The International Yoga Day is marked for the 3^rd time in 2017. Let us remind that according to the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly at the end of 2014 June 21 was declared the International Yoga Day. The official proposal was tabled to the international organization by India’s Premier Shri Narenda Modi. In Bulgaria dozens of yoga schools join their efforts to organize a large-scale event which is to be marked in 26 towns on June 24. The John Atanasoff building with the Sofia Tech Park will host a presentation about various aspects of that ancient practice. Scientists from different fields and representatives of various professions will exchange yoga experience. There access to all four conference halls will be free throughout the whole day. Yovko Yonchev who is one of the participants at that event summarizes: In fact four parallel events will be held in Sofia. People can attend Ayurveda lectures. Conferences about various types of yoga and yoga practices will be also held on that day. Two of the conference halls will be used for practical lessons and demonstrations. The focus will fall on special techniques for pregnant women and for children, including children with disabilities.

Zdravko Yonchev is a political analyst. He plays on the harmonium and has been practicing yoga for nearly two decades:

We are trying to go deep in the heart through meditation and concentration and find peace and harmony there. I graduated political science. When I was still a student I was trying to oppose to injustice. When I started to practice yoga I had the feeling that earlier I was just preparing for what I would do later. The easiest way to explain this is to quote an aphorism of my teacher Sri Chinmoy: “Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.”  This thought makes me realize that the only power we have is the power over ourselves. I decided to work on myself. When you change yourself you somehow change the world around you as well. I cannot say that I have achieved everything, but now I feel the fullness of life.

Music and meditation walk hand in hand. Music is a medium. I made a music band together with several friends by pure accident. Later, we started to receive invitations for concerts and we performed in Bulgaria, Hungary, Serbia and other countries. Our concerts are free of charge, although it takes us a lot of time and financial resource to organize them. I am confident that yoga is a combination of universal principles that are applicable everywhere. They are active even if we do not call them yoga. My teacher used to say that religion is our home and spirituality is the school where we meet together and study. All religions have a common ground-love and harmony. One cannot reach love and harmony by fulfilling his material wishes, because they are endless. Yoga is used in many spheres of life. It is not an escape from the problems. It is rather a way to accept life and share things with others, says Zdravko.

English version: Kostadin Atanasov