Andhra Pradesh kicks off month-long yoga celebrations as run-up to International Yoga Day

The Andhra Pradesh government has kicked off month-long celebrations of yoga as a run-up to the International Yoga Day on June 21. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu announced that the event will be held in Visakhapatnam along the beach where 5 lakh members are expected to participate. He said the state aims to create a world record with the event and grab global attention. The state has already confirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the chief guest.

 

CM Naidu told reporters that the idea is to create awareness on yoga and encourage widespread participation. He said that the government has been meticulously planning the event to be held on June 21. The state has set an ambitious plan of seeing 2 crore people, or almost 40 per cent of state’s population, participating at various events, from village to city level.

 

Terming yoga as a ‘game changer’, he appealed to everyone to allocate one hour a day to practice yoga asana, meditation and Pranayana or breathing exercise. He said one can feel immediate benefits like positive thinking and improvement of general health. He said that in today’s stressful world, yoga holds the key for well-being. Andhra Pradesh will be a trendsetter on international Yoga day, he said, and added that the ‘proof of concept’ will start from the state compelling other states to follow.

 

An ardent practitioner of yoga, Naidu recollected how he encouraged sessions and workshops by noted yoga gurus. He praised PM Modi for elevating yoga to the world stage. “Thanks to PM Modi, the world has once again come to appreciate the value of yoga,” he said.

 

The state government will also aim to train 10 lakh individuals in yoga, and issue certificates to them.

India