Where else in the world can one expect a huge record-setting yoga gathering but in India where it all started?
Clad in loose all-white clothing and barefoot, no less than Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi led almost 36,000 of his people in celebrating the very first International Yoga Day on June 21. He was principally behind the establishment of this global event.
The Guinness World Records said on its website that with 35,985 participants, the event set a new record for “Largest Yoga Lesson.” Another record set is the “Most Nationalities in a Yoga Lesson” since 84 nationalities attended.
Yoga is a 5,000-year-old Indian tradition that has already gained popularity in many countries. It is a kind of discipline with a spiritual dimension involved where a yogi--a person who practices yoga--utilizes one’s body and mind to improve one’s state.
Modi addressed the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 27, 2014, to adopt an International Yoga Day. The 64-year-old yogi said that yoga is an “invaluable gift” that can help people improve their health and well-being and can also even aid them on how to “deal with climate change.”
It was during the conference entitled “Yoga: A Science for World Peace” held at the Art of Living International Center in Bengaluru on Dec. 5-6, 2001, that June 21 got formally declared as World Yoga Day.
The U.N. and its specialized agency UNESCO signed the proclamation together with Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a spiritual leader and the founder of nongovernmental organization The Art of Living Foundation.
Assembled at the 1.4-kilometer-long Rajpath, an important boulevard in New Delhi as it is the site of the country’s yearly Delhi Republic Day parade, the participants simultaneously bent, stretched, squatted, knelt, raised their hands and did other yoga movements. They all wore the same white T-shirt bearing the event’s logo with the words “Yoga for Harmony and Peace.”
Ambassadors to India Shaida Mohammad Abdali (Afghanistan), Deep Kumar Upadhyay (Nepal) and Richard Verma (U.S.) joined the mass yoga session. Other Indian officials who also took part were Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, both yogis.
Local news agency Daijiworld said that more than 200 million across India and people in 192 countries celebrated the event.