After an exhilarating display of yoga on top of the iconic Auckland Harbour Bridge on Thursday, June 21, New Zealanders continued to roll out mats enthusiastically for the International Yoga Day celebrations over the weekend.
Over 500 Yoga enthusiasts participated in the largest ever get together in Auckland.
Leading the event from Auckland, where the majority of the Indian community is based in New Zealand, all major community organisations came together under the leadership of Indian High Commission to perform yoga at a collective event organised at Mahatma Gandhi Centre on Sunday, June 24.
Almost all the major community organisations based in Auckland – Auckland Indian Association (AIA), New Zealand Indian Central Association, Bhartiya Samaj Charitable Trust, New Zealand Telugu Association (NZTA), Telangana Association New Zealand (TANZ), Telangana Jagruthi New Zealand, Auckland Tamil Association, Auckland Malayali Samajam, Probasee Bengali Association of New Zealand, Auckland Marathi Association, Gujarati Samaj New Zealand Inc, participated in the collective endeavour.
Yoga – harmony between mind and body
Art of Living New Zealand partnered in this joint community initiative and led the way for more than 500 yoga enthusiasts present on occasion through an hour and a half long yoga session.
Representing the Indian High Commission, Hon. Consul of India, Bhav Dhillon, was also present on occasion with his wife Ruby Dhillon and performed yoga for the entire session.
Speaking to The Indian Weekender after the yoga session Mr Dhillon said, “It was a great session bringing harmony between mind and body.”
Three Kiwi-Indian MPs, Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi and Dr Parmjeet Parmar of the National Party and Priyanca Radhakrishnan of the Labour Party also attended the event and participated in the yoga session.
Mr Bakshi said, “It was a fantastic experience for everyone present here.
“As we heard people saying that they thought that the meditation session went for just 10 minutes as opposed to twenty minutes.
“It just shows how much power we have through our yoga exercises and meditation.
“It should be part of the daily routine of lives of everyone, and that’s the message from here today,” Mr Bakshi said.
Speaking to the Indian Weekender, Aruna Bhoompelly, President NZTA said, “It was an insightful session at the event, whereby learning the benefits of meditation and the techniques of controlling breadth.”
Call for frequent collective-yoga sessions
Reiterating the feeling after the high-powered yoga session, many community leaders and yoga enthusiasts told The Indian Weekender that they would instead welcome the idea of having such collective yoga sessions more often than making it a once a year affair.
Kalyan Rao Kasuganti, President Telangana Association New Zealand, said, “I would not mind of participating more often in such yoga sessions in big groups.
“It’s a different experience altogether.”
Echoing similar sentiments a community member and yoga enthusiast, Indira Patel, who participated in the session commented on The Indian Weekender coverage on social media, “Really enjoyed the exercises in such a large group.”
Blessan M. Jose, Secretary, Auckland Malayali Samajam also expressed exuberance in doing yoga along with a large number of yoga enthusiasts.
“We all know benefits of yoga that it makes our body and mind healthy.
“However, I loved to join such a fantastic crowd while doing yoga exercise.”
Food, fun, and meet and greet
The positivity and energy created during the high powered yoga session, continued much later in the day with the abundant free food and drinks, made available by the host organisation, Auckland Indian Association, which kept all guests and members of the community in good spirits.
In the end, Narendra Bhana, President Auckland Indian Association said, “Overall we had very successful International Yoga Day event at the Mahatma Gandhi Centre.
“I am very proud of our Health and Fitness Committee. I would also like to acknowledge the invaluable support we received from partnering organisations.”
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