Indian Soldiers Mark International Day of Yoga with Underwater Workout

Visuals of underwater Yoga performance by the Amphibious Warriors of Pangode Military Stn
Spokesperson Defence,Trivandrum
Frances Martel

A contingent of Indian Army soldiers from Kerala published a video on Wednesday performing yoga underwater, an effort to honor the International Day of Yoga.

International Day of Yoga, in its ninth year, is an effort spearheaded by the government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to promote the ancient Indian practice, believed to offer multiple physical and mental health benefits to practitioners. Modi, currently on a state visit to America, led a yoga session featuring multiple high-profile individuals, including New York City Mayor Eric Adams and actor Richard Gere, in front of the United Nations headquarters on Wednesday morning. Under Modi, the Indian government has used yoga as a form of “soft power” influence to elevate the status of Indian culture around the world, with particular success in the West.

At home, soldiers of the Pangode Military Station in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, staged the underwater yoga session as a display of patriotism, dressed in the colors of the Indian flag.

According to India’s World Is One News (WION), the underwater yoga performance “aimed to promote holistic well-being, strengthen the mind-body connection, and demonstrate the military’s commitment to embracing diverse approaches to physical fitness.”

The soldiers were not alone in organizing underwater yoga exercises on Wednesday. Several yoga groups published videos of the practice on Wednesday, according to IndiaTimes.

Watch video here:

The Indian Armed Forces have increasingly used dramatic footage of unusual activities to galvanize popular support, particularly in light of growing tensions with China. The Chinese Communist Party illegally claims much of northern India, referring to the border region as “South Tibet,” leading to multiple military exchanges in the past three years between two of the world’s largest armed forces. The most severe of these exchanges was a battle in the Galwan Valley, part of India’s Ladakh region, in June 2020, when Chinese soldiers illegally crossed into India and attempted to erect tents there. When confronted by Indian border troops, the Chinese soldiers attacked with rocks, sticks, barbed wire, and other rudimentary weapons. The Chinese government claims to this day that it only lost four soldiers in the battle, but India claims the true Chinese death count was closer to 40, about twice the number India lost in the battle.

In the aftermath of the Galwan Valley incident, the Indian Army has debuted multiple videos intended to assure citizens that the border is secure. In one such unusual display, Indian soldiers published a video in November showcasing what they claimed to be birds of prey trained to attack armed drones.

“The soldiers also displayed the use of assault dogs for counter-terrorist operations,” India’s Times Now news reported at the time.

The popularity of India’s defense forces has translated into changes in the Indian film industry, one of the world’s largest. Indian studios have begun producing more action movies featuring heroic soldiers, spies, and secret agents defending the homeland. In March, one of those films, the spy thriller Pathaan, starring A-list Indian star Shah Rukh Khan, became the highest-grossing Hindi-language film of all time.

Khan has announced his next film following Pathaan will be another action movie titled Jawan, a term for a young Indian soldier.

Yoga is slowly becoming one of India’s most prominent cultural exports, alongside its epic-length films. Modi, the prime minister, celebrated the practice in New York on Wednesday as universally accessible, free, and beneficial to all.

“Yoga comes from India and is a very old tradition, but like all ancient Indian traditions, it is also living and dynamic,” Modi told attendees at the U.N. “Yoga is free from copyright, free from patents, and free from royalty payments. Yoga is adaptable to your age, gender, and fitness level. Yoga is portable, you can do it at home or at work or in transit. Yoga is flexible, you can practice it alone or in a group, learn from a teacher, or be self-taught.”

“Let us use the power of yoga not only to be healthy, happy, but also to be kind to ourselves and to each other,” Modi advised. “Let us use the power of yoga to build bridges of friendship a peaceful world and a cleaner, leaner, and sustainable future.”

Modi departed New York in the afternoon for Virginia, from which he will travel to Washington, DC, for meetings with President Joe Biden. The White House will host a state dinner, the highest honor offered to foreign heads of state, for Modi this week. Meeting with Modi in Hiroshima, Japan, in May, Biden expressed joking frustration at how many people wanted to attend the state dinner.

“I should take your autograph. You are causing me a real problem. Next month we have a dinner for you in Washington. Everyone in the whole country wants to come. I have run out of tickets,” Biden joked, according to the Times of India. “Do you think I am kidding? Ask my team. I am getting phone calls from people I have never heard of before. Everyone from movie stars to relatives. You are too popular.”

His state visit, Modi told the Wall Street Journal, is intended to build India “a much higher, deeper and wider profile and a role” on the world stage.

“Look at the membership of key institutions—does it truly represent the voice of democratic values?” Modi asked. “A place like Africa—does it have a voice? India has such a huge population and is a bright spot in the global economy, but is it present?”

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