(With inputs from AP)

NEW DELHI: The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Commerce and Industry this week approved the practice of yoga as a sports activity, according to a social media post of Nouf Marwaai , the kingdom’s first woman yoga instructor.The approval will enable anyone to get a yoga centre/studio license and start teaching yoga as a sports service under the head of business activity.The news of the approval was made public by Saudi Arabia 's first woman yoga instructor, Nouf Marwaai. In a November 10 post on Facebook, she announced that the ministry has granted approval to practice yoga within the country.Alluding India as "the land of the yoga," Marwaai acknowledged the support she received from the Indian government, the Consulate General in Saudi Arabia and the people of India.Late on Tuesday, yoga guru Swami Ramdev appreciated the decision taken by the Saudi government.Terming it a historic step, Ramdev tweeted:In the recent past, Saudi Arabia, known for implementing a strict interpretation of Islam, has been in the news for charting a new modern course for the country.Since catapulting to power with the support of his father, the king, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has pushed forth changes that could usher in a new era for one of the United States’ most important allies and swing the kingdom away from decades of ultraconservative dogma and restrictions. He’s introduced musical concerts and movies again and is seen as the force behind the king’s decision to grant women the right to drive as of next year.Opposition to the changes has so far been muted, but some critics of the prince have been detained. When social openings in the kingdom were taking place four decades ago, Sunni extremists opposed to the monarchy laid siege to Islam’s holiest site in Mecca.Prince Mohammed’s agenda is upending the ruling Al Saud’s longstanding alliance with the kingdom’s clerical establishment in favor of synchronizing with a more cosmopolitan, global capitalism that appeals to international investors and maybe even non-Muslim tourists.The prince grabbed headlines in recent days by vowing a return to “moderate Islam.” He also suggested that his father’s generation had steered the country down a problematic path and that it was time to “get rid of it.”In his sweeping “Vision 2030” plan to wean Saudi Arabia off of its near total dependence on petrodollars, Prince Mohammed laid out a vision for “a tolerant country with Islam as its constitution and moderation as its method.”Prince Mohammed, or MBS as he is widely known, used a rare public appearance on stage at a major investor conference in the capital, Riyadh, this week to drive home that message to a global audience.“We only want to go back to what we were: Moderate Islam that is open to the world, open to all religions,” he said in the ornate grand hall of the Ritz-Carlton. “We will not waste 30 years of our lives in dealing with extremist ideas. We will destroy them today.”His remarks were met with applause and a front-page article in Britain’s Guardian Newspaper. In expanded remarks to the paper, the 32-year-old prince said that successive Saudi monarchs “didn’t know how to deal with” Iran’s 1979 revolution that brought to power a clerical Shiite leadership still in place today.It would not be wrong to perceive the latest announcement (of granting approval to the practice of yoga) in the same light."Yoga, which literally means ‘union’. A union of individual with ones well being, a body to mind, emotions and soul, nation to globe has officially arrived at the sea shore of Saudi Arabia. It has crossed the boundaries of fundamentalism, MB fanaticism and ideological extremism," Marwaai said in her post.In the end, she urged the people to get their Yoga Studio/Centre license and start teaching yoga to people in Saudi Arabia.