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IT IS a thing of joy as Indians celebrated their seventh International Day of Yoga after the fear of the coronavirus pandemic in the area.

  Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is known to be a Yoga enthusiast, also avoided a mass session but rather chose to address the nation virtually to mark the occasion.

   Modi who has been promoting Yoga over the years, often describe the occasion as India’s gift to the world.

   Addressing the citizens during the event, he said it had become a ray of hope for millions living in the middle of the pandemic.

  In his word, “No country was prepared when Covid-19 emerged. In these tough times, we all saw that yoga became a huge source of self-confidence”.

  Also, President Ram Nath Kovind also held a private yoga session at the presidential palace and several members of Mr Modi’s cabinet held similar events with him across the country.

  Mr Kovind stated that yoga was a “unique gift of India to humanity”.

  Officials and ministers in the country used the opportunity to urged the citizenry to take yoga practice seriously  advising them to avoid big gatherings as the country is just coming out from a deadly second wave of the pandemic.

  They recalled how thousands of people died of the virus as hospitals struggled to cope with the influx of patients adding that the country is now slowly opening up as the number of cases has been consistently dropping in the last two weeks.

  Meanwhile, the ancient tradition which was once the preserve of gurus has now become a worldwide phenomenon. Every year, practitioners all over the world bring out their mats on 21 June to show their love for yoga.

  The UN declared in 2015 that 21 June every year would be marked as the Yoga Day which this year’s theme focused on “yoga for well-being”.

   It is noted that yoga can promote the holistic health of every individual amid the pandemic thus added that it played a significant role in the psycho-social care and rehabilitation of COVID-19 patients in quarantine and isolation.