JEDDAH: After rave parties, film festivals, and fashion shows, the Saudi Arabian government is introducing yoga in schools.
President of the Saudi Yoga Committee Nouf Al-Marwaai said there was cooperation with the Ministry of Education to introduce yoga in all schools as a part of the curriculum due to the multitude of health benefits, Arab News reported.
On March 9, there was an introductory lecture highlighting the cooperation between the SYC and the Saudi School Sports Federation and what would transpire from the nationwide collaboration on the future of yoga in schools.
The Ministry of Commerce approved the teaching and practice of yoga as a sport in the Kingdom in Nov. 2017.
The Arab Yoga Foundation educates people and society about the health benefits of yoga, promoting it through courses, seminars, and conferences.
Al-Marwaai said that yoga was expanding in the Kingdom due to its significance for mental and physical health.
Wednesday’s introductory lecture was attended by school principals and physical education teachers from all stages of education, to mobilize the strategy from the Ministry of Education and the SYC.
It also discussed the aspirations to raise the level of pupils’ sports participation at a local and international level, as well as advancing the health of young Saudis.
“As I started to dive deep in yoga, I never stopped discovering its incredible benefits as is it a whole and transformative sport that leads its practitioners to a calmer and clearer mind and stronger and healthier physique,” Arab News quoting yoga instructor and founder of Ananda Yoga Studio, Khalid Jama’an Al-Zahrani said.
Al-Marwaai said there were many plans to expand the scope and objectives of the SYC, and that there were many areas that needed to be covered to allow the implementation of yoga in schools on a large scale.
The Arab Yoga Foundation was founded and established in 2006 by Al-Marwaai, the first Saudi Yogacharya (certified yoga instructor). It was recognized by the Yoga Alliance and International Yoga Federation in 2009.
The AYF educates people and society about the health benefits of yoga, promoting it through courses, seminars, and conferences. Earlier this year, in January, more than 1,000 people from across Saudi Arabia went to the country’s first yoga festival.
