Yoga Bharati, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh and Hindu American Foundation with the support of more than 15 Bay Area organizations conducted the first ever International Yoga day in Baylands Park, Sunnyvale and other parts of the Bay Area. There were three events - Baylands Park, Sunnyvale, Milpitas and South San Jose. Apart from this, we also gave a whole hearted support and volunteers in SF Marina Park event led by SF Consulate. Our volunteers went to SF and conducted a mini Stress management workshop on the stage and held a booth.
Sunnyvale event included a grand Yoga Gala Event. Over 600 people attended the 4 hour event and over 100 volunteers helped in the event. The program started with a group yoga session that involved various Asanas, chanting of AUM andYoga Nidra - deep relaxation. This was followed by the speaker event where Cupertino City Council Savita Vaidhyanathan re-asserted her commitment to yoga and assured that Cupertino city will introduce yoga in their health programs. Yogashree N.V Raghuram, the spiritual founder of Yoga Bharati and professor at Swami Vivekananda Yoga Research Foundation (Bengaluru -India) gave a keynote address emphasizing the need for yoga in the present world. The partner organizations and supporting organizations endorsed their support to yoga.
The highlight of the event was a street play on Swami Vivekananda's life by over 60 children. They brought forth Vivekananda's passion and his spiritual quest. The play depicted how yoga was brought to the west by Swami Vivekananda.
ISKCON conducted a Bhakti parade at the end of the gala event. Health foods were sponsored by Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and distributed to all the participants.
We built a bigger community, robust relationships, broader agenda, a tougher willpower to lead and hold together, a larger vision and a new milestone in our journey.
Also, Thanks to over 15 supporting organizations as below.
* Yogaksema USA - Gold sponsorship
* Unish Technologies - Gold sponsorship
* Chandru Bhambra - Donation at Gold Level
Support:
* All World Gayatri Pariwar
* Balaji Temple, San Jose
* Bharati Tamil Sangam
* City of Milpitas
* City of San Jose
* Center for Spiritual Enlightenment
* ISCKON
* Isha Foundation
* Kannada Koota of Northern California
* Overseas Volunteers of Better India
* Sivananda Yoga Farm
* Samskrita Bharati USA
* Sevathon
* Sewa International
* Vedika Global
* Veerashaiva Samaja of North America