A large number of Chinese yoga enthusiasts in Beijing took part in a yoga event organised by the Indian Embassy on Saturday, ahead of the International Yoga Day (IYD) celebrations on June 21.

The IYD is usually celebrated with enthusiasm in China as Yoga promoted as a sport and fitness regime is very popular, with numerous events since its inception by the United Nations in 2014.

Indian Ambassador to China Pradeep Kumar Rawat and Deputy Ambassador Dr. Acquino Vimal took part in the yoga event held at the India House in Beijing.

“Connecting ‘I’ to the ‘We’ and the ‘We’ to the ‘World’, yoga enthusiasts of Beijing came together this morning to inhabit the common consciousness of yoga”, a tweet by the Indian Embassy said.

“Covid is time killer and yoga is Covid killer,” Rawat said, speaking about the essentiality of yoga in the pandemic era in dealing with mental stress and anxiety in a world of “defaulted timelines”.

He also outlined the various events conducted by the Embassy ahead of this year’s IDY as well as the digital campaigns that included Asana series, photo and video competitions.

As a highlight — 75 yoga schools across China besides Indian Consulates in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong were also connected to the Saturday’s event at the India House here.

A special highlight of the Saturday’s event was the stainless steel sculpture of “Dream Yoga” crafted by Beijing-based Indian artist Gurjinder Kaur representing the artist’s childhood reminiscence of yoga, which was kept amidst the yoga gathering at the India House.

A number of Chinese yoga teachers from various yoga schools took part in the hour-long yoga session.

Yoga associations all over China were expected to hold the events to mark the IYD on June 21.

Last month the Indian Embassy organised an “Office Yoga” session at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, (SCO) headquarters here.

SCO Secretary-General Zhang Ming and Ambassador Rawat along with SCO diplomats attended the specially designed session on Yoga postures for office goers.

Considering the popularity of yoga, China has established a yoga college in Yunnan Minzu University in Kunming, the capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province in joint collaboration with India.

(With PTI inputs)
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