Indian Mission in US kick starts IYD celebrations 'virtually'

By Reena Bhardwaj
Washington D.C.[USA], June 21 : As India gets ready to celebrate the sixth annual International Day of Yoga (IDY) in the age of social distancing, celebrations on Saturday in the United States too looked a bit different.
Themed 'Yoga At Home and Yoga with Family', this year, the Indian Mission celebrated yoga day virtually at the residence of Indian Ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu - the India house.
The IDY 2020 was organised in partnership with the Friends of Yoga and several organizations which supports yoga in the United States.
The practice began with opening remarks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "World is fighting a pandemic of monumental scale but yoga provides multi-dimensional solutions to the multiple challenges COVID-19 has brought," said the Prime Minister.
"Yoga offers something for everyone. It enables a strong mind and healthy body," he further added.
Welcoming the participants joining the celebration online, Ambassador Sandhu highlighted the unifying force of yoga, its immense benefits and how the IDY has become part of the global calendar. In these testing times, he said, "World needs Yoga and meditation more than ever".
As part of the IDY celebrations, a common Yoga protocol session was conducted. Ambassador Sandhu along with Embassy officials followed the session in person while a large number of participants across the US joined it through Embassy's social media channels on Facebook and YouTube.
In the run-up to IDY 2020, the Embassy had organised several online curtain raiser events in collaboration with Yoga organizations and studios, and Yoga enthusiasts across the United States.