This 21st June, 2021, the world is celebrating its 7th International Yoga Day and our nation was addressed by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on Monday morning, as he said, “Today, when the whole world is combating the coronavirus disease pandemic, yoga remains a ray of hope.” This year’s theme for the yoga is ‘Yoga for Wellness’.
The Prime Minister also launched a mYoga app that will be available worldwide. “In collaboration with WHO, India has taken another important step. We will be launching the mYoga app which will have yoga training videos in different languages for people across the world. This will help us achieve our ‘One World, One Health’ motto,” he added.
Elaborating this year’s theme, PM Modi wrote on Twitter: “The theme this year is ‘Yoga for Wellness’, which focuses on practising Yoga for physical and mental wellbeing.”
The idea of International Yoga Day was conceived by PM Modi, who proposed the concept on September 27, 2014, during his speech at the UN General Assembly. The resolution to adopt June 21 as International Yoga Day was introduced in the UN by India’s Ambassador, Ashoke Kumar Mukherji. The resolution had received support from 177 nations, the highest number of co-sponsors for any UN Resolution and ever since, we are celebrating health and fitness.
Celebrating the 7th international yoga day, the Ministry of Culture has decided to celebrate the International Day of Yoga at 75 cultural heritage locations across the country. .
Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism, Prahlad Singh Patel, performed yoga at Delhi’s Red Fort on June 21, at 7 am, while other senior officials conducted yoga camps at various monuments and forts, including the Agra Fort, Shanti Stupa in Ladakh, Ellora Caves in Maharashtra and Nalanda in Bihar. Considering the pandemic, the number of participants for the sessions had been restricted to 20 at each site..
PM said, “When Covid emerged, no country was prepared. At this time yoga became a source of inner strength. Yoga helps in self-discipline, it inculcated faith in people that they could fight this virus. Frontline warriors told me that they made yoga a tool in fighting the virus.”
Modi in his speech put emphasis on the reasons why one should practice yoga and add it to one’s daily routine. He said,“For most of the countries of the world, Yoga Day is not their age-old cultural festival. In this difficult time, people in so much trouble could forget it, ignore it. But on the contrary, people’s enthusiasm for yoga has increased, love for yoga has increased.”
Yoga often gives us a way of holistic health, he said, adding that several studies are taking place around the world on the benefits of yoga on our body and immunity.
“Yoga not only focuses on physical health but also mental health. During Covid, several studies are going on, researching the benefits of yoga on our body and immunity. We see that yoga and breathing exercises are being done at the beginning of online classes. This is helping children in fighting the virus,” PM said.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, Assam’s Chief Minister took to his Twitter and shared highlights from a yoga session along with Hon Ministers and MLAs at the campus of NHPC at Gerukamukh in Dhemaji today. He tweeted, “Amid the Covid pandemic, Yoga, which is India’s invaluable contribution to the world, boosts immunity, energy and positivity. We’re grateful to Hon PM Sri Narendra Modi for taking the message of Yoga to the world. Yoga should become integral to our daily lives. Along with ensuring good health, it helps us attain good mental health as well. It gives us peace & contributes to making of a good society.” He briefly mentioned how the youth who are under the influence of drugs should embrace Yoga to overcome their addiction. “Youth should embrace yoga and reap its benefits. Some of our youth, who are under the bad influence of drugs, should also embrace yoga. Under Assam Yoga Prakalpa, yoga centres have been established in development blocks all over the state”, he tweeted.
Throughout the country, people are today celebrating health and good vibes with yoga. Several ministers and famous celebs shared such similar posts from their yoga workout session and motivated everyone to follow such healthy habits for a better life. Yog guru Swami Ramdev in his ashram held yoga session to spread awareness and benefits of yoga for one’s mind and body. Yoga can be performed by everyone it has no age limits, it simple and easy to perform but delivers a big impact in our lives.
The etymology of the word yoga lies its root deep down in the Indian history. Yog’’s origin can be traced to northern India over 5,000 years ago. The word yoga was first mentioned in ancient sacred texts called the Rig Veda. The Vedas are a set of four ancient sacred texts written in Sanskrit. The word ‘Yoga’ is derived from the Sanskrit root ‘Yuj’, meaning ‘to join’ or ‘to yoke’ or ‘to unite’. As per Yogic scriptures the practice of Yoga leads to the union of individual consciousness with that of the Universal Consciousness, indicating a perfect harmony between the mind and body, man & nature. To this, one can conclude that,
“Yoga is not a work-out it is a work-in, and this is the point of spiritual practice to make us teachable to open up our hearts and focus our awareness so that we can know what we already know and be who we already are.”
