International Day of Yoga- 21st June 2020

Revered, respected and massively popular, yoga remains one of India’s finest exports to the outside world. Originating multiple millenniums ago in ancient India and having been practiced continuously since then, yoga is more than just a simple set of physical acts. It is a spiritual and transcendental thought process. And its purity doesn’t restrict its utility strictly to sages or religious saints, though that might have been the case a couple of centuries ago. It’s a non-exclusive activity accessible to every single human being – old or young, rich or poor, fat or thin. Consequently, people around the world have taken a strong liking to it, and its international popularity has boomed in the last decade, so much so that now we have a United Nations-sanctioned International Day of Yoga.

Celebrated annually on 21 June, the day sees people across the world coming together for mass yoga classes, discussion sessions and exhibitions. The idea for commemorating a particular day for yoga was first proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself while giving a speech at the 2014 session of the United Nations General Assembly. Soon discussions bore fruit and the first edition of International Day of Yoga was organized in 2015. Since then, it has been observed each year across the globe with great pomp and enthusiasm.

21 June, which is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, was chosen as the date due to its special significance in Hindu culture, which is considered the patron culture of yoga. The first edition of the day saw the Prime Minister himself performing yoga asanas along with over 35,000 people from 85 countries, across the Rajpath lawns. Similar mass yoga sessions are now held every year on this day.

Since the 2020 edition of this day is set to be observed with a pandemic looming overhead, a slightly different theme is being explored - “Yoga at Home and Yoga with Family”. Mass gatherings have been discouraged so as to uphold social distancing norms. Instead, online meetings and video sessions are being promoted. In fact, the AYUSH Ministry of India recently introduced a video blogging where participants across the world have to post videos of them performing a prescribed set of 3 yoga steps for a duration of three minutes. Bollywood stars and celebrity athletes have joined this bandwagon too. Similar trends have erupted in the form of social media challenges.

While this year’s International Day of Yoga will certainly be vastly different from its predecessors, there is not an iota of doubt over the fact that it shall be as pompous and glorious as them.

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