Celebrating The First International Day of Yoga

SPECIAL REPORT: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA
NASSAU, BAHAMAS
Sivananda Yoga Retreat
A beautiful, blue sky greeted us on June 21st in the Bahamas, after our meditation walk
before sunrise on the beach.
At the request of the High Commission of India, Kingston, Jamaica, Sivananda Ashram
Yoga Retreat Bahamas and the State Bank of India, Nassau partnered to host a special event
in honour of INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA.
The day’s special activities began at 8am, with 2 hours of Surya Namaskar, led by our
priest, Krishna Namboodiri, who invoked continual chanting while doing the asanas.
Seventy five guests were greeted at the Nassau Dock by senior staff member, Pranava,
and then transported by boats to Paradise Island. The local guests were then escorted to the
main platform to join vacation guests, karma yogis and staff for the welcome by senior staff
member, Rukmini. A huge banner hung from the rafters denoting the historic day and we
listened to a few opening remarks by our partner and CEO of the State Bank of India, Puneet
Narain. A meaningful talk followed by Swami Brahmananda, ‘Yoga and a Healthy Lifestyle’,
with demonstrations by senior staff member, Krishna Das.
Children’s activities, snacks and a special children’s yoga class took place while the adults
were led in a traditional yoga class. Children and parents united for a vegetarian feast
prepared with love, by our wonderful chef, Ambika and her crew of karma yogis. After some
ice cream, tours were given, providing a glance into the history and future vision for the
Ashram. It was a great day of yoga and community spirit! Special thanks to Minakshi and
Mary for their organisation and production of the event.
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL
Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre
On June 21st we celebrated the first International Yoga Day with the great
Yogic community in Tel-Aviv. The event was sponsored and organised by the
Indian embassy and the Tel-Aviv municipality.
The Day started with three yoga classes from different schools and
styles. We conducted the third class which had the highest attendance
of over 100 people, and was directed by Shankara Chaitanya and assisted
by many of our teachers. The day continued with lectures on Ayurveda,
Classical Indian Dance & Singing concerts and an address by the Indian
ambassador to Israel. In the Centre many new and old time students
came to join the yoga classes freely offered, and also for the evening
satsang dedicated to the subject of “Inspired Living through Yoga”.
The energy was very uplifting all through the day, and we thank our
Masters for being great pioneers in starting this great movement of
disseminating the knowledge of yoga far and wide, a movement that
reached such global dimensions.
32 YOGALife |Autumn/Winter 2015