Yoga is an invaluable ancient Indian practice with numerous benefits to both physical and mental health. It not only unites our body, mind and soul but it is a panacea that prevents and cures ailments, maintains our health, establishes peace, harmony and unity in diversity. The core purpose of International Day of Yoga is to create mass awareness regarding the Health Benefits of Yoga for the people. The IYD has evolved into India’s most significant public health initiative taken by the Government of India by shaping it into a form of a mass movement.

ICAR-Central Institute for Women in Agriculture (ICAR-CIWA) Bhubaneswar celebrated International Day of Yoga on 21st June 2022 with the theme “Yoga for Humanity”. As a part of celebration a session on “Meditation: A simple, fast way to reduce stress” was organized on 17.06.2022 for the staff of the institute. The session was facilitated by Sister B. K. Durgesh Nandini Chaudhury, Brahma Kumaris, Unit-8 Bhubaneswar. She delivered a presentation on “Reducing Stress through Meditation” and also demonstrated various activities for alleviating stress in our day to day life.  

Yoga” has been derived from Sanskrit that means to join or to unite, symbolising the union of body and mind. On 21st June 2022, the International Day of Yoga was celebrated by organizing a Yoga Session under the guidance of Mr. Prince Parija, a Retired IAF Air Warrior and Yoga Expert. The programme began with welcome address by Dr. A. K. Panda, Nodal IYD. Dr. Anil Kumar, Director, in his speech stress upon the need to practice yoga everyday to maintain calm, reduce stress and increase work efficiency. He also urged the staff members for practising Yoga on a regular basis to keep themselves healthy. Later Various Yoga Asanas and Pranayamas were demonstrated and conducted by Yoga expert. All the Scientific, Technical and Administrative staff of ICAR-CIWA were enthusiastically participated in the program. The Expert also answered various queries raised by the staff on the benefits of specific Asanas & Pranayams on physical as well as mental health. Handouts/Booklets on importance of yoga released by Ministry of AYUSH (Govt of India) were distributed among the staff.