This highly effective message of Worldwide Yoga Day, noticed yearly on 21 June, reverberated via UN Headquarters in New York on Friday as a whole bunch gathered to embrace the traditional, holistic follow.
A well-recognized custom now every year, the North Garden as soon as once more reworked into an open-air yoga studio overlooking the East River. Following a stretch of wet, grey days, the sky had lastly cleared, making it a vibrant, heat day.
And yoga fanatics, together with diplomats, UN officers and workers, took full benefit of it, rolling out their mats – flexing our bodies and minds.
Peter Rogina, founding father of Venture Peace Lights, was delighted to return to the headquarters and fondly recalled the 2019 occasion, which was moved indoors to the Common Meeting Corridor on account of rain.
“I like the chance to follow with such a big group of individuals, the vitality is simply amplified…And I even have my son with me, so to introduce him to this expertise, I’m additionally very excited.”
Lama Aria Drolma is a Buddhist instructor and meditation knowledgeable.
A Buddhist monastic Lama Aria Drolma involves the UN yearly to take part within the occasion. Her path has taken her from the world of company modeling to a extra reflective place of inside peace and meditation.
“Once I was a younger youngster rising up in India, I used to follow yoga. It touches not solely the physique but in addition the soul. It’s very meditative as nicely. I discover yoga to be one of many healthiest issues all of us can do to handle our well being.”
‘One household’
The emphasis on private wellness additionally highlighted the advantages of yoga going past people to embody the well being of the complete planet.
Organized by the Everlasting Mission of India to the UN in collaboration with the UN Secretariat, the theme of this yr’s occasion was, Yoga for One Earth, One Well being.
India’s Everlasting Consultant Ambassador P. Harish famous the way it underscores a significant reality: private well-being and planetary well being are deeply interconnected.
“In caring for ourselves, we start to take care of Earth, reflecting the enduring Indian ethos of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, or the entire world is one household.”
“The 11th version of the Yoga Day gives us a chance to mirror on how yoga has grown into a worldwide power for well-being, touching folks throughout age-groups, geographies and walks of life,” he added.
Echoing that, Didi Ananda Radhika Acharya from Ananda Marga Girls’s Welfare Heart identified that extra than simply an train, yoga is a solution to uncover the sense of oneness with your self, the world and nature.
“On the skin, we’re our our bodies, inside that lies our thoughts. Deep additional inside, there’s something that’s at all times witnessing us, observing us. That’s our soul. Via Yoga, we are able to attain that inside area. After we delve into the depths of our thoughts via yoga, we understand how deeply linked all of us are.”
A logo of hope
Contributors on the garden ranged from skilled practitioners to curious first timers, engaged in primary yoga asanas (poses), respiration methods and stretching workout routines.
Marking Worldwide Day of Yoga at UN Headquarters in New York Metropolis. (20 June 2025)
The important thing spotlight of the programme was a guided meditation session by the famend doctor and a number one determine on integrative well-being, Dr. Deepak Chopra.
Marta Shedletsky from Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Heart in New York attended the session looking for a way of group, belief – and hope. The venue held a particular which means for her.
“What’s happening on this planet as of late, with all of the turmoil and all of the wars which can be happening, this place appears like a logo of hope for a greater future and the potential for peace.”
