International Day of Yoga

International Day of Yoga

Yoga Nation

Last updated: Mar 17, 2021 | Mar 09, 2021

The International Day of Yoga is celebrated annually on June 21st. The first celebration was on June 21, 2015.

In 2014 India's Ambassador to the UN Asoke Mukerji proposed ONU resolution on 'International Day of Yoga'.

The day proposed as the International Day of Yoga - June 21 was not chosen by chance. This corresponds to the date of the summer solstice which is the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere and has special significance in many parts of the world.

Mukerji quoted Modi's UNGA address in which he had asked world leaders to adopt an international Yoga day, saying that by changing lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change.

"Yoga embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well being," Modi had said.

For International Yoga Day, people around the world are all set to take out their yoga mats and start exercising, but they might not be aware that yoga goes back centuries.

On June 21, 2015, nearly 36,000 people, including Prime Minister Modi, and many other high-profile political figures from all around the world, performed 21 asanas (yoga postures) for 35 minutes in New Delhi in what was the first International Yoga Day, and the day has been celebrated around the globe ever since.

According to Wayback Machine, we remind that Asoke Mukerji was Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations from April 2013 to December 2015

According to Wikipedia, Asoke Kumar Mukerji (born December 1955) was among the first Indian officials tasked with representing India in trade disputes involving India brought before the WTO Dispute Settlement Mechanism. The WTO Dispute Settlement Body in its meeting on 21 October 1998 recognized his "knowledge of the WTO issues was unsurpassed" while approving his inclusion in the Indicative List of Panelists for Dispute Settlement. Mukerji's article "Developing Countries and the WTO: Issues of Implementation" published in 2000 has been widely used in the context of the Doha Development Round of trade negotiations.

On June 21, 2020, according to Spirit of Mumbai, The Heartfulness Institute from India celebrates International Day of Yoga 2020 with the theme “Let's make Compassion Contagious”, in partnership with Ayush Ministry. The Heartfulness Institute offered an original approach to meditation, conducting one of 2020’s biggest virtual meets.

This event showcased the need for compassion and to inspire people on how to live a life of compassion. The transformative powers of compassion have been chronicled extensively in all the great world scriptures.

On this occasion, Mr. Kamlesh Patel said,“Compassion is love in action for the wellbeing of humanity.There is nothing more contagious than compassion. We start with self-compassion. We expand and embrace it with all of humanity. It is compassion that will unify us. If we upgrade ourselves on being more compassionate, we will follow the trail placed by Swami Vivekanand and Babuji in uniting humanity on a higher aspiration of total oneness”.

For those who don't know, according to Wikipedia, Kamlesh D. Patel (born 1956) also known as Daaji among his followers, is an World-wide spiritual leader, author and the fourth in the line of Rāja yoga masters in the Sahaj Marg system of spiritual practice of the Shri Ram Chandra.

He is the president of Shri Ram Chandra Mission, a non-profit organization founded in 1945 and associated with the United Nations Department of Public Information, succeeded his spiritual guide Shri Parthasarathi.