Bulawayo on Sunday joined the rest of the world in celebrating International Day of Yoga, which was designated by the United Nations more than 10 years ago.
Hosted by the Indian embassy, the event attracted a significant number of people from all walks of life at the Cricket Academy Excellence in Suburbs, including the Indian ambassador to Zimbabwe Bramha Kumar, Industry deputy minister Rajesh Indukant Modhi and Minister of State for Bulawayo Province Judith Ncube.
While welcoming the ambassador, Ncube went down memory lane to the days when she worked for the city council and engaged in mental wellness activities with the community.
“We dealt with mentally ill patients, who were helped both physically and mentally through yoga and meditation with the help of Sister Urvashi, who led the final meditation today,” she said.
Ncube also indicated that she would like work with the organisers in future celebrations to attract a huge turnout for such events. The ambassador said India wanted to grow its relations with Zimbabwe.
“I am very happy to know that Zimbabwe is the Sadc chair, so we are looking forward to their contribution in correlation with this because India has been able to get the African Union in the G20 summit,” Kumar said.
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“Now they are a fully-fledged G20 member and since Sadc is close to the AU, I look forward to how we can strengthen our relations and be able to push for the emotional and mental well-being of our people.
“We are ready and willing to also contribute in our way.”
Ward 2 Councillor Adrian Moyo who represented mayor David Coltart described yoga as educational and enlightening.
“I learnt a lot especially with focus, balance and wellness. It gave me a deeper understanding of the indian culture as well, so this was also a good cultural exchange.
“The session was important, if you look at the modern day challenges that everyone is grappling with mental health while lacking adequate spaces to address the challenges.
“So yoga compensates for some of those needs”.
Mhodi quoted India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed the UN general assembly in 2014 where he spoke of the benefits of yoga and stated that, “by changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change".
