Bend it like Bengaluru: Yoga strikes a chord with fitness enthusiasts

Bengaluru: The city celebrated the ‘International Day of Yoga’ with fervour on Friday. Many organisations held public yoga sessions to promote the practice. For instance, Akshar Yoga Kendra scripted history by creating five new Guinness World Records.

Thousands of yoga practitioners and enthusiasts from different walks of life performed seven different yoga asanas, including Naukasana (Boat Pose), Kaundinyasana (Sage Kaundinya Pose), Chakrasana (Wheel Pose), Natrajasana (Lord Shiva Pose), and Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutation), to set the world records at an event held at the Bengaluru-based Akshar Yoga Kendra.

The record-setting feat witnessed the participation of more than 3,000 people, including members of the Indian Army, NCC, Air Force, Karnataka State Police, specially-abled persons, children from orphanages, and members of the business and corporate community.

In yet another programme organised by Sadhguru Sannidhi, Bengaluru, around 1,000 NCC cadets from five Karnataka battalions from 20 colleges in Chikkaballapura, 200 soldiers from the Madras Engineering Corps (MEG) of the Indian Army, and 120 jawans and two officers from the Subsidiary Training Center (STC), Border Security Force (BSF) participated in the yoga sessions led by Isha Hatha Yoga teachers. Speaking at the event, Air Commodore SB Arunkumar urged citizens to embrace yoga as a lifestyle choice.

“Yoga is not just a physical exercise but a holistic practice that rejuvenates the body and mind. It is a reminder that we all are connected all over the world, and through Yoga, we can transcend barriers and come together as one global family,” he said.

Organisations such as the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) also participated in the day’s events. More than 800 IAF personnel and their families from Air Force Station, Jalahalli, and 1,900 Agniveervayu and trainees, along with foreign trainees from fourteen countries, enthusiastically participated in the celebrations, according to a statement by the IAF, Bengaluru.