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BEIJING, June 22 (Xinhuanet) -- China has also joined in the global celebrations for International Yoga Day, with the first India-China International Yoga Festival now underway in the ancient town of Dujiangyan in Southwest China's Sichuan Province. The event has attracted thousands of enthusiasts.
Yoga is defined as the union between the individual self and the Divine… It is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice or discipline, which most likely developed around the sixth and fifth centuries BCE in ancient India's ascetic circles. During the celebration of the first International Day of Yoga, 19 top yoga instructors have come to China with their knowledge of the essence of yoga.
Various sessions are being held for Yoga practitioners, which focus on physical postures, breathing exercises, meditation and other major practices. Chinese practitioners say it is a rare opportunity in southwest China, to get to learn face-to face from India's top yoga masters.
Many say the two ancient practices - Yoga and Tai Chi have similarities, helping people seek inner peace, relaxation and achieving a "balance" between body, mind and spirit. Back in May, during Indian Prime Minister Nahendra Modi's visit to China, a joint yoga-tai chi demonstration took place at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing to show the cultural similarities between the two countries.
"When we jointly celebrate the International Day of Yoga is also about dialogues and conversation between various of different cultures of which both have very established traditions, both civilizations for more than 2,000 years, we can see nowadays, both dialogue becoming very vibrant and mutually fulfilling and enriching," said Ashok K. Kantha, Indian Ambassador to China.
For both India and China, Tai Chi and Yoga have built a cultural connection and fueled a new drive for local contact between the two. And this will benefit China and India, both economically and culturally.
(Source: CNTV.cn)
