CALANGUTE
Despite the hue and cry over some Catholics expressing their reservation in yoga, a sizeable number of Catholics took part in the programme at Siolim early Sunday morning.
The International Yoga Day was organised in two phases at Siolim. One session was organised at 6 am, while the other session was held at 5 pm. About 50 people took part in the morning session and an equal number took part in the evening session.
A large number of Catholics took part in the session which went on till 8 am. Notable among them was cartoonist Alexyz.
“Yoga has no religion, it has to be done to remain healthy. If we have to skip Mass to perform Yoga for a day, we not committing any mortal sin. There are people who make issues for no reason. It is upto each one to join Yoga or not,” said Lawrence Braganza, who took part with his wife, daughter-in-law and grandson for the session.
Meanwhile, though some DSE schools despite yoga not being made compulsory decided to conduct yoga programme on Monday for their students.
Most of the schools along the coastal areas, which observed yoga programme on Sunday were mostly non-DSE and private schools.
Meanwhile at another yoga programme at Kirti Vidyalaya School at Siolim, students from Std 7 and 8 attended the hour-long programmee, which comprised a talk on yoga, presentation and performing exercises.
A doctor from Siolim, Dr Anil Humraskar, gave advice on yoga to the children. “This 5000-year-old ancient tradition has been neglected by us and due to this the society has become sick not only physically, but even mentally,” he said.
He urged the students to perform yoga on a daily basis and remain healthy in body and mind. He also informed the students about some advantages of yoga and felt that yoga could even build up their mental capacity.
