Lee. She conducts group sessions as well as individual session where students meet with Ms. Lee to share any issues they may have as far as their personal life is concerned.

Sadhguru says, “Health is not just being disease-free. Health is when every cell in your body is bouncing with joy”.

Pillai College of Education and Research, New Panvel still believes in the old saying, ‘Healthy mind in a healthy body’. We not only believe in it but also consciously try to create opportunities for our students and staff to inculcate mental and physical well-being.

To celebrate the 4th International Day of Yoga on 21st June, 2018, preparations began well in advance at Pillai College of Education and Research, New Panvel. Students were given training on breathing and stretching exercises every day for a week starting from 16th June, 2018.

On 21st June, we began our session with a prayer and breathing exercises. We followed the official literature released for International Yoga Day and tried to adhere to many of the asanas. Students were also given a session on the benefits of various pranayams and asanas, the do’s and don’ts of yoga was explained too. As required by the Higher Education authorities, a video of the International Yoga Day was uploaded on YouTube. The benefits of Yoga for the mind and the body are not limited to few weeks or any special day but has long term effects. We have tried to continue with the pranayams, breathing exercises and stretching exercises for the students.