BURLINGTON, MA—New England Yoga experts Vijaya Upadrasta, Dev Lingadevaru, Malvika Sharma and Jay Gupta, will host a two-hour Yoga session to kick-off the 10th Annual Health, WEllness and Fitness Expo on Aug. 18, 2024 at Burlington Marriott Hotel in Burlington, MA.
The event is free to all attendees, but you must pre-register. To register for free, please click here.
To watch a 11-minute video interview with Jay Gupta, please click here, or on the image below.
During peak of COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers faced tremendous pressure and increased risk of mental health problems, including trauma. That’s when a team of researchers and doctorate students from Antioch University, Harbor Homes and University of Puerto Rico teamed up with Yoga Therapist Jay Gupta to study the effectiveness of an 8-session yoga intervention. Participants completed measures of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), anxiety, depression and insomnia at baseline, mid-intervention and post-intervention. Results were exciting. Researchers found statistically significant reduction in all the four studied symptoms with an eight-session telehealth RxRelax Therapeutic Yoga intervention.
While mental illness can affect anyone, young adults are disproportionately affected in the US. According to National Institute of Health 2021 data, prevalence of mental illness is highest amongst young adults aged 18 to 25 (33.7%) compared to adults aged 26 to 49 years (28.1%).
“While the US healthcare industry relies heavily on psychotherapy and pharmacological interventions, people are increasingly taking advantage of health practices like yoga for its clinically documented efficacy, safety and accessibility.” said Jay Gupta, Faculty Chief of RxRelax and President of YogaCaps, Inc. He added the importance of yoga as part of a daily health routine and applauds INE for promoting a comprehensive approach to its Health Expo each year.
The 10th annual Health, Fitness and Wellness Expo will begin at 9 am on August 18, 2024 with a team of yoga experts from New England area. Team is comprised of Vijaya Upadrasta, Dev Lingadevaru, Malvika Sharma and Jay Gupta.
Vijaya Upadrasta, MD will lead with an invigorating RxRelax therapeutic yoga session. Then, team members will follow with a carefully crafted combination of asan (postures), yoga nidra (deep
relaxation) and dhyan (meditation) practices to help you support your own physical and mental health.
Dr. Upadrasta will start her session promptly at 9:00. So please make sure you secure your spot by 8:50 am. All practices will be adapted to ensure attendees can participate, regardless of experience or ability. The day-long event is free to all attendees, but registration is required. Please follow this link to register:
Dr. Upadrasta is a primary care physician working at Dartmouth- Hitchcock clinic in Manchester, NH for the past 20 years, and practicing yoga for the past 12 years. She observes that it helps her with stress
relief, flexibility and work-life balance.
During an integrative medicine conference, she learned about the RxRelax Seated Therapeutic Yoga instructor training for health care professionals. She joined the program to see if she could help her patients, especially with anxiety, mobility and balance. She uses the yoga training in a number of applications. She incorporates discussions at her primary care practice, as well educating patients about research proven benefits of yoga. She has also led seated therapeutic yoga classes through YogaCaps, Inc. at Keystone Hall, an inpatient substance abuse rehabilitation facility, at the Merrimack Senior Center
and at Catholic Medical Center (CMC). She continues to teach telehealth yoga classes at this time on a regular basis. Additionally, she provides yoga guidance for health-focused special events like “October in the Orchards” to support persons with the experience of cancer.
Dr. Upadrasta started a fall prevention clinic at CMC outpatient rehabilitation about 10 years ago where she does comprehensive evaluation and treatment of people with balance problems and recurrent falls along with physical and occupational therapists. She is also part of teaching faculty for Geisel school of Medicine educating Medical students, Residents and Nurse practitioner students. Dr. Upadrasta is recognized as a Top Doctor by Castle Connolly and earned the Exceptional Women in Medicine distinction. She has also been honored by VolunteerNH and by YogaCaps, Inc. for her dedicated and skilled yoga service to health-vulnerable populations.
Dev Lingadevaru has been a Rajayogi for the last 33 years. He started his spiritual path with the Brahma Kumaris during his young student life back in India. He has not only learnt the art of meditation but also makes it easy for others to learn and experience. He teaches and facilitates workshops in positive thinking, changing anger to peace, managing stress and many other self-development classes.
By profession, Dev is a Software Engineer working at one of the leading financial institutions in Boston, USA.
Born and raised in Bangalore, India, Dev has a passion to bring positive energy into the lives of many and make the community value based.
Malvika Sharma, LLM, ECYT-200, was born and raised in a family of Ayurveda and Yoga practitioners in New Delhi, India. She started practicing Yoga at an early age of 5. She has received yoga training from the scholars of Vedic Gurukul and Bhartiya Yog Sansthan in New Delhi. Her primary areas of practice and studies have been in Hatha & Kundalini Yoga including Pranayama, meditation, and Yoga philosophy. In
the U.S., she earned RYT-200, Reiki Level 2, and Yin Yoga certifications. She strongly believes yoga to be
a lifelong study and thus, continues to educate herself on Yoga Anatomy, Yoga Sutras & Philosophy, and Ayurveda.
She has taught yoga for more than 7 years in the U.S., for over 5,000 hours, and trained more than 40 yoga teachers. In 2022, the Hindu Swamsewak Sangh in Westford, MA felicitated her for promoting and teaching yoga in the New England area.
Jay Gupta RPh, 340B ACE, MTM Specialist, C-IAYT is the President of RxRelax and YogaCaps, Inc. YogaCaps (short for “yoga capsules”) is one of the oldest and largest free therapeutic yoga program for persons with chronic health conditions. RxRelax educates healthcare professionals about evidencebased yoga techniques and provides certification and continuing education credits that empowers use
of these valuable “yoga capsules” in their practice settings. He is the Faculty Chief for RxRelax Seated Therapeutic Yoga certification and co-producer of a number of DVDs and CDs. His yoga protocols have been included in several research studies and shared in hospitals and other health settings across the USA. An internationally certified yoga therapist, Jay began his yoga immersion in India in 1983 and has been scientifically exploring the depths of yoga since then. He uses yoga as a tool for DePrescription and participants have been able to safely reduce or eliminate a number of medications.
Jay also serves as a member of the NH Health & Human Services Oversight Subcommittee on Alzheimer’s Disease and Other Related Dementia, a member of the Board of Directors for New Futures, Inc., a Steering Committee member for Hepatitis Free Northern New England and a regular panelist for Protect Our Care. He has also served as Medical Advisory Panel member for Creda Health, as a guest lecturer for the UMASS Chan Medical School and Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing. He has been recognized by Cardinal Health, the National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations, Next Generation Pharmacists/Pharmacy Times, Parata Systems, the New Hampshire Business Review and
VolunteerNH for innovation, excellence in integrative methods and reduction of problematic
polypharmacy.
