— Yoga has become a source of inner strength among people amid the novel coronavirus pandemic and inculcated faith in them that they could fight the virus.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said this in his televised address to the nation on the occasion of the 7th Edition of International Day of Yoga (IDY) celebrated today (June 21),
“Yoga not only focuses on physical health but also mental health. During COVID, several studies are going on, researching the benefits of yoga on our body and immunity,” said Modi, who is considered as the living testament on the benefits of yoga.
Like pointed out by Modi, a Malaysian Yoga master SK Durai also concurred that at a time when the COVID-19 affects the lungs most, breathing exercises to strengthen the lungs, besides improving functionality of the respiratory organs can help.
“Some breathing exercises generate heat in the lungs, which helps to keep the lungs free from diseases.
“In yogic context, the principle is simple. Heat destroys diseases, cold invites diseases. Movement is health, stagnancy is sickness.
“So, by working the lungs repeatedly through various breathing practices, movement creates heat, and heat destroys diseases and thus combating COVID-19 is possible,” Durai who is also the Director of Sakthi School of Yoga told Bernama through WhatsApp.
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) had, on December 11, 2014, declared June 21 as the IDY.
Commenting further, the 36-year-old yoga practitioner said COVID-19 is a respiratory disease particularly striking the lungs where the infection starts from the upper respiratory tract and sometimes in severe cases travels down all the way up to the tiny air sacs known as alveoli, making breathing impossible.
“When breathing becomes impossible, the body loses its ability to function in its optimum level, thus shutting down the organs and the body subsequently fails,” he said.
The yoga guru also advised people from all walks of life to embrace yoga in this trying times as it keeps one’s internal organs and mind rejuvenated and refreshed through the extension, contraction, twisting, inversion, and other type of movements.
He said the body ands mind made up of many components, adding that only when all the components work in unison with one another, total health is possible.
The yoga practitioner, who is trained under BNS Iyengar, a living legend in yoga based in Mysore, Karnataka, India opined that yoga should be taught at preschool level to develop self-discipline among children.
He said the principles of yoga teaches a child to be kind, to have discipline, to practice moderation and to speak the truth.
“Wouldn’t we want a child to have all this qualities? On top of that, with a body that is super healthy maintained through the practice of asanas, and the mind with super clarity maintained through the practice of pranayama (breathing exercise), imagine the potential of this child? Every child would be a prodigy,” he added.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency