International Yoga Day 2018 updates: Venkaiah Naidu says he wants yoga to become people's movement

Smriti Irani, Manohar Lal Khattar join celebrations in Haryana

JP Nadda performs yoga in Shimla

Union health minister JP Nadda joined Yoga Day event in Shimla where thousands of yoga enthusiasts participated. "Marching towards a healthy India," the Ministry of Health said in a tweet.

Venkaiah Naidu says he wants Yoga Day to be a people's movement

Nitish Kumar unlikely to participate in Yoga Day events in Bihar

Unlike BJP leaders, those of the JD(U) have decided to stay away from the fourth edition of the International Yoga Day celebrations. "People have been doing yoga in their homes. Yoga is a part of India' culture," JD(U) state President Vashisht Narain Singh.

JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said there should not be any politics on Yoga Day in the name of promoting it. "Yoga is a personal choice of people. It is their private decision to do yoga or not. I also do yoga at my residence daily and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar too does yoga. But we never display it in public. Doing or displaying yoga in public place is wrong," he said.

IANS

Must include yoga in our day-to-day life, says Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan joined the celebrations in Bhopal on Thursday. "Practicing yoga for a day won't make any difference. We should include yoga in our daily life. The state will be healthy if we are healthy. This way, the speed of development will also be faster," he said at the event.

Visuals from Dehradun's Forest Research Institute

Narendra Modi is performing yoga asanas in Uttarakhand's Dehradun with around 50 thousand volunteers to mark the 4th International Yoga Day.

'We need more yoga teachers'

"Practicing yoga has the ability to increase brotherhood. That means it needs more teachers. New institutions are being set and even technology being used for it. May this yoga day become an opportunity to deepen our connect with people. This can have an enduring impact," Narendra Modi said in Dehradun.

Asserting that yoga has "shown the way for wellness", he said, "That is why yoga is being recognised and accepted so fast everywhere."

'Yoga unites, assimilates, and heals'

Narendra Modi said that the proof of how world has embraced yoga can been seen in how International Yoga Day has been marked. "From Tokyo to Toronto, from Stockholm to Sao Paulo, yoga has become a positive influence in the lives of millions.

"Yoga is beautiful because it is ancient yet modern, constant yet evolving. It is a ray of hope for our future. In yoga we have the perfect solutions to problems we face. Ours is a world that never sleeps, there is something happening in every part of the world."

He quoted statistics on rise of diseases due to lifestyle choices. "Every year, almost 18 million people die due to heart-related diseases. 1.6 million people lose fight to diabetes. Yoga is the way to lead a calm, creative and content life. Instead of divinding, yoga also unites, instead of animosity, yoga assimilates, instead of increased suffering, yoga heals," he said.

'India's Yoga Day proposal is the first that countries co-sponsored at UN in a short period of time'

Speaking on the occasion of International Yoga Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, "In today's fast-changing times, yoga binds together a person’s body, brain, and soul, hence making one experience a feeling of peace."

He praised the role of yoga in connecting the "entire world".."When we proposed Yoga Day at the UN, it was the first proposal that countries co-sponsored in a short period of time. Nations have accepted and adopted yoga as their own," he said.

Yoga is developing life, says Narendra Modi

"Uttarakhand has been a centre of yoga for many decades. The mountains around inspire Yoga and Ayurveda here. Man experiences a divine intervention. For all Indians it is a matter of pride that wherever the sun rises, light spreads, people are welcoming the sun with yoga," Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his address in Dehradun.

"From Dehradun to Dublin, Shanghai to chicago, Jakarta to Johannesburg, there is only yoga. Be it in the Himalayas. or the acrid desert, yoga is developing life. When forces defeat us and break us, there is division within society and family. The person breaks from within, with loneliness increasing. yoga does the work of joining these pieces."