Feb 17th 2013
Yoga Bharati completed yet another successful SuryaNamaskar Yagna (SNY) in 2013. The closing ceremony for the yagna was held simultaneously in two locations in the Bay area – Sunnyvale Hindu Temple and Fremont Hindu Temple on Sunday Feb 17th at 7am. Close to 100 enthusiastic Suryanamaskar yagna participants attended the SNY closing ceremony at both locations.
The program began with the invocation Sahanavavatu followed by a yoga class conducted with the focus on performing Suryanamaskars with Beeja mantras. This was followed by the announcement of key statistics related to the SuryaNamaskar Yagna participation and performance for SNY 2013. Yoga Bharati is pleased to report that more than 120,000 Suryanamaskars were performed by over 600 dedicated participants throughout US and Canada. Additionally, over 100 people participated in Suryanamaskar Cohort Pilot Research study as research subjects. Several people came forward to share their experiences with the yagna and some of their testimonies are listed at the end of this article.
To highlight Swami Vivekananda’s 150th Birth Anniversary, youth yoga teachers of the Bay Area presented a short panel discussion at each location on some of the most popular quotes of Swamiji. They were guided by YIC Faculty member Savitha Nanjangud.
The youth selected the quotes that appealed to them the most and that were most applicable to their daily lives. They took turns explaining the quotes and relating them to real life examples and how Yoga Bharati was attempting to apply these ideas through all its activities. For example, one of the quotes they presented was “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success that is way great spiritual giants are produced”. The youth connected this idea with Yoga Bharati’s recent event – Yoga Sangam – International Yoga Conference, Sep 2012, which was a remarkable success. They explained how the volunteers took up one idea – the Conference – and how they lived and worked on that one idea until it was a grand success.
Youth panel discussion was followed by the announcement of Yoga Bharati’s events and activities such as ongoing free public classes, Yoga Teachers Training for adults and youth, Sevathon Run, Yoga for various ailments, prenatal and kids yoga classes offered by Yoga Bharati. Snacks were waiting for the participants at the end of the event. This was followed by the collection of Anthropometric measurements from SNY research subjects by Yoga Bharati research coordinators.