PM underscores yoga’s benefits amid outbreak
Says the ancient Indian practice boosts immunity, brings people together
NEW DELHI : Yoga helps boost immunity and has emerged as a force for unity that enhances the quest for a healthy planet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday, underscoring the importance of the ancient Indian practice at a time when the world is fighting the coronavirus disease.
Pranayama, or breathing exercise, helps strengthen the respiratory system, which gets affected by Covid-19, Modi said in his 15-minute video address on the sixth International Yoga Day.
“Yoga boosts immune system of the body. You must include pranayama in your daily life... It is more relevant in the current times as it is the respiratory system of the body that is most adversely affected by Covid-19,” Modi added.
Unlike previous years, there were no large gatherings to celebrate the occasion due to restrictions imposed to fight the pandemic, though several leaders and social media users posted photos and videos performing yoga.
“This year’s theme is ‘Yoga at Home and Yoga with Family’. Yoga promotes family bonding as children, youngsters, elders in family come together to practise yoga; there is a flow of positive energy at home,” Modi said.
He added that yoga has emerged as a force for unity and does not discriminate, as it goes beyond race, colour, gender, faith and nations.“anybody can embrace yoga. If we can fine-tune our chords of health and hope, the day is not far away when world will witness the success of healthy and happy humanity,” he said.
On December 11, 2014, the United Nations General Assembly declared June 21 as “International Day of Yoga”, approving of an idea proposed by Modi.
Countries across the world have been celebrating the Internation Yoga Day since 2015, but this year, celebrations went digital, with the AYUSH ministry cancelling a big event planned in Leh.
Modi said yoga provides not only physical strength, but also mental balance and emotional stability. “Eating the right food, playing the right sports, having right habits of sleeping and waking, and doing your work and your duties is yoga,” Modi said. “With this ‘karmayoga’, we get the solution to all the problems.”
Home minister Amit Shah, too, greeted the nation on the occasion. “Yoga is much more than just a way of keeping the body healthy. It is a medium to maintain balance between body and mind, work and thoughts and also between human and nature,” he said. “Yoga is a unique gift of the Indian culture to entire humanity. The world has adopted yoga now; it received global acceptance due to the tireless efforts of Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi,” he added.
PC Kapoor, director, Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre in Delhi, said: “I fully endorse what the PM has said — that breathing exercises in yoga help increase the lung capacity significantly. Almost all asanas (postures) have their benefits in terms of boosting immunity and preventing diseases...”.