DNA Edit: Yoga for good life - Spiritual practice gaining more ground across world

Since the International Day of Yoga was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015, it has come a long way, and it now holds special significance in many parts of the world.

Much has been talked about this ancient practice that works positively on one’s body and mind in several ways. There have also been debates about who bent the Western world towards this ancient spiritual practice and who sullied its name.

The famous story about BKS Iyengar lulling an insomniac Yehudi Menuhin into a deeply restorative yoga nidra in the 1950s and converting the musical genius into a lifetime practitioner is not unknown. The epitome of this devotion is captured in a photograph snapped in 1982: The maestro conducts the Berlin Philharmonic while in shirshasana. Bikram Choudhary is credited with spreading a more aggressive love for asanas through Los Angeles’ glittering class in the 1970s. But, in his pursuit of the physical and worldly benefits, Choudhary tainted the venerable guru-shishya relationship.

In Iyengar yoga, the guru’s instructions make you conscious and non-self-unconscious about your body at the same time. Following the UN resolution, several renowned spiritual leaders in India hailed the efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who in his UN address suggested June 21 to be celebrated as what is today popularly known as Yoga Day.

The theme of the 5th Yoga Day, the main event of which was held in Ranchi with PM Modi leading a crowd of around forty thousand people, was ‘Yoga for Heart’. Modi said that the government has been working to make yoga a pillar of preventive healthcare.

He stressed that for yoga to become popular, infrastructure for it must be strengthened and the government was working towards it. As the practice is celebrated around the world, there’s a reason to believe that the Sanskrit-derived word Yoga — ‘Yuj’ meaning “to join” or “to unite” — has come full circle.