2 nonagenarians to lead Yoga Day event at Bengaluru | The Times of India

BENGALURU: International Yoga Day celebrations won’t be a star-studded affair this time. Leading from the front, two nonangenarian women will demonstrate asanas at the event on June 21. The two previous editions saw Shilpa Shetty (2015) and Bipasha Basu (2016) doing the honours.

New-York based Tao Porchon Lynch, 98, and Amma Nannamal, 97, from Tamil Nadu will set the benchmark for yoga practitioners at the third International Yoga Day to be observed at Kanteerava Outdoor Stadium.

The world’s oldest yoga teacher, Lynch, is an acclaimed author and had taken part in the Salt March along with Mahatma Gandhi. Amman Nannammal is a yoga teacher and practitioner based in Coimbatore. The government-sponsored programme will begin at 6.30am with suryanamaskar and other asanas. As many as 5,000 yoga practitioners are expected to take part.

Yogathon on June 18

In the run-up to the event, the government has organized a yogathon from Raj Bhavan to the Gandhi statue on the premises of Vidhana Soudha on June 18 (from 7am to 8am).

After the event, 1,500 yoga practitioners will take part in a mass shirshasana demonstration in front of Vidhana Soudha aiming to create a Guinness World Record. Kannada film star Upendra is likely to be the brand ambassador for the event.

The government has set aside an amount of Rs 30 lakh for yoga day celebrations this year.