Indian Embassy awarded prizes for various activities to celebrate the day
Thinley Namgay
With outdoor activities restricted because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indian Embassy has organised various online yoga activities unlike previous years to commemorate the sixth international day of yoga on June 21.
This year’s international yoga theme is ‘yoga for health-yoga at home’.
More than 250 yoga enthusiasts took part in activities like asana of the day competition, yoga quiz competitions, customised yoga quiz competitions for Royal Academy students, and the yoga for children below nine years.
The prize distribution ceremony was held yesterday at the Indian Embassy in Thimphu. The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bhutan, Gerald Daly graced the event.
Five children who took part in the ‘yoga for children’ category were awarded certificates and cash prizes. The top three winners of other categories were awarded certificates and a Samsung M-21 phone each.
Serthub Pelbar, a class nine student of the Royal Academy, said that he had been practising yoga for the last two years. “I engage in yoga daily. It makes my body more flexible. Sometimes I learn steps from social media platforms.”
Recently, online yoga videos of KVSSN Murthy, a yoga teacher from the Nehru Wangchuck Cultural Centre (NWCC), and videos of Bhutanese yoga enthusiasts, Mena and Tashi Yetsho were uploaded on social media to mark the day.
Some online activities are yet to be completed.
The ‘Yoga Video Blogging Contest’ launched by the Ministry of AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) on June 1 will end tomorrow. Common yoga protocol demonstration by KVSSN Murthy, and Phuntsho, a Bhutanese yoga practitioner and posting of online video messages by dignitaries will be held tomorrow.
Speaking at the ceremony, Gerald Daly said that yoga was one of the important ways to build personal resilience. “The yoga asanas of India are one of the great wisdom heritages of the world. We are fortunate to be able to draw on yoga to build our personal resilience at this time,” he said. “Yoga is a powerful tool to deal with the stress of uncertainty and isolation as well as to physical wellbeing. Because it addresses the needs of a whole being.”
Yoga originated in India 5,000 years ago.
A press release from the Indian Embassy states that the values of yoga forms a significant part of the community’s ethos based on unifying the mind with the body for greater mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing. So far, more than 4,000 Bhutanese have registered at the NWCC to practice yoga. More than 200 are regularly coming for the practice at the centre. The UN in Bhutan through online tools resilience under the initiative of “we care we share’ also offers yoga resources to its staff and the people of Bhutan.