New Delhi: In a historic commemoration, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead a yoga session for the first time at UN Headquarters on the 9th International Day of Yoga to be celebrated on June 21.
The International Day of Yoga aims to raise awareness worldwide of the many benefits of practising yoga. Recognising its universal appeal, in December 2014, the United Nations proclaimed June 21 as the International Day of Yoga.
“On the occasion of the 9th International Day of Yoga, the Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations cordially invites you to join a Yoga session led by H. E. Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi,” an advisory for the event said.
Nine years after Prime Minister Modi had first proposed from the UN General Assembly podium to mark International Yoga Day as an annual commemoration, the Indian leader will for the first time be at the UN Headquarters to lead the yoga session in a historic commemoration of the day.
The Yoga session will run from 8 am – 9 am on June 21 at the expansive North Lawn in the UN Headquarters, where a bust of Mahatma Gandhi, a gift from India to the UN, was installed in December last year during the country’s Presidency of the UN Security Council.
The historic yoga session is expected to be attended by top UN officials, ambassadors, envoys, delegates from Member States as well as prominent members of the global and diaspora community. The advisory encourages guests and attendees to wear Yoga-friendly attire for the special session and added that Yoga mats will be provided during the session. “Welcome to take it home as a souvenir,” it said.
“I am looking forward to participating in the 9th International Day of Yoga celebrations @UN with Prime Minister @NarendraModi at the UNHQ North Lawn next week,” President of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly Csaba Korosi said in a tweet Thursday. The tweet accompanies a photograph of Korosi with PM Modi.
