YSS to hold special events on International Yoga Day

Ranchi: Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSS) is conducting several special programmes from June 19 to 21 to mark the International Day of Yoga. Due to the Covid pandemic, all these programmes are being conducted online.

Just over a 100 years ago, in the year 1920, Paramahansa Yogananda, the Guru and founder of YSS, started his pioneering work of revealing to the West the power of yoga-meditation – especially the liberating path of Kriya Yoga. His lifelong endeavour to spread this message made yoga so well known in the West that he was often referred to as the "Father of Yoga in the West." It was largely due to the efforts of pioneering saints like him that six years ago the United Nations dedicated June 21 as the International Day of Yoga.

The interest in yoga has markedly increased during these last 18 months of global calamity, because just like light dispels darkness, so also the sacred science of yoga, which milleniums ago was born in India, is sending its peaceful rays in all the lands of the world and dispelling the gloom cast over this earth by the corona pandemic. For this reason, this year the International Day of Yoga becomes doubly significant.

An introduction to meditation, which will include a session of guided meditation, will be conducted in English from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm on June 19. This programme will be conducted by the Vice-President of YSS, Swami Smaranananda Giri. In this programme, the basic concepts of meditation such as posture, breathing techniques and affirmations will be taught. The programme is designed to introduce meditation to newcomers. On June 20, a programme will be held from 5 pm to 6 pm. The General Secretary of YSS, Swami Ishwarananda Giri, will conduct this session in Hindi. Along with introduction to meditation, there will be a session of guided meditation, in which the basic principles of correct posture, breathing technique and affirmations will be taught. The programme is designed to introduce meditation to newcomers.

On June 21, on which falls the International Day of Yoga, there will be a satsanga by Swami Chaitanyananda Giri on the topic "Yoga is for All," from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm, which will be in English. He will explain the reason behind the universal appeal of yoga and will also teach the basic steps of meditation.