The AYUSH Ministry said on Friday that there is rising popularity of Yoga in Cuba and the "timeless gift from our ancestors is truly a universal inheritance" and is now finding disciples all across the globe.
An AYUSH Ministry release said that Indian Embassy in Havana has given information that Prof Eduardo Pimentel Vazquez, president and founder of Cuban Yoga Association, is a leading figure in yoga in that country.
He has been teaching Yoga in Cuba for 30 years and has trained 50 instructors.
"This is a significant contribution to the sustainable growth of Yoga in Cuba, a country with a population of 1.13 crore," the release said.
It said a recent interview of Pimentel Vazquez has been widely read in Cuba and it throws light on how Yoga has become quite popular in the country.
"People of all ages are spotted in parks, rooms, and museums performing yoga, and a visitor from India cannot be faulted for a brief illusion that he is back home in Mysuru or Haridwar. The number of participants in Yoga activities in Cuba is increasing every day," the release said.
As per the interview, it was a book that changed the life of Pimentel Vazquez. He was a chess player since he was 12 and he was gifted a book on Yoga and saw Yoga techniques in 1972.
He started practicing by following books and has not stopped studying Yoga since then.
The release said he defines Yoga as a philosophy more than anything else and notes that it is of immense interest to the western world, especially its physical practice.
Pimentel Vazquez has taught Yoga lessons in the United States, Brazil, and Mexico.
In his last book published in 2018, Tu session de yoga (Your Yoga session) he mentions that Yoga is a preventive system and that it has been acknowledged as a part of the Traditional and Natural Medicine Department of the globally acclaimed Ministry of Public Health of Cuba since 1995.
Pimentel Pimentel Vazquez believes that a single posture doesn't make a yoga session and recommends practising a series.
His favourite postures for releasing stress includes Trikonasana.
The release said International Day of Yoga (IDY) is observed in Cuba with considerable enthusiasm every year.
This year also the day was observed with the active involvement of the Embassy of India in Havana, it said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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