International Day of Yoga 2020 – June 21
- Yoga boosts immunity, PM Modi said in his address to the nation, adding that “a lot of coronavirus patients across the world are benefiting due to yoga”. “It gives us the confidence to struggle during the difficult times and emerge victorious. Yoga gives us physical strength and peace of mind,” he added.
- For the first time since it was instituted on June 21, 2015, coinciding with the Summer Solstice each year, Yoga Day has gone digital this year. No mass gatherings will be held this time.
- This year’s theme is “Yoga at Home and Yoga with Family”.
- “We will take all possible measures for our individual and family’s health. As a responsible citizen, we will walk forward together. We will try to make ‘Yoga at home, Yoga with family’ a part of our lives,” PM Modi said.
- Across India, top personalities are performing yoga at their homes to ensure social distancing amid pandemic.
- The UN proclaimed June 21 as International Day of Yoga by passing a resolution on December 11, 2014, during the 69th session of the General Assembly. At the session, Modi had said, “Yoga is an invaluable gift from our ancient tradition. Yoga embodies unity of mind and body, thought and action … a holistic approach [that] is valuable to our health and our well-being. Yoga is not just about exercise; it is a way to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature.”
- The Yoga Day celebrations in 2015 at Rajpath in New Delhi, with Modi and other dignitaries in attendance, had created two Guinness World Records, performing around 21 yoga asanas. The first record was set for housing 35,985 people and being the world’s largest yoga session. The second was for having the most number (84) of nationalities participating in it.
- “Yoga is an ancient physical, mental and spiritual practice that originated in India. The word ‘yoga’ derives from Sanskrit and means to join or to unite, symbolizing the union of body and consciousness,” the United Nations website says.
- According to its famous practitioner BKS Iyengar, “Yoga cultivates the ways of maintaining a balanced attitude in day-to-day life and endows skill in the performance of one’s actions.”
- In its ‘Common Yoga Protocol’ from 2019, the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) lists Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi, Bandhas and Mudras, Satkarmas, Yuktahara, Mantra-japa, Yukta-karma among popular yoga ‘sadhanas’.
- The AYUSH protocol describes the folding-hands logo of Yoga Day as reflecting “the union of individual consciousness with that of universal consciousness, a perfect harmony between mind and body, man and nature, the holistic approach to health and well-being. The brown leaves in the logo symbolize the earth element, the green leaves of nature, blue the fire element while the sun symbolises the source of energy and inspiration.”
जीके और दैनिक करेंट अफेयर्स अपडेट हिंदी में प्राप्त करें – क्लिक करें
