IDY 2023 with Yoga in Daily Life – Part 4
The 9th International Day of Yoga was commemorated in the week of 21st of June and Yoga in Daily Life centres, ashrams, teachers and students celebrated again this year, offering and taking part in free yoga classes, events and public programs in many countries around the world for this special occasion.
Here in Part 2 you can see how Yoga in Daily Life was celebrated in Serbia, United Kingdom and USA.
See Part 1 for an introduction to IDY and reports from other countries, and also Part 2 and Part 3.
Serbia
NOVI SAD
From the very beginning, in 2015, the International Day of Yoga has been celebrated by the Association of Yoga in Daily Life Serbia. It actively participates and organises various programs in cooperation with the Embassy of India in Belgrade.
It was the same this year, when the YIDL centre organised three different programs during the previous weekend, on 17 and 18 June.
On Saturday, inside our Yoga Centre, the organisers showed a video lecture by the author of the Yoga in Daily Life System, Vishwaguruji Paramhans Swami Maheshwarananda.
On Sunday, yoga enthusiasts practised yoga outdoors, in the New Park in Novi Sad, and visited children without parental care in the Children's Village in Sremska Kamenica and gifted them presents collected by the practitioners and members of the Association. On that occasion, the Peace Tree planted by Vishwaguruji in the Children's Village in 2010, was also visited and participants remembered Vishwaguruji's message written under the Peace Tree: "Peace in the world begins in your heart."
United Kingdom
LONDON
On the warm Summer Solstice evening of 21 June, some practitioners of Yoga in Daily Life in London celebrated IDY indoors and some came together outdoors.
A group of YIDL-UK members and teachers met at the World Peace Tree in Queens Park and practised yoga asanas and meditation together in the sunshine. And at the nearby Salusbury Rooms, a free Beginners Yoga class was offered to regular yoga students and members of the public, where, as well as practising Level 1 asanas and pranayama techniques, the teacher gave readings of yoga inspiration from Vishwaguruji for physical and spiritual health and well-being.
SCOTLAND
Our YIDL teacher in Scotland offered two free one-hour online classes on the evening of 21 June, Yoga For All at 6pm and Mindful Breathing & Meditation at 8pm. The first class was based on asanas and pranayama practice from Levels 1-3 of the Yoga in Daily Life System, and included Surya Namaskar, salute to the sun, on this longest day of the year. The second class focused on using the breath to calm and focus the mind and feel present in the body. Then during meditation, awareness was brought to a sense of gratitude in the heart centre, for having the techniques of yoga and meditation in our lives, as passed on by masters, generation after generation, over the millennia, helping us to live life as humans in a harmonious and healthy way with ourselves, with others and with our environment.
Both classes attracted a mixed group of people of varying ages and experience, who attended via Zoom from all over Scotland and a few locations in England.
USA
NEW YORK
Kripadevi, board member and main representative of Sri Swami Madhavananda World Peace Council (SSMWPC) at the United Nations in New York, joined the celebration of 2023 World Yoga Day at the United Nations NY Headquarters, which was graced with the presence of the Prime Minister of India, Sri Narendra Modi Ji.
In the early morning hours of the summer solstice, thousands of people from 135 nationalities, joined by UN officials and diplomats, gathered on the North Lawn to practise yoga together as one family. The 2023 IDY theme 'Yoga for Vasudev Kutumbakam' (Yoga for 'The World is One Family’) was echoed in the addresses of Prime Minister Modi Ji, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi, and New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
At this event, Kripadevi also met with Bawa Jain Ji, the Secretary-General for the World Council of Religious Leaders, a long-time collaborator with SSMWPC. Prime Minister Modi Ji set and example by practising amidst the large gathering of Yoga practitioners.
ATLANTA
Organisers and teachers from YIDL Atlanta offered a free yoga class in the George Pierce Park in Buford, on the evening of 21 June, in cooperation with Gwinnett Parks and recreation. Yoga students and members of the public joined the celebration of IDY by practising yoga together outside.
WASHINGTON DC
Members and representatives from SSMWPC and Yoga in Daily Life in Alexandria/Washington DC also offered free IDY programs and participated in local IDY events.