Quite expectedly, I found out, rather effortlessly, that the international day of Yoga is the most trending subject on almost on social media platforms this past week.
‘Yoga’ is a Sanskrit’ word meaning a group of physical, mental and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in India, according to Wikipedia. June 21st is observed as the International Day of Yoga and this year marks the 4th year since it was adopted by United Nations in 2015.
India, where Yoga first originated, observed the day with the participation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Forest Research Institute (FRI) campus in Dehradun where 50,000 people joined not to mention about the mass Yoga events held across the breadth of the country. PM Modi in his address to the nation termed the ancient Indian discipline as a “powerful unifying” force in a strife-torn world.
“From Tokyo to Toronto from Stockholm to Sao Paulo yoga has become a positive influence in the lives of millions,” PM Modi said.
Looking closer into Tibetan diaspora in India, thousands of Tibetans marked the fourth International Yoga day in keeping with the theme ‘Toward a Healthy India.’ Tibetans from Ladakh to Karnataka, from Arunachal Pradesh to New Delhi, clad in white ‘Thank you India’ T-shirts, showed their Yoga skills in an effort to bolster India’s efforts to make yoga a mainstream practice. The social media is flooded with images and videos of Tibetans joining Yoga sessions in various parts of India.
In Dharamshala, the Central Tibetan Administration organised a Yoga session which was led by Tsering Yangzom, fitness trainer and yoga instructor based in Gurgaon, India, I joined with local Tibetans, CTA officials and staff, students and foreigners and sat for an hour-long session.
The year 2018, being marked by Tibetans as a ‘Thank you India’ year, has a series of pan-India events lined up by CTA to offer gratitude to the government and people of India for hosting us for the last 60 years. And observing the 4th International Yoga day is one of the ‘Thank you India 2018’ year-long events and one that’s surely memorable too.
Here is a glimpse into the netizens’ reactions to the celebration of International yoga on social media: