Folk Fitness, India’s first holistic fitness concept, is in Siliguri town. For the first time in Northeast India, a demo class on Folk Fitness was held at the Shiksha Academy in the town on 9 June.

Folk Fitness first started in Pune in Maharashtra and is gradually spreading its wings to other parts of India. It is a high intensity fitness workout that combines folk dances from across India with music.

It is a revolutionary choreographed group workout routine blended with a tinge of ethnicity that celebrates the zest of traditional India. It has been accredited by the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America and Fitness and Sports Science Association among others.

“We brought together more than 1,000 folk dance styles and choreographed them to Indian music, since there is a section that doesn’t like English music,” says Aarti Pandey, the co-founder, Folk Fitness.

Folk Fitness is basically a daily routine exercise with Indian Folk songs for all aged people too. It is basically a one-hour session, divided into six different segments such as meditation, warm up, upper body workout, lower body workout, cardio exercise and cool down. Meditation is done with slow classical music for 2 minutes 30 seconds, followed by warm-up, upper body workout, lower body workout and cardio exercise on fast Indian folk music for 8 minutes each and lastly comes the cool-down where the body relaxes on slow music.

Prerona Sinha, the trainer for Folk Fitness, is a trained classical dancer and she also has training on Folk Fitness from Pune. “My dream is to train many people and spread Folk Fitness in different parts of Northeast India,” Ms Sinha says.

The around 15 students in the demo class said they all enjoyed the one-hour session and that they would surely want to join the classes soon.

“Most importantly, being firmly rooted in India’s rich culture of folk dance, Folk Fitness stands apart and upright from all the other fitness programmes. Drawing upon countless dances that have been performed in the land for centuries, Folk Fitness promises to honour the rich history of its creators, while simultaneously enhancing the overall health and fitness of all who participate,” says Ms Pandey.

While enrolment is going on, classes will start at the Indian Idol Academy at Punjabi Para from 1 July.