YOGA Day

The UN proclaimed June 21 as International Day of Yoga by passing a resolution on

December 11, 2014 during the 69th session of the General Assembly. At the session, PM
Modi had said, “Yoga is an invaluable gift from our ancient tradition. Yoga embodies unity
of mind and body, thought and action … a holistic approach [that] is valuable to our health
and our well-being. Yoga is not just about exercise; it is a way to discover the sense of
oneness with yourself, the world and the nature.”
The first Yoga Day celebrations were held in 2015 at Raj Path in New Delhi and Modi, along
with other dignitaries, had created two Guinness World Records. The first record was set for
housing 35,985 people and being the world’s largest yoga session. The second one was for
having the most number (84) of nationalities participating in it.

The word ‘yoga’ is derived from Sanskrit and means to join or to unite, symbolising the
union of a person’s body and consciousness.
“Yoga is an ancient physical, mental and spiritual practice that originated in India. The word
‘yoga’ derives from Sanskrit and means to join or to unite, symbolizing the union of body
and consciousness,” the United Nations website says.
According to its famous practitioner BKS Iyengar, “Yoga cultivates the ways of maintaining
a balanced attitude in day-to-day life and endows skill in the performance of one’s actions.”
In its ‘Common Yoga Protocol’ from 2019, the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy,
Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) lists Yama, Niyama, Āsana, Prāṇāyāma,
Pratyāhāra, Dhāraṇā, Dhyāna, Samādhi, Bandhās and Mudrās, Ṣaṭkarmas,Yuktāhāra, Mantra-
japa,Yukta-karma as popular yoga ‘sadhanas’.
The AYUSH protocol describes the folding hands logo of Yoga Day as reflecting “the union
of individual consciousness with that of universal consciousness, a perfect harmony between
mind and body, man and nature, the holistic approach to health and well being. The brown
leaves in the logo symbolize the earth element, the green leaves of nature, blue the fire
element while the sun symbolises the source of energy and inspiration.”