In a bid to promote yoga in Nigeria and to reveal the impact of yoga on specific health conditions, including cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cancer, and anxiety, Indians health workers in Nigeria  have joined the rest of the world to celebrate Christmas in a new dimension by organising first edition of its Indo-Naija Yoga Fest.

Held at Indian Embassy compound in Lagos, the event, which focused on Family yoga and impact of yoga on body, mind and spirit which is beyond religion.

The event featured a Yoga Competition judged by way of performance to reach final stage of Asana, perfect posture of Asana, exhibition of Asana Method, time stayed in Asana and returning to original posture.

During the competition and presentation sessions, the organisers shared their success story and how Yoga has been shown to have immediate psychological effects: decreasing anxiety and increasing feelings of emotional, social, and spiritual well-being.

The Yoga demonstration started with lightening of ceremonial lamp and prayer for world health & prosperity.

There was also special Yoga demonstration session facilitated by Nigerian based Yoga groups called Medoka Yoga Well-being Initiative and Light-years Entertainments.

Speaking at the event, The President, Emprowess Life Skills and Indo-Naija Yoga Fest, Mr. Sanjayvipul Srivastava  said "We decided to celebrate Christmas by reintroducing Yoga to Nigerians because it offers an effective method of managing and reducing stress, anxiety, and depression, and numerous studies demonstrate the efficacy of yoga on mood-related disorders".

Nigerians are embracing Yoga as a form of mind-body exercise. It has become an increasingly widespread therapy used to maintain wellness, alleviate a range of health problems and ailments, said a Nigerian Yoga enthusiast, Precious Oroye.

In the first group or the competition, Anoushaka Srivastava became 2nd runner up, Megha Dokania became 1st runner up while Ms. Saloni Khule became the Winner of the Yoga Competition in the First group. The second group started with a beautiful performance by Madoka Yoga Well being Initiative and a family group comprising of Rajendra Srinivas, Ramyashree Rajendra and Shreekasa Rajendra.

The second group with certificate of participants, Mr. Mukesh Kimar became 2nd runner up, Rajendra Family became 1st Runner up while Mr. Kachi from Abia State Nigeria became Winner of the competition in the second group.

There was also an award presentation given to outstanding Yoga enthusiasts and committed members of Afro Asian Development Community as well as sponsors of the event.

The event was spiced up with bouncing castles, games for kids and adults that came for Yoga event.

The fest was attended by Indian counsellor who also represented His Excellency High Commissioner of India in Lagos B.N Reddy, Mr. Rakesh Sharma  emphasized that now the modern science has started accepting Yoga and even United Nations has started observing 21st June as International Yoga day.

He said, "We want all nationals in Nigeria to benefit from this and start Practicing Yoga for Peace, harmony and prosperity.

Mr. Pravin Kumar, the General Secretary of Indo-Naija Yoga Fest 2017 also said, “the event was a great success and I am happy that Nigerians not only welcomed but conceived our thought on Yoga. Which was the sole purpose of the event.”

Mr. Bimad Raj Sharan Sinha explained the importance of Yoga, its combination of mind body and soul and hence a way of holistic living which is the need of the humanity.

The Yoga training segment was well received by the guests, who expressed their satisfaction with the depth of information shared. The session included practical demonstrations on how to kick-start and develop a successful Yoga demonstration.

A guest at the event who witnessed the Yoga demonstration Engineer Adeniyi Ijilusi said, the maiden edition of the Fest was attended by about 400 Nigerians alongside with 15 other nationalities living in Lagos including diplomats of various countries.

The program ended with the promise of # Practice Yoga Regular #Practice Yoga with Family #YogaFestNigeria.