America
30,000 bring yogic calm to the frenetic 'Crossroads of the World'
By
By Arul LouisNew York, June 22
A yogic calm settled on the
frenetic "Crossroads of the World", Times Square, on Sunday as 30,000
people thronged its plazas for an hour of yoga practice, an assembly
exceeded only by the 36,000 on New Delhi's Raj Path.
They held
their breath for a lot longer than the fabled "New York Minute",
breathed out, stretched, bent, knelt and raised their faces heavenwards,
bringing a collective calm to the heart of the city and joined millions
around the world in celebrating the International Day of Yoga.
And
their's was the world in microcosm: Whites, Africans, Indians, Latinos,
Middle Easterners and East Asians were there. And reflecting UN
Secretary-General's words, "Yoga does not discriminate (and) to varying
degrees, all people can practice", there were the youth, the old, the
frail, the spritely, the heavy-set and those with sculpted physiques.
Times
Square Alliance President Tim Tompkins had earlier described the moment
as bringing "mind over madness", referring to the "crazy pace of life
in the US".
Evidence of that rush was in evidence around the yoga
practitioners as giant billboards blared out their advertising in bold
LED colours. People dressed in comic characters from movies hustled
tourists for pictures.
And incongruity of yoga in a commercial
atmosphere was in the made-in-China orange yoga mats distributed to the
participants and the Japanese restaurant offering yoga-themed sake
specials for yoga day.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj,
who spoke at the end of the first yoga performance, called yoga a great
anti-depressant, helping people stressed out in the unrelenting fast
pace of modern life.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, the Art of Living
guru, explained how in his view yoga contributes to global amity: "Inner
peace leads to world peace".
He said that they US spends about $40 billion on anti-depressants and yoga could help cut this down.
Later in the evening he was to lead a meditation by 5,500 people at the Avery Fisher Hall.
To accommodate the overflow crowds, Times Square held another round of yoga exercises in the afternoon.
(Arul Louis can be contacted at [email protected])