Pakistan's Baba Ramdev Shamshad Haider Says Yoga Began In Pakistan, Chants 'Allah Hoo' Instead Of 'Om' During Asanas

Yoga teacher Shamshad Haider is quickly achieving fame on Facebook and social media circles as Pakistan's answer to Indian guru Baba Ramdev.

Facebook/Yoga Pakistan

Before you assume that he is an outspoked spiritual leader who specialises in opining about various socio-political topics in which his skewed views are neither needed nor wanted, let us tell you that it's not the case.

Facebook/ Yoga Pakistan

The only similarity that Shamshad has with Ramdev is the fact that both of them are working to spread the message of Yoga, and specially the Patanjali school of the same.

Shamshad, who is based out of Pakistan's Punjab province, has been working on spreading the art of yoga throughout Pakistan for past so many years and runs a programme called Yoga Pakistan under which he provides both free (public) and paid (private) training in yoga.

Shamshad at Haridwar. Image: Facebook/Yoga Pakistan

Shamshad has travelled through India, Tibet and Nepal on his quest for studying the art of yoga. He also met his wife while teaching yoga and helped her overcome asthma before deciding to get married and start teaching together.

Facebook/ Yoga Pakistan

"Just like Baba Ramdev has taken to Yoga to each and every household in India, I want to spread yoga in Pakistan," he told in a recent story published in BBC Hindi.

For spreading the message of Yoga in a conservative Muslim country like Pakistan, he has centered his approach around the health benefits of yoga instead of aligning it with any specific religion. Last year a yoga centre run by one of his friends was burned to ground but that has not deterred Shamshad from his path.

Facebook/ Yoga Pakistan

When asked about the recent controversy in India surrounding Muslims objecting to encouraging of yoga in schools and Muslim leaders openly openly opposing the same, Shamshad says that the issue is entirely political and yoga should not be aligned to any religious thinking. He also states that Islam always encourages gathering of knowledge from any source and yoga falls under the same tenet.

In this Facebook video posted on his own page, he says that origins of yoga were in Pakistan's Multan area:

The BBC story also mentions that Shamshad uses 'Allah Hoo..' instead of 'Om...'  while doing certain asanas and he says that it makes the practitioner spiritually connected to god just like a sufi.