International Day of Yoga 2024

Proud to celebrate the 10th International Day of Yoga today- on June 21st.

The 2024 Theme is: "Yoga for Self and Society."

Yoga represents:
- the harmony of mind and body,
- the balance between thought and action, &
- the unity of restraint and fulfillment.

Proud to belong to the land that has gifted the world Yoga.
Yoga represents "unity" & "integration."
It is said- "Unity is Strength."
Also, "United We Stand."

Yoga ensures good health and well-being.
We believe in "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" - the world is a family.

When all family members unitedly do Yoga together, our world becomes healthy and strong.
Also, there is mutual respect and bonding.

We got a chance to get together and do all this and more today.
Thanks to our instructor Ms. Hema Latha, and her students for the invitation and facilitation.

In the following images, you can see me wearing a shirt made with Gamuchha (cloth) in the individual images.

The shirt was stitched by designer Sasmita Sahoo of Utkalamrita, Sabat Exports Private Limited.

The Pattachitra art, a Geographical Indication (GI) art of Odisha, was done later. Pattachitra is linked with our Shree Jagannatha culture for centuries.

This particular Pattachitra art depicts a tree with Shree Jagannatha Mahaprabhu's eyes, highlighting the "Nabakalebara" theme. This particular Pattachitra painting is inspired by and based on a sand art by Padma Shri Sand sculptor artist Sudarshan Patnaik.
I loved it so much that I requested our Pattachitra artist, Sri Raju, replicate it and paint it on the shirt. The same was earlier done on some white "Being Odia" T-shirts in 2016-19.
During Nabakalebara (that means- new form), new bodies of the deities are carved using Neem trees.
Shree Jagannatha is present everywhere. Everything is His Leela.

"Vrikshasana" is the Tree asana- Yoga pose. We must be grounded like a tree.

I have done Vrikshasana wearing a Pattachitra shirt depicting a tree & linked to the Nabakalebara of Shree Jagannatha.

Pics from our Yoga session today-
PC-
a) Individual & couple images: Courtesy Reena
b) Group images: Courtesy Divya

The oldest participant in our group, Sri Nagabhushana GM (extreme left in the image), is 75 years old. He has been practicing Yoga daily for the past 30 years.

He advises, "Everyone must do Yoga. Time is limited and fixed for all. But, all must be aware and devote time to Yoga."

Special thanks to our Hon'ble Prime Minister, Sri Narendra Modi, & the United Nations for this worldwide promotion of Yoga- our popular intangible cultural heritage, and for this wonderful opportunity for connection, participation, and celebration.

More about the International Day of Yoga here-
https://www.un.org/en/observances/yoga-day

Did you know about Yoga? Are you a regular practitioner?

How did you celebrate the 10th Yoga Day?