YOGA
Our era is typically characterised by distressed people with no health or happiness. Lifestyle changes in all spheres of the daily routine including sleep cycles, food habits, constant sitting posture, and nature of work have all given humans a huge load of illnesses. We hear people relentlessly complain about back pain, neck pain and the like. Headaches, depression, insomnia have all today words unfamiliar to none. Since problems are many, we think that we need to run to different places to solve each problem. This makes us feel that getting out of our problems is so arduous that we’d rather stay with them.
Let’s remind ourselves of this boon in disguise – ‘Yoga’. When nothing else seems to help us, Yoga and Ayurveda come to our rescue. Yoga, is commonly misunderstood to be merely a method of physical exercise to achieve fitness/weight loss. However, it is something much beyond. Yoga is a technique which helps us connect to the self, and to the supreme. It is beyond religions, and beyond the mere physical being. Yoga features an important role in Indian culture, as “Yoga sutra” written by Patanjali, or as a separate school of thought called “Yoga Darsana”. There are several types of Yoga, of which Hatha Yoga is most famous in today’s context. Today, this term is used to specifically differentiate postural Yoga from meditative Yoga. Regular practice of Yoga could enrich us with good health, happiness, and peace.
Our Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Yoga
Being a person who strives to make the Indian population realize the true worth of the country’s heritage and culture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken vigorous measures to spread Yoga far and wide. He describes Yoga as “India’s gift to the world” and explains, “Yoga embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfilment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well being,” Modi, who is specifically appreciated for his tireless and energetic work schedule, shares with an interviewer who asks him the secret behind his energy, “I am equally energetic from morning till night. I guess the secret behind it is Yoga and Pranayama, which I do daily. Whenever I feel tired, I just practice deep breathing and that refreshes me again!” It is with this thought in his mind that he has taken several measures for the spread of Yoga, including imbibing it in schools, and by making a mass observation of the first International Day of Yoga.
The United Nations on Yoga
On the 69th session of United Nations General assembly, Prime Minister of India Nardendra Modi spoke on the importance of Yoga, and proposed that an international day of Yoga is to be observed. Less than three months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed the idea, the UN general assembly on Thursday adopted an India-led resolution declaring June 21 as ‘International Day of Yoga’, recognizing that Yoga provides a holistic approach to health and well-being. The resolution on ‘International Day of Yoga’ was introduced by India’s ambassador to UN Asoke Mukerji and had 175 nations joining as co-sponsors, the highest number ever for any general assembly resolution. It is also for the first time that such an initiative has been proposed and implemented by any country in the UN body in less than 90 days. The Yoga community at the UN recognizes that the principles of the United Nations are strongly related to Yoga values and ideals.
International day of Yoga
The dawn of June 21, 2015 saw a huge worldwide reverberation of Yoga, lead by India. Over 192 countries all over the world are observing this day. Missions and embassies abroad, in collaboration with non-governmental Yoga institutes, have put in weeks of preparations to organise public events. The Rajpath, New Delhi saw a gathering of thousands of people to observe the historical event. The world witnessed the whole crowd perform Yoga asanas as lead by Prime minister Modi. On this event, Modi stressed on the importance of Yoga while he said – “Mismatch between technology and humans may be a problem in future. Yoga can help evolve humans, bridge that gap.” To ward off misconceptions, he said, “Yoga is not just for exercising limbs. If that was true, people working in the circus would be called yogis.” The Indian army is also celebrating the day in Siachen, the highest battleground in the world. The major Yoga schools associated with the event are Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living Foundation, which runs around 150 centres across the world, the Isha Foundation, the B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga Institute, Patanjanli International Yoga Foundation and the Gayatri Pariwar.
Yoga in SJSACH
As part of this historical event, our college has created a reverberation of its own. The Mahaswami Mandapam at Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Ayurveda College and Hospital witnessed the observations of The International Day of Yoga, 2015. The event began with the lighting of lap and prayer, followed by welcome address delivered by Dr. G.R.R. Chakravarthy. The Presidential address was rendered by Prof. Dr. V.S.Vishnu Potty, Vice Chancellor, SCSVMV University, Kanchipuram. The show was honoured to have Smt. T V Manamalli, Principal, SJJS International School as chief guest. The enthusiastic students were enriched by the informative lecture on “The importance of Yoga” by Dr. Ramdas Maganti, Principal, SJSACH. Dr. G.R.R. Chakravarthy spoke on the “Pathya-Apathya in Yogabhyasa”, Professor, SJSACH. Dr. Anuradha Maganti, Assistant Professor at SJSACH spoke on “Yoga for women”. This was followed by certificate distribution by the honourable chief guest. The informative event was concluded by the Vote of thanks conveyed by Dr. Guruprasad K, Asst. Professor, SJSACH.
Thus is the positive uproar of Yoga world over, and in our college
