KATHMANDU – Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has underscored the need to practice and promote yoga and mediation to stop cultural decadence.
Addressing the yoga session organized virtually by the Main Organizing Committee here today, PM Oli urged the concerned authority to incorporate yoga education and practice in the curriculum from the school level to keep the cultural richness intact.
Urging the yoga gurus and instructors to train the yog enthusiasts modifying the practices (if need be) to make one more committed towards truth and integrity, Oli asserted, “Yoga is not any superstition. It is a cleansing of the mind and thought. It is a discipline. The trade and show-off in the name of yoga should not be given any space and consideration.”
The PM also pledged to enable a situation where all the eligible beneficiaries of COVID-19 vaccines would be vaccinated so that both the yoga trainers and practitioners could perform yoga in the open spaces without wearing facial masks unlike this year due to COVID-19.
Claiming that Nepal was cradle for yoga and meditation as ancient sages had meditated and practiced yoga in this soil, the Head of the Government said that the government was effortful to make yoga more global.
On the occasion, Minister for Education, Science and Technology Krishna Gopal Shrestha shared that yoga education related curriculum was ready to be incorporated in the course book from grade 4. Yoga education would be promoted in schools very soon, he said.
Likewise, Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Umashankar Argaria said that an action-plan would be put in place to devise yoga as a tourism product.
Similarly, Yoga Guru Swani Ananda Arun floated the idea of proposing the international communities to observe Buddha Purnima or any other appropriate day as the World Meditation Day. Yoga guru Dr Hari Prasad Pokharel said that yoga was the supreme awareness and it would unravel diversity and unity alike.
June 21 each year is celebrated as the International Day of Yoga since 2015 following its inception in the United Nations General Assembly in the previous year. Today is also the longest day of the year and the Sun begins its journey towards the South Hemisphere from today. Meanwhile, the National Yoga Day is observed in Nepal every first of Nepali month Magh.
