Week-long International Yoga festival held in Rishikesh

Rishikesh (Uttarakhand): Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on March 1 inaugurated the week-long 29th annual, world-famous International Yoga Festival (IYF) international yoga festival in Rishikesh's Parmarth Niketan.

The IYF offers daily classes from 4 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. with more than 80 revered saints, yogacharyas, presenters and experts from nearly 20 countries around the world. There are also classes in meditation, mudras, Sanskrit chanting, reiki, Indian philosophy and spiritual discourses to be held by revered spiritual leaders from India and abroad.

Ashtanga Yoga, Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Iyengar Yoga, Vinyasa Yoga, Bharat Yoga, Ganga Yoga, and Somatics Yoga are just a few of the nearly 200 different offerings throughout the week.

The Festival was officially inaugurated by President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu at a ceremony that included congratulatory statements from Uttarakhand Governor KK Paul, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, Union Minister of Tourism, Alphons Kannanthanam, and many more as well as the participation of numerous renowned faith leaders, dignitaries and yogacharyas from nearly 20 countries across the world.

The official inauguration of the event saw a beautiful and colorful tapestry of participants representing the world's faiths, nations, cultures, races and regions as Argentinians, Afghans, Israelites, Iranians, Japanese, Kenyans, Italians, Americans, Yemenis and people from numerous other nations formed bonds of togetherness under the common flag of yoga, on the banks of the sacred River Ganga, in the World Capital of Yoga.

Last year, H.H. Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji, President of Parmarth Niketan and Founder of the International Yoga Festival, and Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswatiji, Director of the International Yoga Festival, led International Yoga Day events at the United Nations in New York.