International Yoga Day was celebrated organising walking in the park, practice of yoga, talks and discussion in Reading on Saturday under the joint auspices of Greater Reading Nepalese Community Association and Yoga group Reading.
International Yoga Day (IYD) is being celebrated across the globe on 21st June since 2015 after the United Nations declared this day as Yoga Day in view of excellent health benefits of this ancient Hindu Vedic tradition. This year’s theme is Yoga for ‘peace.’
Almost all the countries around the globe except some conflict-ridden countries like Yemen and Syria, have been celebrating this day due to its immense physical, mental and spiritual health benefits.
The day, June 21st is said to have been selected as IYD as this is the longest day in the northern hemisphere and has special significance in many parts of the world.
Though the day falls on 21st June, it was celebrated because of the weekend so a large number of people could participate. A sizeable number of people mostly women and including youths participated in the yoga day walking through Christs Meadow, View island and Caversham park and concluded with a brief yogic exercise and talks about healthy living.
Chairman of GRNCA Krishna Neupane shedding light on the eating pattern, said ‘’ we should follow healthy eating habit – not eating what the tongue feels tasty but according to the needs of our body. He said we should give up unhealthy eating habits and start healthy living life style.
Baburam Banstola of Yoga group sponsored six lucky draw of t-shirt and distributed on the occasion. The programme concluded after eating healthy snacks, fruits and drinks. The Nepalese have been running yoga classes on Sunday morning for the last few years.
IYD is also being celebrated across the world. IYD has many records this year including the celebration of the day at a height of 12,500 feet in Muktinath temple in Mustang in Nepal. India’s Rajasthan’s education city Kota turned into Yoga city when over one lakh people performed yoga at one place at the same time and created a new Guinness World Record on International Yoga day today. Yog Guru Baba Ramdev and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje led people the event according to the news reports. ‘’On record, 1,50,000 people entered the ground through barcode officially on time to attend the event. Organisers claimed that the number who performed was higher than this. A certificate was awarded on the spot by the Guinness Team from London to Yog Guru Baba Ramdev and Balkrishna in presence of CM Vasundhara Raje’’ Indian Express reports.
Over 50,000 people attended in Dehradun in northern India on 21st June with the participation of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Swami Ramdev. Yoga programme were run on the day in almost all the cities of the world including London, New York, Beijing, Tokyo and almost all the cities and towns across the world.
Yoga classes are being run on regular basis in almost all the temples and gurdwaras, cities and towns. This year the IYD is being celebrated in the presence of Swami Ramdev, who revived the Yoga and made it popular across the globe. Patanjali UK Trust is organising programme with Swami in London, Coventry and Glasgow in the coming weekend.
There are eight rules of yoga, which is proved to have immense health benefits, yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi.
Yoga has immense, physical, mental and spiritual benefits. ‘’Yog and Pranayam helps control Acidity, Allergy, Anxiety, Arthritis, Asthma, Backache, Blood Pressure, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Cervical Sodalities, Constipation, Depression, Diabetes, Epilepsy, Fatigue, Gastric Disorders, Headaches, Heart Diseases, Obesity, Migraine, Sciatica Pain, Sinus, Weakness’’, according to Patanjali Trust UK.

Chiranjibi Paudyal
Reading, UK