“Yoga Garden” at annual celebration tomorrow.
By American Bazaar Staff
It may be creating controversy on the West coast, but at the White House tomorrow, Yoga will find pride of place at the traditional Easter Egg Roll festivities, which will also see Indian American hockey player Ajai Dhadwal enjoy the 135th annual edition.
The White House announced that President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama will include a “Yoga Garden” for children and their parents who attend the festivities. More than 30,000 people from all 50 states and the District of Columbia have received tickets to the event.
“Come enjoy a session of yoga from professional instructors,” reads the announcement, reminding participants that the event’s theme is “Be Healthy, Be Active, Be You!”
Professional athletes will join the president for the “Eggtivity Zone” including NFL stars Anquan Boldin and Adrian Peterson, as well as NASCAR’s Danica Patrick. Among the celebrities due to show up are British boy band The Wanted, Academy Award-nominated actress Quvenzhane Wallis (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”), and singer Jordin Sparks.
This year’s souvenir Easter eggs will come in purple, blue, yellow, and pink. There will also be a special teal egg available bearing the paw print of the Obama family dog, Bo.
Field hockey player Dhadwal, 20, a resident of California, has been a member of the US national team.
Dhadwal will be well aware of the importance of yoga at the White House, as in his home state, yoga is the subject of a legal tussle in a San Diego courtroom, after a lawsuit was filed by some parents of the Encinitas Union School District challenging the teaching of yoga in schools, as according to them yoga has religious connotations.
When the case up for hearing this past Thursday, the judge sitting over the case turned out to be a enthusiast of Bikram yoga, and posed the question before the court: “Does anybody have a problem with that?”
After describing what he does as stretching exercises, he threw another one at the court: “If you think there’s something spiritual about what I do, that’s news to me.”