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Traditionally, the International Day of Yoga is celebrated with great fervour and excitement in large mass gatherings but this year due to pandemic Yoga Day will be celebrated differently. It is in light of the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modiji appeal to celebrate Yoga at Home and Yoga with our families that a powerful panel was organised on the eve of Yoga Day to reflect on the meaning and message that we learn from these times and to inspire and encourage people to celebrate as a personal practice not just on one day but every day.
The theme of the panel Namaste Yoga – Community, Immunity & Unity and how this – a strong sense of community for the mind, immunity in the body and realisation of the unity within and outside of us – is the confluence and coming together that is needed most in the world today.
The Panel was inaugurated by the inaugurated by the Hon’ble Shri Prahlad Singh Patel, Union Minister of State for Culture and Tourism (I/C), Hon’ble Shri Shripad Naik,
Union Minister of State for AYUSH (I/C). It was blessed & inspired by HH Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, President, Parmarth Niketan and moderated and led by Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswatiji, Director of the International Yoga Festival at Parmarth Niketan, bringing together Yoga Experts and Teachers from across the world, please see the full list below:
Respected Speakers & Performers:
- Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji – President, Parmarth Niketan, Founder, Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, Ganga Action Parivar
- Shri Prahlad Singh Patelji, Hon’ble Minister of Tourism & Culture, Government of India
- Shri Shripad Naikji, Hon’ble Minister of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH), Government of India
- Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswatiji – Secretary-General, Global Interfaith WASH Alliance, President, Divine Shakti Foundation, Director, International Yoga Festival
- Sadhvi Abha Saraswatiji – Head of Parmarth Yoga Department
- Bharat Mitra – Founder of Organic India and UPLIFT, Israel
- A. Sivamani – World Renowned Percussionist, Mumbai, India
- Deepika Mehta – Ashtanga Yoga Teacher, Mumbai, India
- Tommy Rosen – Yoga Teacher and Founder of Recovery 2.0, Los Angeles, USA
- Kia Miller – Yoga Teacher and Founder of Radiant Body Yoga, Los Angeles, USA
- Ira Trivedi – Writer and Yoga Teacher, Mumbai, India
- Anand Mehrotra – Yoga Teacher and Founder of Sattva Yoga, Rishikesh, India
- Janet Atwood – Author of New York Times Bestseller, ‘The Passion Test’, USA
- Saul David Raye – Yoga Teacher, Healer and Musician, USA
- Laura Plumb – Ayurveda, Yoga and Jyotish Teacher, San Diego, USA
- Runa Rizvi – Sufi Singer, Mumbai India
Hon’ble Prahlad Singh Patelji shared, “Covid-19 is not a time to panic but an opportunity. Yoga is key to Healthy Youth and Healthy India. Yoga provides us a path to strengthen our immunity, allowing us to be better able to combat viruses and disease.”
He emphasized how ‘Namaste’, the Indian tradition of entering home without shoes, taking bath before entering home, things that may seem small, but are steeped in deep and timeless wisdom. He inspired and encouraged all participants from across the world to join him on Yoga Day to practice Surya Namaskar and participate in 10 million Surya Namaskar challenge.
Hon’ble Shripad Naikji shared, “Yoga plays an important role in reinventing yourself with a healthy body, mind and soul. What is the story behind your yoga journey? Participate in the My Yoga, My Life Video Blogging Contest and share the transformation that has been brought about Yoga. I encourage and appeal to everyone to join in this contest and also celebrate Yoga at Home. Let us make a Healthy and Strong India with Yoga.”
Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji so beautifully shared in anticipation of this milestone event that, “As yogis, the planet is our home and the world is our family, so taking this opportunity of staying at home to reflect and introspect, to repair and prepare ourselves to usher in a “New Normal, is exactly what we need to do!”
Pujya Swamiji continued, “Let the music of Yoga and oneness resonate in our homes and from our hearts. Let us celebrate the summer solstice and solar eclipse by waking up and shaping up for a new future and a new tomorrow, co-creating a world in harmony with ourselves, with our communities and our planet.”
Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswatiji shared so beautifully, “Yoga is the key to all that ails us. From individual depression, anxiety, addiction to communal violence to war & terrorism to environmental destruction and climate change. They are all rooted in the illusion of separation. Yoga brings us the experiential knowing of Oneness and from that Knowing, we think differently, live differently and treat the world differently! That difference is what we need today.”
Listen and tine into the inspiring and evocative gathering today from 1830 IST on the following platforms and channels to hear what the other panellists had to say:
Parmarth Niketan Facebook LIVE: Facebook.com/ParmarthNiketan
YouTube: YouTube.com/ParmarthNiketan
International Yoga Festival Facebook: Facebook.com/InternationalYogaFestival
Ministry of Culture,
Government of India Facebook: Facebook.com/indiaculture.goi
YouTube: YouTube.com/sanskritigoi
Twitter: Twitter.com/MinOfCultureGoI
