• Two more sessions on June 10 and 17
• City had entered Guinness World Records last year

Mysuru:  Amidst uncertainty and doubt that this year’s International Day of Yoga (IDY) on June 21 will not be held in the Yoga capital of the world, Mysuru, but in  Dehradun, the capital of Uttarakhand, more than 1,000 people gathered at the Mysore Palace to practice yoga asanas, yesterday morning.

Last year during the third IDY, Mysuru had the distinction of breaking the record and entering the Guinness World Records with 55,506 yoga enthusiasts (a single largest gathering at one place) participating at the 139 acre Mysore Race Course.

The District Administration, however, is going ahead with its preparations for this year’s celebrations and as a prelude nearly 1,100 yoga enthusiasts participated in the mini practice session.

The session was organised by Department of AYUSH, SPYSS, Patanjali Organisation, Mysuru Yoga Federation and Mysuru Sports Foundation.

The participants performed different asanas and sent a message that they were preparing for IDY. The participants arrived at the venue as early as 6 am in the numbing cold. However, the public was not aware of this practice session. Only a few yoga shaalas were informed orally about the session. The organisers were happy that in spite of this, a large number of yoga enthusiasts   had come.

The session began with a prayer for one minute and later for four minutes, the 17 asanas required to be performed to loosen the limbs were performed.

After this, for 25 minutes various types of asanas like  tadasana, vrikshasana, pada hastasana, ardha chakrasana, trikonasana, samadandasana, vakrasana, makarasana, ardha ushtrasana, shashankasana, uttana mandukasana, vajrasana, sarala bhujangasana, shalbhasana, ardha halasana, pavana muktasana, shavasana and another 19 asanas were performed.

After this, for another 14 minutes kapalabathi, naadishodhana pranayama, sheethali pranayama, brahmari pranayama and meditation were performed to end the first practice session.

Two more sessions on June 10, 17

There will be two more practice sessions to be held on June 10 and 17. In these two sessions, more participants are expected to participate. It is said that already more than 4,000 people have registered for the IDY    on June 21.

AYUSH Department Director Dr. B.S. Seethalakshmi, Information and Public Relations Assistant Director Raju, Nehru Yuva Kendra Coordinator M.N. Nataraj, SPYSS Chief Dr. Maruthi, Srihari of GSS Foundation, Ranganath, Mysuru Yoga Foundation’s B.P. Murthy, Shantharamu, Mysuru Yoga Sports Club Chief Dr. Ganesh Kumar, Pathanjali’s Ratna Rao and others participated.