About 150 Gothenburgers practised yoga in the open air by Götaplatsen, the cultural epicentre of Gothenburg aka Göteborg the second the largest city of Sweden, as a curtain raiser to the International Yoga Day on June 21. The yoga session was an introduction to those who were not practising yoga and for those it was a chance to practice with others in the open-air.
The yoga session lasted for almost two hours led by Sandeep Erat representing Art of Living, he is a yoga practitioner and trainer in Gothenburg. The event was organised with the help of Indian Embassy in Sweden, Rang (Chalmers), Art of Living and RKM Acharya Gothenburg.
Leif Nilsson is practising yoga – meditation and breathing techniques – for more than ten years. He said, the awareness of yoga is becoming pronounced since the world started celebrating International Yoga Day on June 21 as declared by the United Nations and an initiative taken by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. For Leif, yoga is to put emphasis on the importance for peace of mind. He said, “It is necessary for me to do to get energy, energy to move through life. It is so important to practice yoga every day especially the breathing techniques to calm the mind and to be focussed.”
Sandeep is inspired the teachings of Sr Sri Ravi Shankar and his Art of Living. He sees yoga as the vehicle to promote violence-free and stress-free world. “We are striving towards a peaceful society for that we are putting lot of effort to bring awareness (to) people on healthy living and healthy mind. For healthy living and healthy mind, it is so important, for that yoga and meditation are very important. So we are helping to bring equilibrium in the society,” Sandeep Erat said.
Art of Living is a non-profit organization founded in 1981 by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. The organization offers educational and self-development programs among them are meditation and yoga for a stress-free life and for peace and wellbeing.
