Durban — Deputy Health Minister Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo said patients who heal faster were those that had their spiritual mind taken care of.
Dhlomo said this on Sunday at the 9th International Day of Yoga at the Durban North Beach Amphitheatre.
The aim of the event was to promote health and mental wellbeing. The International Day of Yoga was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 2014.
It is an opportunity for people from all over the world to come together and practise yoga, a mind-body practice that originated in India.
Yoga has been shown to have numerous benefits for physical and mental health, including reducing stress, improving flexibility and increasing strength and balance.
Dhlomo said as the Department of Health and doctors they encouraged yoga for residents to live a healthy life.
He said more than 2 billion people throughout the world practised yoga regularly.
The president of the Sivananda World Peace Foundation, Ishwa Ramlutchman said Sunday’s event was an opportunity to bring everyone together.
“This is a chance to promote social cohesion, and for us to be united,” he said.
He expressed gratitude to those who continued to promote yoga and the KwaZulu-Natal Government, Department of Health and eThekwini Municipality.
The traditional prime minister to the Zulu Monarch Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who could not attend sent a message and said: “I am delighted to support an initiative which reminds people to slow down, to remove distractions and to reunite mind, body and soul and to do this as a regular practice.”
Buthelezi said it was wonderful that South Africa and particularly Durban, had embraced the marking of International Yoga Day.
He said throughout the mass demonstration of yoga, each year, thousands of people were exposed to its benefits for the first time. He said this was part of the intervention that was urgently needed to change people’s lifestyles and address the extremely high levels of stress that have become normal for us all
“The practice of yoga should be encouraged in a country like ours, for South Africa is crying out for respite from the pressure of everyday life,” said Buthelezi.
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