Yoga remains ray of hope as world fights COVID: Modi

Yoga remains a “ray of hope” as the world fights the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday as he stressed the importance of the ancient practise as a “source of inner strength” difficult times.

Addressing the 7th International Yoga Day programme, Modi said that in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), India will soon launch an M-Yoga application, which will have many videos of yoga training based on Common Yoga Protocol available in different languages of the world.

“This will help us in making the One World, One Health motto successful,” he said.

Also watch: Beat COVID quarantine with yoga

Modi said there may not have been any major public events in countries around the world for more than a year, but the enthusiasm for Yoga Day has not diminished. For most of the countries of the world, Yoga Day is not their age-old cultural festival and in this difficult time, people could have forgotten about it and ignored it, but on the contrary, people’s enthusiasm for yoga has increased, he said.

“When the unseen coronavirus knocked on the doors of the world, no country was prepared for it in terms of resources, capability and mental state. We all have seen that in such difficult times, yoga has become a great source of inner strength,” he said. Yoga shows us the way from stress to strength and from negativity to creativity, he asserted.

Modi said that that medical science focuses as much on “healing” as on treatment, and said yoga plays a role in healing. “Many schools now begin their online classes with yogic exercises like pranayam,” he said, adding that this prepares children physically to deal with COVID. The prime minister expressed confidence that yoga will continue playing its preventive, as well as promotive role in healthcare of masses.

(With inputs from agencies)