Many flight attendants and pilots would count, among their job perks, the ability to travel and see the world. But for 78 new pilots and 300 new cabin crew members hired by Air India, there’s also yoga.
This year, new employee training begins with a daily 6:30 a.m. yoga class, The Economic Times reports.
“We have introduced yoga for the first time in our training module for pilots and cabin crew, as we believe that yoga brings in a sense of discipline as well as helps cope better with the stress of the job,” a senior Air India official told the Times. “This is true for each one of us.”
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi has made it a mission to promote yoga, sparking new initiatives throughout the country, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he inspired Air India’s decision to incorporate the practice into its training curriculum. In December, Indian officials started making moves to bring yoga to more than 600,000 schools, thousands of hospitals and police training centers, according to The Washington Post.
Modi, the force behind the United Nations’ upcoming International Yoga Day on June 21, credits his overall energy to his yoga practice.
“I am equally energetic from morning till night,” Modi told the public during a Google Hangout. “I guess the secret behind it is yoga and [breathing exercises]. Whenever I feel tired, I just practice deep breathing and that refreshes me again.”
