There is a thing exclusive about Mali, a vast nation in West Africa, exactly where the typical folks show tremendous like for a variety of elements of Indian culture, such as music and dance. One can sense the warmth for India when speaking to Malian folks. The 7th International Day of Yoga is getting celebrated across the world on 21 June 2021.
“In Mali, several Yoga events have been held by Yoga enthusiasts across the country in cities like Segou, Kita, Timbuktu, Koulikoro, Sikasso, apart from various places in Capital Bamako, in the lead up to the International Day of Yoga,” India’s ambassador to Mali, Anjani Kumar tells TheSpuzz Online.
In view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a customary massive gathering for practising Yoga collectively to mark the occasion has been avoided and a number of smaller sized events have been held rather.
“However, to celebrate the IDY, the Embassy of India in Bamako held a restricted Yoga session at the Chancery on June 19, 2021 which was telecast live for the benefit of Yoga enthusiasts in Mali, Mauritania and across the world. The Yoga session was led by Malian Yoga Maestro Oumar Coulibaly,” the Indian envoy says.
Curiosity about Yoga in Mali
Sharing more about the awareness of Yoga in Mali, Ambassador Kumar says, “
The practise of Yoga is growing in Mali as more and more people are getting exposed to its benefits. Yoga Maestro Oumar Coulibaly, a Malian himself, has been practising Yoga since 2015. It was curiosity which brought him closer to Yoga and connected him to another Yoga teacher in Mali, Ms Sabine Kone of Switzerland, who has been living and teaching Yoga in Mali for several years.”
“Subsequently, Coulibaly was offered a scholarship by the Embassy of India to undertake the “Yoga Instructors’ Course” at S-VYASA Yoga University in Bengaluru in 2016 which he identified to be quite useful.”
Sharing his practical experience of Yoga, Ambassador Kumar says, “Although I have been exposed to Yoga since childhood, it is only after coming to Mali in 2020 that I started practicing Yoga on a sustained basis. It has now become a part of my everyday routine and I feel more relaxed, calm and focused by practicing Yoga every morning. I can happily say that I got inspired to practice Yoga after coming in contact with Oumar Coulibaly, the Malian Yoga Teacher.”
Views of Oumar Coulibaly
Oumar Coulibaly tells TheSpuzz Online, that Yoga has helped to know himself deeply and strengthen his intuitions and awareness. He says that Yoga respects that we all are folks and any individual can practise it and obtain from it. By practising Yoga, he feels content and more in manage of his feelings below diverse circumstances. It assists in discovering some of his hidden qualities and potentialities. Yoga has made him more focused, more energetic and happier as nicely.
According to Coulibaly, “Yoga contributes to overall wellness by taking care of stress, diabetes, back pain, constipation, depression, obesity, psychological problems, fear, anxiety, shyness, etc.”
He shares that he was quite shy and never ever believed there would be a resolution to overcome it. However, following practising Yoga and becoming a Yoga teacher, he feels at ease wherever he is and, more importantly, he is capable to connect with himself in the course of Yoga and meditation sessions which also assists in his spiritual development.
“Yoga inculcates positive energies which help in improving one’s performance and contributes to overall wellness. The benefits of Yoga can be reaped by people of any faith or religion as it is a secular practise,” he adds.
On the occasion of the 7th International Day of Yoga, Coulibaly has invited the folks of Mali and the world to join Yoga and uncover its positive aspects by themselves. He says that Yoga can assist humanity in solving several of the challenges.
Views of Ms Khadija Koita
She is an additional budding Yoga and wellness teacher in Mali who has been practicing Yoga due to the fact 2014. She shares that she came to Yoga browsing for options to some of the challenges she had been facing associated to sadness, depression and loss of zest for life. She study an report on the web about positive considering and power which could be accomplished also by means of the practice of Yoga. This was the initial attraction towards Yoga and she began watching a variety of Yoga videos obtainable on YouTube.
Khadija says that practicing Yoga helped in enhancing her overall health and building a positive method towards life. She regained the zest for life and decided to do a education course to be a Yoga Instructor. She feels so inspired now that she is in the approach of opening a Wellness Center in Mali to assist other folks.
Khadija says that the practice of Yoga has made her fully grasp that it is quite critical to focus on one’s breathing (Pranayam or the Yogic practice of focusing on breath) mainly because it assists in relaxing the body and calming the thoughts. She says that Yoga assists in feeling very good mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Khadija stresses that Yoga can be valuable for absolutely everyone, young and old alike. She says that her mother has been capable to overcome the discomfort in her sciatic nerve by practicing Yoga. Yoga has permitted her to be calm, peaceful and more relaxed and also handle her tension and anxiousness in a much better way.
Khadija credits Yoga’s international recognition to its positive aspects. She says that these who practise Yoga in a sustained manner have turn into conscious of the quite a few positive aspects of Yoga for a holistic and healthful way of life. She says that Yoga has nothing at all to do with religion. It is a practice that positive aspects the body and thoughts. Apart from the physical positive aspects of sustained practice of Yoga, the positive influence that Yoga has on the thoughts and consciousness is of fantastic worth in contributing to a healthful and peaceful society. It is nicely documented that sustained practice of Yoga assists in addressing or decreasing the influence of a variety of chronic challenges and ailments cost-free of price. Khadija encourages folks who are new to Yoga to integrate it into their every day routine to reap its positive aspects and lead happier and healthier lives.