PGI's Yoga Day campaign 'Yoga Hi! BP Bye!' concludes, Shalini Chauhan wins both Yoga video and photo contests

Chandigarh: A social media campaign 'Yoga Hi! BP Bye!' organized by the Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health(DCM & SPH), Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh in collaboration with the CCRYN Centre for Mind-Body Medicine by Yoga intervention concluded on International  Day of Yoga on 21st June, 2021. The campaign was launched by Prof. Jagat Ram, The Director, PGIMER, Chandigarh on 14th June, 2021. He applauded the initiative taken by the Dept. of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, PGIMER and urged all staff members -doctors, health workers, nurses, residents, etc. to practice yoga daily for the prevention of non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, etc. 

Dr. Sonu Goel, Professor, Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, PGIMER, Chandigarh, the Chief Coordinator of this campaign said, “We witnessed tremendous enthusiasm from the tricity residents towards this initiative. During this week-long campaign we held several fun-filled health activities like Bhangra Yoga, Zumba, & Yoga presentations, these were held in our department under all COVID SoPs'. These were broadcast live and then put out on social media to amplify the message of importance of Yoga in one's daily life."

The USP of 'Yoga Hi! BP Bye!' was that many online Yoga competitions for all age groups were organised.

Contests like slogan writing, short yoga video, and the ‘Yoga Asana Pose’ photo contest were conducted during the event. While participating in the Yoga video contest, Shalini Chauhan bagged the first prize, while Kiranjit and Ishan Verma jointly secured the second prize , and Anjali Thakur and Amravati Enclave Yoga Club were declared joint recipients of the third prize. In the Yoga Asana photo contest, Shalini Chauhan again showed her prowess and won the first prize, while Kiranjit and Anjali Thakur earned the second and third prize respectively. In Slogan Writing, Jyoti clinched first, while Anurag and Shalini Chauhan secured the second and third prize respectively.

“The main reason for organizing the event is to sensitize people more about Yoga benefits. Yoga has proven to be an instrumental tool in combating many serious ailments. And It is an important healthcare practice which has been documented to improve blood pressure control and quality of life in a hypertensive individual,” added Dr. Sonu Goel.

Dr. Akshay Anand, Professor In Charge, CCRYN Centre for Mind-Body Medicine by Yoga intervention, and Professor, Department of Neurology, PGIMER, Chandigarh said, “With Yoga asanas-some hypertension patients can manage their blood pressure and can protect themselves from major health complications caused by high blood pressure. Yoga if followed assiduously in consultation with their physicians can provide many health & well-being advantages. Everybody should do it on a daily basis to maintain good health”

Dr. Nidhi Jaswal, Technical Coordinator (Hypertension), SMHSP Project, Department of Community Medicine and School of Public Health, PGIMER, Chandigarh shared that during a week-long campaign numerous activities and contests were held such as Power Yoga, Laughter Yoga, Chair Yoga, Face Yoga, Meditation and Pranayama etc.

The campaign also received messages of support  from many well known personalities. Most prominent among these was Sadhguru of Isha foundation. Big wigs of the medical world like  Dr Bala Subramaniam, a professor of Harvard Medical School and Dr David Frowley  also sent their messages of support.

The exclusive campaign, which was kicked off from 14th June & concluded on International Yoga Day on 21st June 2021 was aimed to strengthen the prevention of management of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs'), especially Hypertension through Yoga and other related activities.