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stress, people were increasingly turning towards yoga for peace of mind, good health and social harmony.
Ms. Evelyn Gwinner of Italy said yoga was very popular in her country as it can fulfill the spiritual aspirations of the youth. There is a yoga ashram at Florence in Italy where teaching of yoga is imparted by experienced teachers.
Mrs. R. A. Puccinelli, also from Italy, has come here with her Indian husband, Mr. Roberto Biswas, who originally belonged to Faridpur district in erstwhile East Bengal. Biswas, who is with Al-italia airlines married Puccinelli in 1976 and since then has been visiting India off and on.
When asked about the food here in India, the members of the Italian delegation said they liked it very much. "Our teacher has told us that Italian food is quite similar to Indian food," they said. Asked how they came to know about the convention, Mr. Luigi Fumagalli and Ms. P. Bertec said they learnt about it from their teacher in Italy. "It is our first visit to India. The experience is just fantastic," they exclaimed.
Most of the delegates from Australia were "press shy", although one of them, Ms. Marianne le Fevre, said that
about 300 delegates from Australia were participating. Marianne, a yoga teacher in Sydney, said that yoga was very popular in her country as people experienced the benefits from practising various asanas and meditation. "For instance, I am 52 years old and even now I do vigorous horse riding and swimming to substantiate my physical fitness," she said. An X-ray technician by profession, Marianne said this was her first visit to India and since she was a vegetarian she had no difficulty in adjusting to the Indian food.
Mr. Alexander Bernd of Germany and Mr. Richard Davenport from England said yoga is very scientific. While practising yoga for the past four months, Alexander said during this period he was enjoying better health and relaxation. Extremely enthusiastic about the convention was a 20 year old petite girl from Athens in Greece, Ms. T. Sakorafa, who has come here for the first time.
Preferring to be introduced as Swami Bhajanananda Saraswati, a Greek lady said she had an ashram in her country which is run along the lines of the Bihar School of Yoga here. "We have come here in the past too", adding that yoga was very popular in Greece.
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