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First International Yoga Day- India

What Modi's yoga record attempt tells us about India

Los Angeles, June 22, 2015

Two new Guinness Book of World Records -- one for the largest yoga class at a single venue with 35,985 participants in New Delhi and another Participation of 84 countries

NRIpress  reporter said: More than 35,000 people, including bureaucrats, students and soldiers, performing poses such as the half camel and cobra in a 35-minute mass outdoor yoga session beginning at 7:00 am on a New Delhi boulevard.

The Central Delhi was sealed off with checkpoints erected, carpeted and you can see VIPs including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

On Jan 21, PM Narendra Modi hailed the first International Yoga Day as heralding a "new era of peace" by giving a surprise  when he took his mat and started yoga in front of thousands........Gary Singh

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Grewal lauded the Hon'ble Prime Ministers vision for Worlds Yoga Day

Ludhiana: 21 June 2015

Grewal lauded the Hon'ble Prime Ministers vision for Worlds Yoga Day which has enhanced India's image in the whole world as most of the globe barring some nations performed yoga today on the eve of its first anniversary.

Grewal said " How often you see the whole world uniting for a common purpose for everyone's well being?". Grewal said today 191 countries led by India celebrated World's first yoga day this is why this world needs more leaders like our Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi who brought the whole world together , soon there will be a time when some very serious age old disputed matters could be solved by having dialogues between the concerned parties.

Hon'ble Prime Minister Modi recently took the case of Bangladesh border dispute and it is now resolved. Grewal told everyone present that soon you will see more of such great work from our great world leader.

Grewal further said that one should try yoga as an exercise and you would see the difference in your life. Yoga will keep you active it relieves stress , gives you immense energy keeps you healthy and makes you feel younger. He said everyone should keep aside politics and just think for there body and mind , this one good habit will transform there lives and lives of there loved ones. Speaking to the journalist after performing Yoga at Arya College, ludhiana Grewal explained the usefulness of yoga. He said "This ancient Indian spiritual exercise which is the 5000 years old Indian physical, mental and spiritual practice that aims to transform body and mind for good health."

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African envoy stayed back for Yoga Day

New Delhi, June 21, 2015:  Ambassador Idriss Raoua Ouedraogo of Burkina Faso had finished his three-year tenure in India and was to have left. But the noted yoga teacher from the western African nation was asked to stay back for the International Yoga Day here on Sunday, which he did happily.


In recognition of his expertise, Ouedraogo, a Muslim who has been practicing yoga for 27 long years, has been invited as the chief guest at the foundation day ceremony of the Yoga University of India on Sunday.

"I had completed my term but was asked to stay back for the event," Ouedraogo told IANS at Rajpath.

He has also been invited to speak on television channels, including Lok Sabha TV and Doordarshan.

For Ouedraogo, the 35 asanas performed as part of the International Yoga Day yoga protocol at Rajpath on Sunday were "simple".

"The yoga protocol was simple. I do all the yoga exercises, I do pranayama (breathing exercises), I do mudras, all the asanas," Ouedraogo said, adding that he was a yoga teacher.

"I teach yoga to around 100 teachers," said the envoy, who has founded the Himalayan Yoga Meditation Centre in Burkina Faso.

Ouedraogo said there were seven yoga centres in the small landlocked nation of over 18 million.

The envoy said he was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi when he was in secondary school and decided to take up yoga.

"I discovered yoga through Gandhi. But the yoga I was doing in the early phase I realised were done wrongly without the knowledge and philosophy behind yoga," he says.

So Ouedraogo decided to fly to India to learn the ancient discipline.

"I got guidance. I flew down to India, from Kolkata, and moved to the Himalayas and learnt yoga."

Ouedraogo, who has written books on yoga, is known as Yogi Idriss in his country.

The Yoga Meditation Centre of Burkina Faso now has a branch in neighbouring Benin too.

Ouedraogo was taught yoga by Swami Veda Bharati and by B.K.S. Iyengar, one of the pioneers of modern yoga.

The envoy was surrounded by a group of admiring foreign delegates on Rajpath....IANS

 

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Yoga Day: A terrific, relaxing event, say foreign diplomats

 

New Delhi, June 21, 2015: “How did I do?” asked US envoy Richard Verma smiling at the end of the International Yoga Day event on Rajpath, adding: “It was terrific, it was very relaxing.”

Verma was among over 200 members of the foreign diplomatic corps who joined the yoga event on Rajpath to mark the inaugural International Yoga Day (IYD).

Togged in a white T-shirt with the IYD emblem, given to official participants by AYUSH ministry, and black track pants, Verma was in the enclosure for members of the diplomatic corps and foreign guests.

Besides Verma, the other envoys spotted at the venue were ambassadors Deep Kumar Upadhyay of Nepal, Shaida Mohammad Abdali of Afghanistan, Idriss Raoua Ouedraogo of Burkina Faso, a keen yoga enthusiast, and Algeria's Hamza Yahia Cherif.

The US embassy had brought along some members while six personnel came from the Russian embassy including press attaché Tanya Kopylova. Two members of the Israeli embassy were present including spokesperson Ohad Horsandi.

There were also many foreign students studying in different universities in India.

US envoy Verma, who is of Indian origin, performed quite easily the 35 asanas of the Yoga protocol. Slimly built, Verma said he did not find even the somewhat difficult Sethubandasana, which requires bending backward, tough.

“It was terrific. I did not find the yoga tough. I managed easily. It was very enjoyable, very relaxing,” Verma told IANS.

Earlier, while waiting for the event to begin, Verma described the IYD event as “a wonderful event” which brought together so many people. ”It is a fantastic tradition, so important for the mind and body, for peace and harmony. It is very popular in the US embassy."

Afghan envoy Abdali, who topped up his yoga attire with a pair of smart shades, also went through the 35 asanas without any difficulty. “It was an excellent event,” Abdali told IANS.

“I will try to continue to do the yoga,” he said, adding that four members from the Afghan embassy also took part.

“I really liked it. We normally need to exercise. I don’t think there is any exercise better than yoga that keeps one fit and at the same time keeps us spiritually so strong. I will try to make it a regular feature,” the envoy told IANS.

Nepal’s Upadhyay said he had been practicing yoga for 10 years. He found no difficulty in doing the asanas. Upadhyay said yoga will help bring “shanti (peace) at home and in the universe”.

Algerian envoy Cherif, a sprightly soft-spoken gentleman, did the asanas easily.

He said he enjoyed the yoga very much. Earlier, he said that while he does not practice yoga, he feels everyone should do it for harmony and peace. “If yoga is taken to the world, there will be much-needed peace and harmony on our planet,” Cherif told IANS.

Ambassador Idriss of Burkina Faso had a large crowd of admiring members of the diplomatic corps around him.

The outgoing envoy has been practicing yoga for 27 long years and has founded yoga centres in his own country. Idriss said he found the 35 asanas simple as he is used to doing much more complicated asanas.

Another enthusiastic participant was Faeq H.H. Hamza, counselor from the Palestine embassy. He is not a yoga regular.

There were two German embassy personnel who do yoga regularly. “We enjoy yoga,” one of them said but declined to be named.

Israeli embassy spokesperson Horsandi told IANS that around 20,000 people would be performing yoga in Tel Aviv on Sunday to mark the occasion.

“Israelis love yoga. They love to go to India to do yoga,” he said.

Kopylova of the Russian embassy told IANS that the mission holds regular yoga sessions for the staff. “Yoga helps to relax the mind and body."

From Rwanda, Joseph Kabakeza, the first counselor of the high commission, said he was a yoga enthusiast....IANS

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