Yogis Take to the Charles Bridge for Summer Solstice Tradition

International Yoga Day is celebrated around the world every year on the summer solstice on June 21.

Four hundred yoga fans gathered on Charles Bridge in Prague on Tuesday morning. They spread out their mats and all started training together to celebrate International Yoga Day.

The exercise began at five o’clock in the morning and lasted about an hour.

“The whole sequence was a symbol of the solstice. It was based on Greetings to the Sun exercises and their variations. Each trainer received a yoga book and a candle as a gift,” the event organizer Adéla Porubská told TN.cz.

The exercise was accompanied directly on the bridge by pianist Karel Havlíček. “The whole thing underlined Czech history. We were on Charles Bridge, we played Czech music on Czech piano,” added Porubská.

The International Day of Yoga has been celebrated annually on June 21 since 2015, following its inception in the United Nations General Assembly in 2014.

The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in his UN address in 2014, had suggested the date of June 21, as it is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and shares a special significance in many parts of the world.

Practiced in India since the 5th century, Yoga has been beneficial in keeping the body and mind in sound health. A holistic approach, Yoga targets all the different systems of the body and mind.

It is said that the asanas make the body strong and flexible, as health improves; the mind too is renewed with confidence. The practice of Pranayama regulates the purification of the internal system and the organs, acting as a superior and able supplement to asanas. The energy that is generated in the body through these physical practices is then channeled into meditation or Dhyan for stability, peace and calm.

Photo: Lukáš Bíba

Photo: Lukáš Bíba