Yoga provides mental strength: LS Speaker Sumitra Mahajan

Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan today said she derives mental strength from Yoga and it helps her handle works of the Lower House.

There is a need to spread Yoga across the country for a healthy and better future, she said at an international Yoga festival here.

Mahajan was the chief guest at the valedictory function of the three-day festival organised by the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga and the Ministry of AYUSH.

The youth of the country needs mental strength, it is "needed by me also", she said.

"I got it by learning Yoga. You see me smiling and wonder if she does not get angry. I have been taught (Yoga)...I sit there and just handle it (Lok Sabha)," the speaker said.

The world has come to realise the importance of Yoga. It has emerged as a symbol of healthy lifestyle, she said addressing Yoga trainers, students and practitioners from different parts of country and abroad.

There is a need to take Yoga to all the corners of the country, Mahajan said.

Minister of State for AYUSH Shripad Yesso Naik said that the holistic approach of Yoga is well established.

"Yoga is popular all over the world today not only for its efficacy in management of some diseases, but also for mental and emotional strength it provides to its practitioners," he said.

The event was organised as a curtain raiser to the International Day of Yoga to be held on June 21.