24 Jun 2024

The High Commission of India in association with Botswana government and the local business community celebrated the International Day of Yoga.

The event held in Gaborone at Livingstone Kolobeng College on June 21, attracted a satisfying number of people.

Mayor of Gaborone, Austin Abraham said at the initiative of the Prime Minister of India, June 21 was recognised as the International Day of Yoga by the United Nations General Assembly in December 2014.

He said this was through a resolution moved by India and unanimously adopted by UN member states, citing that since 2015, the International Day of Yoga had been observed around the world with great enthusiasm and fervor.

He said the day served to popularise and highlight the potential of Yoga in enhancing the physical, psychological, and emotional well-being of an individual.

Though Yoga has been practiced in many countries and adopted by many around the world, Abraham said observing International Day of Yoga enhanced its popularity and expanded its geographical presence in new territories.

He said the event also triggered new advances within the field of Yoga, such as the development of universal Yoga protocols for people of all ages, the development of specific protocols addressing lifestyle diseases, and research in developing Yoga as a potential productivity-enhancing tool.

“Many people have defined Yoga throughout the years and the most famous proponent of Yoga in ancient India, Sage Patanjali, the author of Patanjali Yog Sutra, has defined it as Yoga Chitavartti Nirodha, meaning Yoga is cessation of modification of mind,” he sad.

Abraham said such definition had been interpreted by different Yoga Gurus as they understood it.

 In layman’s terms, he said Yoga was a holistic system using various body postures, breathing exercises and meditation to bring about a synthesis between body and mind which was essential for a human being to live a healthy life at physical and mental levels.

 Such, he said contributed to the welfare of humanity as a whole.

 Given the vastness of the Yoga system and its origin in antiquity, he said volumes have been written about Yoga and a lot could be said about it.

“Suffice it to say that Yoga is more a practice than a mere theory. Hence, I would not like to take more of your time in theorising about Yoga and its benefits, which anyway become self-evident once the practice is regular and becomes a lifestyle,” he said. Ends