The main qualification you need to have for yoga to dawn is you must love yourself. When you love yourself, you will start investing time for yourself. When you love yourself, you will be mindful of what you eat, how you socialise, and how you utilise your time. When you start looking after yourself you will realise that unless the surroundings are conducive you cannot look after yourself. This pushes you to look after and enrich your surroundings as well. Soon you realise that your surroundings cannot be immune from the global influence. A sincere practitioner of yoga does not want to be influenced by global trends but wants to set a positive trend at a global level. When you love yourself you will love the whole world.

Connecting yourself from the micro level to the macro level is the purpose behind celebrating the International Day of Yoga. As individual humans, we are tiny insignificant puny. But when we expand ourselves by connecting with universal energy we get empowered with a boost of energy.

• Yoga is not just inhaling and exhaling and moving your diaphragm like bellows.
• Yoga is not just living for long as some trees do by living for centuries.
• Yoga does not mean becoming busy in life till you retire as machines do.
• Yoga is not a religion but is the basis for all religions.
• Yoga is a unique contribution from the sages of India to the whole of humanity. Sages of yore developed the yoga system for the sustainability of this planet.
• Yoga means balance. A balanced life is a must for sustainable living. A balanced life is a must for peace and harmony in the world.
• Yoga enables us to express well physically, mentally, and spiritually.

To express ourselves well physically, we must understand our anatomy and physiology. Asana helps in connecting and strengthening all limbs in the body. Through the pranayama techniques, we oxygenate the blood, strengthen the nerves, and detoxify the body and mind. Through pranayama, the mind is calmed and the clarity in thinking improves. A still mind helps in diving deep within which enables us to connect to our spiritual roots.

The practice of yoga improves resilience at multiple levels of our personality. Body resilience minimises physical injuries. Mental resilience helps us to handle the challenges in life without buckling down in life. Spiritual resilience helps us to remain focused and move towards the goal of our life.

Last week one of my students who oversees a gurukul called me saying that there was a water shortage, and he was getting the borewell on the premises. According to the experts, the water table was about 300 feet deep. But when borewell drilling started at 300 feet he came across the rock. At that time, he remembered my words and did not get disheartened and continued with drilling till he found the bottom of the rock at 600 feet deep. There he stuck with sweet water enough to irrigate 4 acres of land.

International Day of Yoga is not a one-day affair. Yoga is a tapas and commitment to life. Many hurdles and distractions will come but with perseverance and patience continue your practice. With my yoga sadhana and by dedicating my life to tapas I am blessed to irrigate the hearts of many and quench the inner thirst of thousands across the world.

Make yoga your lifelong companion. Health is the best gift we can have. Mental health is a big challenge across the world. Yoga is the need of the day to make us physically healthy, mentally balanced, emotionally stable, and spiritually connected. Such an enriched person becomes an asset to the whole world and such a person alone can boost the morale of humanity.

The world is looking at you for a boost of energy. Come let us join hands to infuse positive energy so that this world becomes a better place to live.

Vasudeva Kriya Yoga started 14 years ago in Melbourne with a mission to enable holistic health and well being for all through Yoga. In our classes we cover both the theory and practice of yoga including asanas, pranayamas, kriyas, mudras, shastras and meditation techniques.

Vasudeva Kriya Yoga has been celebrating International Day of Yoga every year since its inception 4 years ago.

• In 2015, we organised a public function to celebrate the 1st International Day of Yoga which was attended by hundreds of Yoga Enthusiasts. We collaborated with Consulate General of India in Melbourne and organised Surya Namaskara on the foot steps of Victorian Parliament making our mark in this worldwide phenomenon.
• The following year, in 2016, along with the public function, we celebrated 2nd International Day of Yoga inside the Victorian Parliament in collaboration with India Australia Exchange Forum. MPs Ted Baillieu and John Pesutto were among the enthusiastic participants. We were also invited by Durga Mandir, Rock Bank to celebrate this momentous day in the temple premises.
• In the year 2017, we continued our tradition of organising the public function. This time, we were fortunate enough to get independently invited by the Victorian Parliament to celebrate the 3rd International Day of Yoga inside the Parliament. Rajendraji was able to successfully convey the message “Health Care over Medicare” to the Parliamentarians.
• This year, like every other year, we’ll be organising public functions in Springers Leisure Centre and Durga Mandir. We’ll be celebrating the 4th International Day of Yoga in an invite-only event at Victorian Parliament. In addition, we are proud to announce that this year, for the first time, we will be celebrating this year’s International Day of Yoga inside the Australian Federal Parliament. Several Federal MPs and Honorable Ministers are expected to attend this event and we are very much looking forward to its grand success.