Under the heading ‘Photo Reportage’, the editorial staff of the newspaper ‘Vecherniy Dushanbe’ (24 March 1990) published an article with photos under the title ‘There is an Association of Yogis of Tojikiston!’, where the following is printed. On that day, amateur and professional yogis gathered in the Palace of Culture of Trade Unions. They had travelled to Dushanbe from all over the country to discuss the establishment of the Yoga Association of Tojikiston. The president of the Yoga Association of the USSR, L.I.Teternikov, officially came from Moscow.
The conference was opened by V.V.Kovynev, deputy chairman of the Tojik RS VDFSO of Trade Unions. Noting the weak state of affairs on health improvement of the population of the republic, he welcomed the voluntary and noble endeavour of yogis of the republic. Noting that RS VDFSO of trade unions acts in this case as the first founder-sponsor, he expressed a wish that this endeavor would be followed by the yogis of the republic. HE expressed his wish that other organizations engaged in health improvement of the population would follow this example.
L.I.Teternikov, the president of the USSR Yoga Association, who spoke afterwards, briefly dwelt on the principles of the Association’s work. Supporting the establishment of the Yoga Association of Tojikiston, he assured that the all-union organization would provide all possible assistance to its activity.
A. M. Sobir, member of the Presidium of the Council of the USSR Yoga Association, chairman of the medical and health-improving co-operative ‘IRODA’ on the Yoga system, associate professor of the Pushkin TPRYAL A. M. Sobir introduced the participants of the conference, acquainted the participants of the conference with the ethics of Yoga.
The speech of Mirzo Davlatov, a worker of Tojik television, was also interesting. He got acquainted with Yoga in the co-operative society ‘IRODA’ and under the guidance of its chairman A.M. Sobir, he practiced it for a little more than two months. In such a short period of time he got rid of serious diseases that had been oppressing him for a long time, and medicines did not help in their treatment. What’s moreover, he lost excess weight, though he could not get rid of it by running 3 km. in the mornings.
Focusing on the philosophical and psychological aspects of Yoga, Muhammad-Ali Muzaffar, a senior researcher at the philosophy department of the Academy of Sciences of Tojikiston, deciphered in detail all eight steps of Hatha Yoga, without mastering of which a person cannot become a true yogi.
‘Yoga has played a magical role in my life,’ began English teacher F. B. Abuzarova. After practicing yoga for only a year, she not only got rid of her ailments, but also discovered her (as well as her daughter, Lola) psychic abilities.
The participants of the conference adopted the Charter of the Yoga Association of Tojikiston. In particular, it states that ‘the Yoga Association of Tojikiston is a public organization uniting individuals and any organizations of the republic engaged in Yoga or contributing to its development’. Its aim and objectives are to create and develop a network of organizations, holding scientific and practical conferences, symposiums, seminars, studying the impact of Yoga practice on humans, developing health-improving programs, training Yoga teachers, establishing links with foreign Yoga centers, organizing publishing activities, and much more and many other things.
A.M. Sobir was unanimously elected as the President of the Association, M. Muzaffar as Vice-President and F. Abuzarova as the Responsible Secretary. The pictures show: close-up of the President of the Association A. M. Sobir and students of Y. M. Sobir. M. Sobir and students of Yoga co-operative ‘IRODA’ during demonstration performances in different Yoga poses. Photo by A. Kozlovsky and N. Bukhardinov. After the establishment of the Association of Yoga of Tojikiston ‘IRODA’ the press of Tojikiston published, one after another, praiseworthy reports of this nature.
