THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:A jogger, on Sunday morning, was seen jogging with a Yoga mat tucked under her arms outside Museum. She was perfectly in tune with International Yoga Day observance, the state-level inauguration of which was about to begin a few minutes later at Central Stadium, in Thiruvananthapuram.
Inaugurating the event, Health Minister V S Sivakumar said that popularisation of Yoga will be implemented through Ayurvedic dispensaries, which are there in every panchayat.
He said the state had introduced Lifestyle Education Awareness and Prevention (LEAP) in schools in 2013, to tackle the rising incidence of lifestyle diseases among youngsters. This will be spread to more schools in the time to come, he said.
Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson presided over. He said that yoga was a significant contribution of the country, like ‘zero’. He said that Yoga helped replace savage thoughts with good ones, and a person who was practising Yoga has a better aura, which can be seen through Kirlian photography. Yoga should be made a part of daily life, he said.
M Surendranath, state director of Sivananda International School of Yoga Charitable Trust, led the session.
In places where he had to ask the participants to meditate on God, he would quickly add, “Atheists can think of something positive, like a light.”
The participants primarily consisted of students from Government Girls’ Higher Secondary School, Malayinkeezhu, who had arrived well-ahead of schedule, nurses, officials from the Ayush Department, students from Sivananda International School of Yoga and student police cadets. Many people, who had dropped in without invitation, had to go home, as the floor was already dotted with yoga enthusiasts clad in white.
The Malayinkeezhu school which has been implementing LEAP had held a three-day training session prior to the event. Many a time, the children would not wait for instructions to come in, as they were now familiar with the routine.
The morning session was followed by a yoga dance presented by students getting trained at Sivananda International School of Yoga and Sri Ramakrishna Medical College of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences.
Health Department Secretary K Elangovan, Ayush Secretary M Beena, Director of Health Services (in-charge) Jayashankar and Indian Systems of Medicine Director Anitha Jacob were present.
