On the occasion of the International Day of Yoga 2021, the world will be getting the M-Yoga app, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Monday in his address to the nation. The app will introduce videos on the common yoga protocol to scores of people across the world, he said, adding that the app will be made available in different languages, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). “The world will get the M-Yoga app, it will make videos on yoga training based on common protocol available in many languages,” said Prime Minister Modi.
The seventh International Yoga Day was celebrated across the world on 21 June 2021. This is the second consecutive year that the celebrations are being held digitally due to Covid-19. The theme this year is “Yoga for wellness.” Highlighting the M-Yoga app, PM Modi said that it will “use the
knowledge of the past with the technology of today.”
PM Modi highlighted the importance of practising yoga during the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, as he addressed the lead event of Yoga Day 2021. He also prayed for the health and well-being of people around the world. PM Modi said that even medical science lays emphasis on the
healing process, besides medical treatment, and yoga can help in it.
“When I talk to frontline warriors and doctors, they tell me that they have made Yoga a shield for protection against the virus. They have used Yoga not just for safeguarding themselves, but also patients,” said PM Modi. On December 11, 2014, the United Nations General Assembly had declared June 21 as ‘International Day of Yoga’, months after PM Modi had proposed the idea.
PM Modi said yoga helped people around the world muster confidence in the battle against the pandemic and the ancient Indian discipline proved a source of strength during this difficult time.
“It was easy for countries to forget Yoga Day during the pandemic as it is not intrinsic to their culture but, instead, enthusiasm for yoga has increased globally. Yoga helped people to muster confidence and strength to fight with the pandemic world over,” the PM said in his address. He wished for the health of every country, society and individual, saying, “Let’s hope that we will be united and will strengthen each other.”
The Prime Minister said experts are stressing the importance of breathing exercises like pranayama and anulom-vilom. Quoting the great Tamil saint Thiruvalluvar, the Prime Minister said, “Yoga goes to the root cause of disease and is instrumental in healing. It is a matter of great satisfaction that globally, research is being conducted in the healing properties of Yoga.”
The Prime Minister said yoga is not only good for physical as well as mental health, it also brings oneself in touch with inner strength and protects from all sorts of negativities. The Prime Minister said “The shift from silos to union is Yoga. A proven way to experience a realisation of oneness is Yoga.” Quoting Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, PM said, "The meaning of our self is not to be found in its separateness from God and others, but in the ceaseless realisation of yoga, of union.”
The Prime Minister said that the mantra of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam’ which India has followed since ages, is now finding global acceptance. “We need to continue moving on the collective journey of yoga as it has solutions for everyone. It is important that yoga reaches to every person while keeping intact its foundation and core. Yoga acharyas and all of us should contribute in this task of taking yoga to everyone, the Prime Minister said.
President Ram Nath Kovind also held a private yoga session at the presidential palace and several members of Modi's cabinet held similar events across the country. Kovind said yoga was a "unique gift of India to humanity". Defence forces have also posted photos and videos of troops marking the day.
Officials and ministers also urged people to take to yoga but advised them to avoid big gatherings as the the country is just coming out from a deadly a second wave. The ancient tradition which was once the preserve of gurus has now become a worldwide phenomenon. Every year, practitioners all over the world bring out their mats on 21 June to show their love for yoga.
Yoga in Pakistan
In a country where Islamic right wingers very often call the shots, Haider, 47, has quietly succeeded in attracting tens of thousands to yoga, achieving a feat that once seemed near impossible. On June 21, when the world celebrated the second International Day of Yoga, Haider did yogic asanas along with his 20,000 yoga students across Pakistan - but minus media publicity.
While others around the world got plenty of publicity, Haider’s success went unnoticed. “We are also practising in yoga in a nice way in Pakistan but without beating the drums,” the modest Haider said. If Haider is to be believed, Pakistanis celebrated the International Yoga Day in almost all major towns and cities, including Islamabad.
Born in Pakistani Punjab, Haider is emphatic - in contrast to what many Muslims think - that yoga has nothing to do with the Hindu religion and should be accepted by people of all faiths. Muslims, he suggests, should do at least five minutes of meditation - a key component of yoga - after every “’Fajar Nimaz” or early morning prayer. “Yoga helps to gain mental stability, peace, balanced living. Moreover, it teaches us discipline which is vital in Islam and all religions.” What does he say about critics who link yoga with religion? “Agar ache cheez be burey hathoon mai aajaye, tho woh cheez be kharab hoti hai (Even if bad people touch good things, the good too become bad),” is his stock reply.
“Yoga belongs to humanity in the form of a pure science and is not the sole entity of India,” he said, speaking in Urdu. “While Indian Hindus and Muslims fight over its origin and practice, our clubs have people from all sects of Muslims, Christians and Hindus who have made it a part of their life to reap its health benefits,” Haider said.
Among the over 50 yoga clubs in Pakistan, Haider oversees the major ones in Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi. Even some Islamic clerics come to the centres to learn and practise yoga and meditation. “I have top clerics of (Islamabad) as my students. They are happy about it and they encourage others to join.”
Over 3,000 people perform Yoga at iconic Times Square
Over 3,000 people spread their mats at the iconic Times Square and performed Yoga asanas keeping in mind social distancing guidelines to celebrate the International Yoga Day as the city opens up following the Covid-19 pandemic. The Consulate General of India, New York in partnership with Times Square Alliance hosted the 7th International Day of Yoga celebrations on Sunday at the popular city destination, known as the crossroads of the world. The day-long celebration themed as Solstice Event was attended by more than 3,000 people.
The International Yoga day is commemorated with much enthusiasm and fanfare at Times Square every year. As the city opened up following the Covid-19 pandemic, people turned out in huge numbers for the day-long celebration that included yoga, meditation and exercise sessions by renowned yoga practitioners.
With Yoga mats spread out keeping in mind social distancing guidelines, people from various walks of life and nationalities performed Yoga asanas and exercises in the middle of Times Square, surrounded by its distinctive giant and towering LED screens as people and tourists stopped to look and participate in the commemoration.
"While we celebrate Yoga in various parts of the world, celebrating yoga here in Times Square is very special, very unique. More importantly, yoga is a universal idea and universal thought, a universal action. And what better place than Times Square to celebrate a universal thought. This is the crossroads of the world," India's Consul General Randhir Jaiswal said in his address to the Yoga Day celebrations here.
Jaiswal, joined by Deputy Consul General Shatrughna Sinha and senior officials from the Consulate, as well as members of the Indian diaspora, also participated in the yoga sessions conducted during the commemoration. Leading Yoga instructor Ruchika Lal led a Yoga, Pranayama and Meditation session during the day.
In the run-up to the International Yoga Day celebrations on June 21, the Consulate General in New York, in partnership with Friends of Yoga, had organised several virtual and in-person yoga events and sessions throughout the month across New York and neighboring states such as New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Day of Yoga was also celebrated in New Jersey at the Liberty State Park with the Statue of Liberty in the background. This was a community led event anchored by the Federation of Indian Associations where renowned yoga instructor Thara Natalie led the yoga session.
