International Day of Yoga 2023

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The 9th International Day of Yoga (IDY) was celebrated on June 21st with various events and initiatives taking place across the country.

This year’s IDY theme, “Yoga for Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam,”

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GS I: Culture

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Tribal Artisan Yoga Mats: TRIFED collaborated with the Ministry of Ayush to provide yoga mats crafted by tribal artisans, showcasing India’s diverse cultural heritage and traditional art forms.
Ocean Ring of Yoga: Indian Navy and Merchant ships will organize yoga demonstrations at ports and vessels of friendly nations, promoting global participation and fostering cultural exchange.
Yoga from the Arctic to Antarctica: The Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Ayush will coordinate yoga events in countries along the Prime Meridian line and UN member countries. Yoga sessions will be conducted at extreme regions like Himadri in the Arctic and Bharati in Antarctica.
Yoga Bharatmala and Yoga Sagarmala: Indian armed forces, including ITBP, BSF, and BRO, will organize a chain of yoga demonstrations. Yoga Sagarmala will feature yoga along the Indian coastline, including yoga sessions on the flight deck of INS Vikrant.
National Level Initiatives: The Prime Minister will lead a yoga session at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, demonstrating India’s commitment to yoga on a global platform. The Ministry of Ayush encourages “Har Aangan Yoga” or Yoga in the courtyard of every house, promoting yoga practice at the village level.

The International Day of Yoga has been celebrated annually on 21 June since 2015, following its inception in the United Nations General Assembly in 2014.
The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in his UN address in 2014, had suggested the date of 21 June, as it is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and shares a special significance in many parts of the world.

The Prime Minister spoke of Yoga’s role during the pandemic, on the occasion.
While Yoga is not a part of culture across countries, enthusiasm has increased globally.
He stressed the importance of breathing exercises like pranayama and anulom-vilom for strengthening our respiratory system.
The mantra of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam’ which India has followed since ages, is now finding global acceptance.
We all are praying for each other’s wellbeing, If there are threats to humanity, Yoga often gives us a way of holistic health.

India and WHO took an important step by launching M-Yoga app world-over, which will provide many videos of yoga training based on common yoga protocol in many languages. This will contribute to the efforts of ‘One World One Health’.
- M-Yoga has been developed by the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, Ministry of Ayush in partnership with the World Health Organisation.

The Ministry of AYUSH and the World Health Organization (WHO) had jointly undertaken a project in mid 2019, focusing on mobile-Yoga. It envisaged the concept of the ‘Be Healthy, Be Mobile’ (BHBM) under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030.
- Be Healthy, Be Mobile (BHBM) initiative is a global partnership led by WHO which supports the scale up of mobile health (m-Health) technology within the scope of the National Health system to combat non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

-Source: The Hindu