A curtain raiser event for the 9th World Yoga Day was conducted at the Mahajana’s First Grade College in association with the Ministry of Ayush, Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga and Sri Vedavyasa Yoga Pratishtana here on Tuesday.
Mayor Shivakumar, who inaugurated the event, said Mysuru is known for tourism but it should also be recognized as a yoga city. He said credit for establishment of yoga in Mysuru and the city emerging as the yoga capital, goes to Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV who patronized yoga masters like Krishnamacharya to propagate the discipline across the country besides permitting him to start a yogashala at the Jaganmohan Palace.
The Mayor also lauded the contribution of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the UN listing June 21st as the World Yoga Day.
Mr. Shivakumar said practice of yoga by youngsters regularly would aid them in physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being and announced that there were plans to offer yoga sessions regularly to all the employees of MCC.
Dr. K. Raghavendra Pai of Sri Vedavyasa Yoga Pratishthana said yoga was an Indian tradition gifted to the world. ‘’It is a powerful tool for inner engineering through which one can explore the metaphysical and achieve spiritual oneness,” he added.
He said Mysuru was a yoga hub along with Rishikesh and spoke on Sritattvanidhi, a treatise authored by Krishna Raja Wodeyar III and pointed out that one of its sections include illustrations of 122 hatha yoga postures.
Muralidhar Bhagvat, president, Mahajana Education Society , said, this year, International Day of Yoga (IDY) endeavours to connect with larger global community and was in resonance with the principle of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’.
An MoU was also signed between Mahajana Education Society and Vedavyasa Yoga Pratishthana Trust followed by a practical demonstration of yogasanas and participation by students. Around a thousand volunteers took part in the demonstration.
