Hollywood Actor Julia Roberts could be the face of ‘India, Land of Yoga’ campaign

The tourism ministry of India is planning to start up a 'India, Land of Yoga' campaign with Hollywood actress, Julia Roberts as the campaign's leading face. This Global campaign will help in projecting India as the land of Yoga.

• Julia Roberts practices Pratyahara, the fifth limb of Yoga which helps the practitioners in conscious withdrawal of energy from the senses
• Roberts was popularly linked to Yoga after she shot the film Eat Pray Love in India
• Roberts believes that Yoga helps her in dealing with stress
• An official from the tourism ministry said, "This has helped promote Yoga in the West. The actress is also an Indophile and keeps coming to the country incognito"
• The objective of 'India, land of Yoga' campaign is to get foreigners to stay in India for extended time and make them learn Yoga
• The ministry of Tourism is hoping to start the campaign by 21 June which is celebrated as the International Yoga Day in United Nations since 2015
• In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi indulged people from over 80 countries to participate in a Mass Yoga manifestation
• The tourism ministry believes that a Yoga campaign may bring in tourists
• However, figures contradict the belief. Yoga is known to be practiced by 745 million people around the world whereas in the year 2014, only 20 percent of 23000 medical tourists from foreign countries visited Yoga centers

According to a tourism ministry official, "The plan has to be approved by tourism minister Mahesh Sharma and the Prime Minister's Office before we approach the actress, but having an international face recognized for practicing yoga is crucial for the success of the campaign"

"Through this campaign, we want to emphasize that learning yoga in its land of origin will be a completely different experience", another official said.