Year-long celebrations to mark Yoga Institute centenary

Sessions on health, art and music among activities planned

Hundred yoga institutes will open across the country as part of the year-long centenary celebrations to be rolled out by the Yoga Institute from this month.

The celebrations will be inaugurated on December 24 in the presence of Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the institute in Santacruz.

Global involvement

“We look forward to engagement and participation of over ten million people from across the globe, physically and by digital means. We hope the celebrations will create greater awareness of the immense value of yoga for humanity, and contribute to the holistic development of communities through economic, social, intellectual and spiritual integration, in line with our mission,” isntitute director Hansa Yogendra said.

The celebrations will include a session with yoga gurus, in which participants will be coached by Ms. Yogendra. On December 25, St. Xavier’s College will host an international seminar called ‘Yoga: The Culture of Tomorrow’, with sessions by B.M. Hegde, a cardiologist and medical scientist, and Sadhvi Bhagwati Saraswati, founder of Divine Shakti Foundation, Hrishikesh. An open medico-yoga counselling session will also be organised.

The celebrations will focus on different areas. The first will be public health. “We plan to establish 100 yoga centres across the country within a span of a year,” Radhesham Mishra, one of the 50,000 teachers trained by the Yoga Institute, said.

Mr. Mishra said that activities that will be organised include a yoga art week for which artists from around the world, and corporate yoga programmes. An international yoga research centre will be set up in the institute to connect with universities such as Harvard and Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Events on cards

A month before International Yoga Day on June 21, 2018, a massive awareness programme will be held in Mumbai. A ‘Run for Yoga’ has been planned for November 25, 2018, from National Centre of Performing Arts to Worli.

The final programme will be held from December 23 to 25, 2018, which will include a celebration of yoga and education, a food festival, and a music programme.