HYDERABAD: Yoga, in recent times has created an impact over many of our lives. Widespread celebrations on World Yoga Day that was celebrated on Sunday is an example of how the initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has made a difference. The Prime Minister urged United Nations to declare June 21 as a day for yoga, keeping in mind its benefits.
The same has happened with Hyderabadis too.
Taking a walk is part of 51-year-old Harshita’s daily routine. She never thought about taking up yoga considering the amount of time she will have to spend in travelling to the class and also at the class.
But the news about people celebrating yoga day motivated her and she enrolled herself at a yoga centre. “I went there to be part of the revolution where people from all over the world are practising yoga. The time I spent over there has motivated me to take it up seriously,” she says. She now also feels that, “If even 25 per cent of the people will be motivated to take it up seriously, the number of people suffering from various diseases and the number of deaths will come down.”
For Shreyas Desai, a banker who has been practising yoga for 10 months now, it has become a habit. It has helped him push his limits and has motivated him to take his physical fitness more seriously. He feels that a dedicated day for yoga has just made his beliefs stronger. He also applauds Prime Minister for coming up with such unique concept where India is being projected as more than just land of snake charmers.
While practising yoga for the past four years Disha Singh has understood the importance balance that life offers – the good and the not so good. “We often resist the tough and fight it, but surviving that teaches us strength and faith we hold within ourselves to get past anything. I read somewhere ‘ I bend so I don’t break’. That defines what yoga means to me,” says Disha.
Disha who is also a yoga instructor says, “Watching the world join hands across the globe and immerse themselves in asana practice on International Yoga Day is incredible. From a teacher’s perspective, it is spectacular to receive this response and read about all the different ways people are celebrating yoga.”
While the record-breaking event saw about 37,000 people at Rajpath in New Delhi and many more world over, City Express also came across people who thought that the government should focus more on issues like poverty, malnutrition, caste-based discrimination, religious riots and corruption.
“We’ve got bigger issues to deal with in the country. Instead we make everyone from army to government offices do yoga and spend time and money on it. Before moving on to solve metropolitan and upper middle class problems like stress in daily life, we should focus more on the problems we face on a daily basis,” expresses Ishneet Kaur, a Mass Communication student.
