Today, 21st of June, is International Day of Yoga 2021.
I’m not usually into celebrating #days, they feel like an artificial construct formulated for social media.
But I feel like this year we need any excuse we can to celebrate yoga, which has helped many people through the past 15 months.
The theme for this year is ‘Yoga for Well-being’ which is another buzzword that is bandied around a lot.
Really yoga is ‘Yoga for Being’, and we find out whether we’re feeling well or not through the being.
How Yoga can Unite Us
But despite my cynicism, International Yoga Day feels important this year.
Another reason it’s more important than ever to celebrate yoga, is because celebrations bring us together.
Today was also meant to mark the end of all Covid-19 restrictions in the UK, and although many of us felt that was a possibly unrealistic goal, it’s still been a blow to many people and industries to have that freedom taken away from us again.
The celebrations that we have had on hold must wait a while longer.
Instead of coming together physically, we can unite virtually in our appreciation of an ancient practice which gives us so much.
Iyengar Yoga
For me personally, I am grateful for Iyengar yoga. At the recent Iyengar Yoga (UK) convention, Abhijata Iyengar (BKS’s granddaughter) told a virtual gathering of over a thousand people that yoga brings us together in hope, strength and courage. Her words and her teaching made me feel part of a greater whole.
It’s not a perfect methodology, and there are divisions in yoga, just as there are in the world. But yoga gives us the tools to become unified within ourselves, and from there we have a chance of being more open to others.
Sequence for Today
Geeta Iyengar was also slightly reticent about the idea of an International Yoga Day. Back in 2015 when the first one happened she said, “For us, every day is yoga day.” But in honour of Guruji, she composed this sequence below.
If you can’t find time to do the whole sequence, then perhaps just choose three of four poses and do them a few times. Be fully present and be grateful for the practice that gives us so much.
