Ghana
to host first Africa Summit for International Yoga
Practitioners
Accra, Nov. 28, GNA – Ghana is to host the first
Africa Summit for the International Association of
Black Yoga Teachers (IABYT) slated for August 8 to
August 12 2007.
The summit, which is expected to attract about 300
International Yoga Practitioners from the US,
Europe, Asia and Africa, would provide the platform
to create the awareness of yoga practice and its
relevance to the overall development of mankind.
Yoga is a form of practice that aims at improving
the spiritual, mental and physical well-being of
people by means of certain mental and physical
exercises.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency after a Yoga
Clinic to educate people about the health benefits
of yoga practice in Accra on Tuesday, Mr Issah Musah
Adams, Public Relations Officer of the IABYT-Ghana,
said besides the summit, delegates with varying
professional disciplines would take the opportunity
to explore business opportunities in Ghana.
“They are coming not only as Yoga Practitioners but
also as businessmen and women and strategic
investors to meet the Ghanaian business community,
interact with them and find ways of forging
partnership.
“They will also tour most parts of the country
especially tourist sites”, he said.
Explaining the health benefits of yoga, Mr Adams
said its practice had now been universally accepted
as an effective complementary therapy for the cure
of ailments such as heart related problems, asthma
and migraine among many others.
He said it helped to manage and/or alleviate stress
and its related ailments as well as boost the immune
system for a healthy living.
“Today in a lot of universities and hospitals in the
world especially in the USA, researchers have seen
the need to incorporate yoga practice into the
health delivery system”, Mr Adams said.
He said yoga practice slowed down the aging process
in terms of physical appearance and improved the
life expectancy of a population which guaranteed
healthy labour force for productive activities.
Explaining some misconception about yoga, Mr Samuel
Sasu, Executive Director of the Yoga Association in
Ghana, said the practice is not a religion nor had
anything to do with spiritism as some had been made
to believe.
He said yoga, which comes from the same root as yoke
meaning to join together cuts across religion, race,
colour, profession, and ethnocentrism.
Mr Sasu said because of pervasion of justice,
sectarian and religious interest the term yoga had
been misconstrued making a lot of people to lose the
true meaning and, therefore, the benefits by way of
health.
He traced the origin of yoga practice to Africa and
said even though almost all the texts on yoga that
were written in India between fifth century and 15th
Century AD, historical research had confirmed that
it was practised in Egypt before India.
GNA
