This Sunday morning, more than 1,500 yoga enthusiasts turned out on the National Mall in the US capital to practice yoga for the 5th International Yoga Day. Besides US a series of Yoga Day programs were performed in Erbil, Bolivia, Laos, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Nepal, South Africa, Paris and other South American nations.
The idea of International Day of Yoga was first proposed by PM Modi, during his speech at the UN General Assembly on 27 September 2014. Today 21st June is observed as International Yoga Day.
Excerpt from PM Modi’s speech at the UNGA:
“Yoga is an invaluable gift of India’s ancient tradition. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help in well being. Let us work towards adopting an International Yoga Day.”
— Narendra Modi, UN General Assembly
Yoga’s fervor influence over US:
This is a great attempt towards reclaiming India’s heritage that has been lately diminishing. This day is now marked as India’s endeavors towards show casing its legacy through public yoga events all over the globe. In fact US has become the largest yoga- practicing nation outside India. This is astounding because in the US certain fundamentalist communities have raised objections to yoga teachings in school, seeing it as a “foreign religious influence”.
According to Yoga Journal, more than 36 million people (around 12 per cent of the population) practice Yoga in the US where it was first introduced by Swami Vivekananda in 1883.
“This reflects an overwhelming adoption of yoga by the American people,” India’s ambassador to the US Harsh Shringla said in his remarks at Sunday’s event organised by the Indian embassy in association with several other Indian-American organisations, yoga and health associations. Along with Yoga, an Indian vegetarian food festival was also organised, promoting and preaching benefits of plant based diet in a rather meat eating country.
Modi himself in a prolific yoga enthusiast. He encourages and appreciates Yoga celebrations across all continents. He believes in a world where ideologies of hate can divide brothers, Yoga stands as a unifying force. He actively posts videos teaching his followers various asanas such as the Setu Bandhasana, Surya Namaskar, Shalabhasana etc .
It is a striking achievement for India as its national heritage gains universal importance.
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