Photographic exhibition on Yoga across 20 countries to commemorate International Yoga Day

Indian embassies across 20 countries are set to hold an exhibition of photographs by art historian Benoy K Behl, all through this month, to commemorate the International Yoga Day on June 21.

The exhibition, "Yoga for All, Yoga for Health", comprises 64 photographs of the finest practitioners of yoga, taken across India, Vietnam and the US.

A documentary on Yoga, shot across India and the world, is also being screened in 50 countries on World Yoga Day, says Behl.

"The world is going through a serious crisis of physical and mental health. In my firm view, yoga is the only answer which is left for the world," says Behl.

"The creation of a World Yoga Day by the Prime Minister has been a most remarkable act. Not only will the world benefit more from yoga owing to this act, but it also draws clear attention to India as the originator of yoga," Behl says.

Behl has been presenting yoga through his photographs and films for the past one year.

In May Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda and Margaret Chan, Director General, WHO inaugurated Behl's exhibition on "Yoga for All, Yoga for Health" at the WHO Headquarters in Geneva.

The places where the exhibition is being held include Shanghai, Geneva, Reunion Island France, Sao Paulo, Athens, Bishkek, Beijing, Rabat, Port of Spain, Prague, Copenhagen, Birmingham UK, Zanzibar, Amman, Seychelles, Phnom Penh, Sri Lanka, The Hague, Armenia and Georgia.

The initiative, says Behl who has in the past photographed the Ajanta and Ellora Caves and various Buddhist sculptures in India and abroad, has been made possible with help from the External Affairs Ministry.

Meanwhile Behl's 60-minute documentary titled "Yoga: An Ancient Vision of Life" has been shot across India, Germany and the US contains interviews with leading Yoga teachers like the late B K S Iyengar besides doctors scientists and sociolgists.

Representations of yoga are to be found in the Indus Valley seals of 5,000 years ago, says the photographer filmmaker and art historian.

"The Upanishads, formulated by the 8th or 9th century BC, put forward the concepts of yoga. Ancient Indian philosophy is deeply related to yoga. The best answer to the problems of the world today, appears to be this ancient answer from the Indian traditions," he says.

The filmmaker says he is currently making his second documentary on the subject.