Hon Todd McClay lighting the lamp
MEDIA RELEASE (15 October 2013)
‘Health for Humanity’ Yogathon 2013 has begun
Hon Todd McClay, Associate Minister of Health opened community driven, ‘Health for Humanity’ project, Yogathon 2013 at
the Rotorua Deepawali festival on Saturday 12th October.
Yogathon is a two weeks long free event. Participation is still open to any member of the public, workplaces, community
groups, tertiary institutes, and yoga school around New Zealand. This is the third successive year of Yogathon in New
Zealand. The aim is to achieve a total of 108000 repetitions of Surya Namaskars (a sequence of Yoga poses) by
participants from all over New Zealand during this period. To register, please visit: http://yogathon-nz.org.
Yogathon 2013 started with 3954 (and counting) Surya Namaskars (Sun Salutations). The opening was held at 12 centres in
New Zealand- Auckland (4 centres), Hamilton, Lower Hutt, Rotorua, Wellington (2 centres), Nelson and Christchurch on the
launch day.
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) New Zealand is currently leading with 1430 Surya Namaskar’s on the opening day itself. HSS
is a non profit organisation that runs weekly development sessions- a combination of games, quizzes, and discussion
sessions for youth of diverse backgrounds. Participation to HSS activities is free. “We have participated in Yogathon
since the national project started in 2011 and are proud of our volunteers and youth participants who invest in their
physical and mental wellbeing through practice of yoga” said Mr Shrikant Bhave, from HSS New Zealand.
“Along with HSS, all organisations participating in Yogathon 2013 have contributed significantly over the weekend and we
will endeavour to profile their achievement individually over the 14 day period,” said Ms Komal Shah, national
coordinator of Yogathon 2013. “I take this opportunity to thank our supporter, ANZ Bank of Rotorua and Hindi radio
partner Radio Tarana”.
Participation is simple:
1. Register for free by emailing (yogathon.nz@gmail.com), call / text (0210353591) with your contact details. Or
visit: http://yogathon-nz.org.
Registrations are open for individuals, families, or organisations/groups.
2. Perform sun salutations, in your time, at your own pace and keep a daily count until 26th October.
3. On or a day after 26th October, contact us with your final score.
4. We will total New Zealand’s total. The target is to achieve a collective score of 108,000 Surya Namaskar (Sun
Salutations) repetitions.
If you are new to yoga or Sun Salutations, then please contact one of your local coordinators who will try their best to
connect you to a yoga instructor near to you.
Yogathon aims to create awareness and practice of Yoga and its health benefits. During this time, organising committee
try their best to connect every interested participant to a yoga trainer who can initiate them to Sun Salutations and
basic yoga at no cost. This is the third consecutive year of the Yogathon event - collective practise of Surya Namaskars
(Sun Salutations) - in New Zealand.
ENDS
Yogathon is an initiative of Yogathon New Zealand, a division of Hindu Council of New Zealand (a not for profit
organisation that received special consultative status form United Nation’s Economic and Social Council [EcoSoc]