Millennial spiritual practice is a source of pride for the Indians. And, under the Narendra Modi prize, it becomes more and more tool for international influence. Yoga, a practice that is believed to be between 3000 and 6000 years, is one of the main cultural expressions of India and has become one of the most successful cultural export products in the southern Asia of the country, comparable only Bollywood, becoming a global phenomenon in recent decades.
Through international events, cultural exchanges and educational programs, yoga is no longer a simple spiritual practice that combines physical postures, breathing techniques, meditation and ethical principles to become an expression of cultural identity and the presence of India all over the world.
This movement is not only natural, but also stimulated, since yoga has been used as a soft power tool for the diplomacy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, since the BRICS country plays a more important role in world affairs.
Due to the efforts of ways, the United Nations decided at the end of 2014 to declare on June 21 as an international yoga day. In this year’s celebrations, the same way has practiced yoga between a crowd on the sea in the city of Visakhapatnam in the south of the country. “Yoga leads us on a journey to unity with the world,” he said.
Soft Power from India
On June 21, 2023, Modidi led the celebrations of the Yoga day at the United Nations headquarters in New York, “the same place in which he proposed the idea for the first time”, said the Indian diplomat Chaitanya Prasad in an article in the Pioneer newspaper.
Prasad sees yoga as a transformative force that strengthens the feeling of unity and harmony in an increasingly fragmented and volatile world. Every time someone explains a carpet to start his practice, he is connecting with the rich inheritance of India, he observes. “This is the Soft Power of India,” says Prasad.
The professor of international law Venkatachala G. Hegde of the University of Jawaharlal Nehru in New Delhi sees the promotion of Yoga as part of the Indian government’s efforts to preserve and strengthen traditional knowledge systems.
The Ministry of Ayush, a folder of a government created by ways in 2024, which promotes six systems of traditional Indian medicine -aiurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha, sow -igpa and homeopathy -guided the national and global promotion of yoga, including collaborations with the institutions of various European countries.
The Indian Ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) also launched a question, Myoga, to spread yoga globally.
Cultural diplomacy
Support for the practice of yoga abroad is the cultural diplomacy exercised at the level of social organizations, observes the professor of international relations Ajay Darshan Behra of Jamia Milia Islamy University.
“Interpersonal ties are often stronger than the ties between states,” he says. He adds that yoga reminds the world that India is not only a political and economic power, but also a cultural force.
Well also underlines that the promotion of yoga by India does not cause fear or is seen as a threat from other nations. “It is without disputes, non -violent and universal in its charm. It builds influence silently, contrary to military or economic power.”
A global industry
In the West, however, yoga is often limited to physical appearance, that is to the postures (known as Asana), and is often associated with advertising with thin and white people, which generates criticisms that strengthen stereotyped ideas and excludes people who do not adapt to this body standard. There are also criticisms of cultural appropriation and marketing of practice.
The global yoga industry is estimated exceeds over 35 billion euros (about 220 billion dollars) with classes, retreats, equipment, books, magazines and incense, according to the allied market research company.
“Yoga is currently and largely an elite practice, adopted mainly by rich sectors, often excluding the marginalized communities that find it disconnected from their realities,” says Hegde.
Well it fears that yoga loses its universal character if connected to political programs, such as the use of the Hindu nationalist party Bharatiya Janata (BJP), to power in India, to encourage Hindu pride and promote the Hindu religion practiced by most of the Indians. “This limits the universality of yoga and removes its spiritual essence,” he comments.
Source: Terra
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