1. Brainchild of a prominent Indo-Canadian philanthropist couple,Mrs& Mr. Subhas Bhargava, the 'Yoga and You' (Y&U) initiative was kicked off today at the 'University of Ottawa Brain and Mind Research Institute' (uOBMRI) with the active involvement of High Commissioner Vishnu Prakash and other senior officials of the High Commission of India, Ottawa.

2. A long term resident of Canada, the Bhargava couple, have already donated $1 million for Parkinson research to the Ottawa University Hospital. Enthused by the call of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to make Yoga a part of daily life, they conceived the Y&U initiative aimed at encouraging usage of Yoga in preventing and curing brain disorders. A series of events will be held in the coming weeks to popularize the cause, leading to the day long Y&Uprogramme in Ottawa on 19th September. Spouse of the Indian High Commissioner, Mrs. Neelam Prakash gladly agreed to be the honorary Chair of the organizing committee.

3. In his opening remarks President of the University of Ottawa and former Minister as well as Canadian Ambassador to UN, Mr. Allan Rock, commended uOBMRI for its stellar work and thanked High Commissioner and Mrs. Prakash, as well as, other 'volunteer Ambassadors' for their enthusiastic support. He hailed the positive impact of Yoga, on body and mind, expressing confidence that uOBMRI will go from strength to strength in the coming years.

4.In his keynote address High Commissioner Prakash spoke about Yoga - India's gift to mankind - and the world-wide observance of 21stJune as the 'International Day of Yoga'. He apprised the guests of the benefits of Yoga especially as a stress-buster and invited them to participate in the 'Yoga lesson-cum-wellness session' being organized by the High Commission in Ottawa  (http://www.hciottawa.ca/pdf/Yoga_Flyer_21_june_final.pdf ). He commended uOBMRI for its service to the humanity and pledged every possible support for the Y&U initiative.

5. Mr. Karunakar Reddy Papala, President of India Canada Ottawa Business Council (http://icobc.org/ )handed over a donation of $3000 touOBMRI.

Ottawa
17 June 2015