“In America is the place, the people, the opportunity for everything new,” wrote Swami Vivekananda before he left India in 1893. Vivekananda had learned from his guru, Sri Ramakrishna, that the world’s religions “are but various phases of one eternal religion” and that spiritual essence could be transmitted from one person to another. He set about to bring that transmission to our shores. His first speech was at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. “Sisters and brothers of America,” he began, and the audience was on its feet, giving him a standing ovation. Our love affair with the East was born, and so began a steady stream of Eastern ideas flowing west. 
In 1920 Paramahansa Yogananda came to address a conference of religious liberals in Boston. He had been sent by his guru, the ageless Babaji, to “spread the message of kriya yoga to the West.” Although his early works had unpromising titles like Recharging Your Business Battery out of the Cosmos, his 1946 Autobiography of a Yogi (Self-Realization Fellowship) remains a spiritual classic.
Then in 1924 the United States immigration service imposed a quota on Indian immigration, making it necessary for Westerners to travel to the East to seek teachings. One of the earliest of these was Theos Bernard, who returned from India in 1947 and published Hatha Yoga: The Report of a Personal Experience. It was a major sourcebook for yoga in the 1950s and is still read.
That same year, Indra Devi opened a yoga studio in Hollywood. Her three popular books had housewives from New Jersey to Texas standing on their heads in their bedrooms. She was the first Westerner to study with Sri Krishnamacharya and the first to bring his lineage to the West. He went on to become the grandfather of American yoga; his students included B.K.S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, and T.K.V. Desikachar.
But the person who introduced more Americans to yoga than any other in those days was Richard Hittleman, who in 1950 returned from studies in India to teach yoga in New York. He not only sold millions of copies of his books and pioneered yoga on television in 1961, but he influenced how yoga has been taught ever since. Although he was a student of the sage Ramana Maharshi and very much a “spiritual” yogi, he presented a nonreligious yoga for the American mainstream, with an emphasis on its physical benefits. He hoped students would then be motivated to learn yoga philosophy and meditation.
Several world leaders are now practicing yoga and meditation to cope up with long hours of work and mental stress. Some of them have mastered difficult asanas also. Russian 3rd President Dmitry Medvedev has mastered shirshasana (Head-Stand Yoga) and present Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has mastered Mayurasana. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi performs yoga and meditation every day.
Michelle Obama, former First Lady of the United States, is known for her fitness and healthy lifestyle. Mrs. Obama turned 50 in 2014; she added more yoga to her fitness routine to help her stay flexible and healthy. Michelle believes that yoga can be a great way for people to stay healthy and active as they age. While Michelle Obama has been instrumental in introducing yoga inside the White House, Obama appeared to be highly impressed by the energy and vigour shown by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the US in September 2014 despite being on fast. The first lady ‘is in love’ with Indian culture. Michelle even took part in the first ever Diwali celebrations on Capitol Hill. “Yoga has become a universal language of spiritual exercise in the United States, crossing many lines of religion and cultures. Every day, millions of people practice yoga to improve their health and overall well-being.” –that was stated by the former President of the United States of America.
Since 2009, yoga has been a part of the annual White House Easter Egg Roll in the South Lawn. The Easter Egg Roll has been held there for the last 135 years and is the largest public event held at the White House. Unprecedented 30,000 families experience yoga each year with the event since 2009.
More than 30,000 enthusiasts performed yoga on UN’s first International day of yoga on 21st June 2015, at the iconic Times Square in New York.
With this, don’t you think it is time that we here in Guyana make a move to start integrating yoga in our everyday life?
The Obama family has given the traditional event a twist, turning it into an active family-oriented day, and included yoga as part of the celebration.
Let’s incorporate the same ideology in our lives.
HSS INVITES YOU TO OUR THIRD ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA CELEBRATIONS.
IT WILL BE HELD AT THE GUYANA NATIONAL STADIUM, PROVIDENCE, EAST BANK DEMERARA, JUNE 25 FROM 3PM TO 5:30PM.
LET US MAKE THOUGHTS BECOME A REALITY.
LET US BE FIT. LET US DO YOGA!!
