Mukund Patel
Chicago (USA): A number of elected officials in the USA, including Congressional leaders, governors, and mayors, hailed and celebrated the14th Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh’s annual ‘Health for Humanity Yogathon’ event held recently.
The event’s theme was, ‘Yoga for Health, Health for Humanity – Beyond Our Identities, We Are All One Family’.
The HSS concluded its two-week-long Yogathon, also known as the Surya Namaskar Yajna (SNY) in which Indian-Americans from 43 states participated.
SNY had been launched in 2007 to create awareness about yoga and its advantages in fostering a healthy body, mind, and spirit for any practitioner regardless of faith, gender, or ethnicity. The event is free to the public and is regularly lauded by a wide variety of elected officials each year, including a partnership by First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative in 2011 and US Representative Dr. Bill Foster in 2017.
This year, 172 elected officials, including US Congressional leaders, governors, and mayors, lauded HSS for this project and the community benefits.
“We are happy and proud to conclude yet another successful year of our Health for Humanity Yogathon,” said Ajay Joshi, HSS SNY national coordinator. “The Surya Namaskar yoga practice integrates an easy breathing technique with simple postures of well-balanced, ten-step movements to provide immense health benefits for everyone, from beginners to yoga enthusiasts.”
“This year, close to 10,000 school students participated, performing over 48,000 Surya Namaskars. Thousands of participants collectively performed over a million Surya Namaskars.”
Those who supported the event included US Senator Sharrod Brown (Ohio), New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (who also declared January 16–31 as “Health for Humanity Days” in Chicago), Denver Mayor Michael Hancock (who declared a “Health for Humanity Yogathon Week” in both the city and county of Denver), Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler, and Congressman Scott Peter (California).
HSS is a voluntary non-profit cultural organization with over 225 chapters across the United States. It regularly organizes the Hindu American community to practice, preserve, and advance the ideals and values of the Hindu Dharma by conducting value-based education programs for children, youth, and adults.