Chandigarh, Jun 21 (IANS): To mark the sixth International Yoga Day on Sunday, the Department of Higher Education in Haryana organised a live yoga session that saw participation of 16,000 students of colleges and universities.

For this, the department had made efforts amid the lockdown to initiate and explore new avenues to keep students of colleges and universities engaged in various activities.

To ensure both the physical and mental well being of the students during the lockdown, the department had promoted the yoga on its social media through infographics and started daily live yoga sessions on its Facebook handle since the beginning of this month.

A contest on the line of this year's theme, 'Yoga at Home and Yoga with Family', #HarGharYoga was organised for the students.

To participate in the contest, the students had to register on a toll-Free number by giving a missed call and join the live yoga session on Sunday.

To complete the contest, the student had to upload a picture of them doing yoga at home with their family on their social media along with the hashtags #HarGharYoga and #YogaAtHome, and tag the Department of Higher Education, Haryana.

For proof of participation, a detailed form had to be filled and the participants had to upload the original picture uploaded on their social media and a screenshot thereof.

A total of 25,357 missed calls were received by the department along with a total of 72,000 participants in attendance for the live yoga session out of which around 16,000 participants completed the entire session.

The 45-minute session featured various yoga 'asanas' such as Vrikshasana (the tree pose), Padahastasana (hand under the foot pose), Ardha Chakrasana (the half wheel pose) and Trikonasana (the triangle pose), and received active participation from all government, aided and private colleges and universities.

The social media handle of the department received more than 7,000 tags.

A committee of five members will judge the contest and after thorough scrutiny of each application, 20 lucky winners will be selected with a draw of lots and awarded with a cash prize of Rs 5,000 each.

The college with the maximum participation will also be given a cash award of Rs 21,000 to celebrate efforts in encouraging their students.