A special meet and greet was held to warmly welcome Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji – Muniji and Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswatiji to the United Nations and New York ahead of the International Day of Yoga celebrations by the International Day of Yoga Committee at the U.N, coordinated by Ms. Denise Scotto, United Nations Advisor, International Policy Speaker.
Fruitful discussions were held on how to take yoga off the mat and into the world, by serving our world family and working to achieve the SDGs. The inspiring and multi-facetted work being done by the Global Interfaith WASH Alliance (GIWA) to improve WASH for everyone everywhere was also shared, including the exciting courses and empowerment programmes of the World Toilet College.
Amongst the committee was Mr Juan Elias Chebly, Lead Adviser, United Nations Environment Programme, who was especially glad to hear from Pujya Swamiji and Sadhviji about the grand and ground level work being done by GIWA.
Mr German A Bravo -Casas , President of the Yoga Club at the United Nations, who leads weekly yoga classes and shares tools for personal transformation with UN staff and high level officials, also was deeply touched to meet them and agreed to come home to Parmarth Niketan (Rishikesh) for the 30th Annual International Yoga Festival 2018.
Everyone within the committee was deeply inspired and uplifted by the meeting and sincerely looked forward to welcoming Pujya Swamiji and Sadhviji back again soon.