International Yoga Day came into existence on 27th September, 2014 when the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi proposed the idea while delivering his speech at the UN General Assembly. The decision to endorse 27th September as International Yoga Day was established in the UN by India’s Ambassador, Ashok Kumar Mukherji.
The resolution to establish 27th September as International Yoga Day has received the highest number of co-sponsors for any UN resolution, which results to a total of 177 countries.
Celebration of International Yoga Day 2021
Like the past years since its establishment, this year also Narendra Modi celebrated the seventh event of International Yoga Day with the country. While addressing the event Narendra Modi stated, “Today, when the whole world is combating the corona virus disease pandemic, yoga remains a ray of hope.”
Furthermore, Narendra Modi along with WHO launched a yoga app, called mYoga which is set to be available for the whole world to utilise. In his address he added, “In collaboration with WHO, India has taken another important step. We will be launching the mYoga app which will have yoga training videos in different languages for people across the world. This will help us achieve our ‘One World, One Health’ motto.”
The theme set for International Yoga Day 2021 is ‘Yoga for Wellness’. The Prime Minister went on twitter and explained the meaning behind the theme, stating that it primarily focuses on the practice of yoga for physical and mental wellbeing.
Importance of International Yoga Day
International Yoga Day in today’s world holds an immense amount of value and importance. It focuses deeply on a person’s physical and mental fitness which is of utmost importance in this era and even more so now because of the pandemic. This day helps every person across the globe in realising the benefits of practicing yoga, the way it will help them achieve their desired peace from the depths of their soul and also keep their metabolism and bodily functions immaculate.
Benefits of Yoga:
- Overall physical and mental fitness
- Helps achieve inner peace
- Provides strength and energy, both physically as well as mentally
- Helps with stress relief
- Enhances presence of mind and immunity
- Helps in acquiring a good stance and body flexibility
What is the meaning of Yoga?
The word yoga has been derived from the Sanskrit word ‘yuj’ which means ‘to join’ or ‘to unite’. Yoga is a combination of physical and mental activities which leads to their wellness. It is therefore believed that the word ‘yoga’ was first mentioned in the holy text of the Rig Veda.
According to ancient history, practice of yoga formulates to the matrimony of a person’s individual consciousness with that of the universal consciousness. Yoga not only helps in keeping a person physical fit and healthy but also helps in cleansing one’s mind by getting rid of all the toxicity and brings them peace from the within.
