On the occasion of International Yoga Day, border guarding personnel of Indo Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) performed yoga at Pegong Tso, a 14000ft lake situated at Indo China border.
At a place where even taking normal breathe and walking is a challenge for a common person,125 ITBP personnel participated in this extraordinary demonstration of human endurance and fitness. The demonstration was led by Commandant Staff, Deepak Kumar Pandey and was organised by Sector Headquarter ladakh of ITBP under the guidance of Sector DIG Abhinav Kumar.
Many of border out posts of this sector are located at heights of 17500 where temperature falls to minus 45 degree centigrade and icy winds penetrates and freezes everything. Most of this region is cut off from mainland for almost seven months in winters.
For the first time in the history of Indian security forces, 25 females combatant also
participated in this endeavor. These females trained and acclimatised for high altitude operations are deployed for border guarding duties. These are first in the world to be deployed at heights ranging from 14000 to 17000 ft.
The yoga demonstration by ITBP was a show of harmony, endurance, human adaptation to adverse climatic conditions and equality of gender.
The combatants participating in this event , drawn from different border posts, also showcased the unity and harmony of Indian society. These combatant belonging from different States, culture, linguistic background and religions demonstrated the true spirit of harmony through their yoga.It was a symphony of human capability and integration of human body with nature.
The yogic postures demonstrated here were same as these were done in other parts of India under the aegis of Ayush Ministry. But doing a yogic Asana in plains or near sea level and doing the same at height of 14000ft in low oxygen and low atmospheric pressure is altogether different.
At these heights blood pressure shoots up, body strength diminishes, memory loss occurs and extremely low temperature always pose threat of frost bite, High Altitude Pulmonary Oedema (HAPO),High Altitude Cerebral Oedema (HACO) and sudden heart attack.
ITBP guards 3884 kms of Indo China border from Karakoram Pass, in Jammu & Kashmir, to Jachep la in Arunachal Pradesh. All border out posts of ITBP are located in icy Himalayas some which are located at heights above 18500 ft.