Karnataka State Chapter Committee of the Indian Yoga Association organised its General Body Meeting on January 28, 2024 with the blessings of Gurudev Shri Shri Ravishankar, Chairman, Indian Yoga Association at the Art of Living International Center, Bengaluru.

The event was attended by the members of Karnataka SCC including Dr Bhawarlal Arya, Chairperson, Shri Ravi Tumuluri, Secretary, Shri M Madhava, Treasurer and Dr. Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani, Joint Secretary, IYA and Prof Subrahmanyam from Swami Vivekananda Anusandhana Samsthan (SVYASA).

With the guidance of these mentors, a committee led by Life Member Shri Vinay Siddhiah consisting of Shri Krishna Prakash, Smt Vani Hegde, Smt Geetha Sathish, Dr Shalini Kiran, Smt Sheetal Pillai, Smt. Malati Vivek, Smt Deepika Kaushal, Smt Deepika Rawal (all life members) actively participated in conducting this meeting.

The committee was also ably assisted by the following volunteers from Art of Living – Smt. Vasanti Iyer, Shri Venkatesh, Shri Atul, Shri Mayur Karthik and Ms. Kum Jyoti.
Dr Shalini Kiran and Smt Geeta Satheesh were the Master of Ceremonies and led us through the event with great aplomb. The programme commenced with an invocation song and lighting of the lamp along with Veda Ghosha of the students of the Gurukula.
Dr Bhawarlal Arya in his address conveyed that the main objective of the Karnataka Chapter was to take Yoga to all the parts of Karnataka. We pointed out that we should have our presence in every district and every Taluk of Karnataka. He also clearly highlighted that as we are part of Karnataka Chapter, we should give full prominence to the language of Karnataka, Kannada.

Shri Madhava pointed to the goals and objectives of the Chapter for the next year. He also highlighted how all members and member institutions can work together to grow in their respective fields. Shri Ravi Tumuluri talked about the major achievements of the State Chapter thus far.

Gurudev Shri Shri Ravishankar then arrived and blessed all the participants. He expressed his happiness about the way the event was conducted. He also directed us to grow much, much bigger and said that we will always have his blessings and reiterated that we can always count on the Art of Living for any help that our organisation needs.

Dr Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani commended the stupendous work of the Karnataka Chapter and said that other state chapters should emulate the work of the Karnataka Chapter. Prof Subrahmanyam spoke about Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga and exhorted us all to work together to make this a big and successful organisation.
The meeting also saw the Associate centres – 3G Yoga, Sarvam, Yoga Vignana, Yoga Samita, Samyama Trust and Shrimath Yoga presenting the work of their respective organisations. A few new Associate Centres also presented their work.

An open house session was arranged to discuss the suggestions and answer queries of all the assembled members.

Finally, Shri Vinay Siddhiah concluded the event with a vote of thanks.