June 21st, 2015 marks the first ever International Yoga Day.
Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, received overwhelming support from 175 countries when he presented the idea to the UN General Assembly in December of 2014. International Yoga Day was put into resolution and the 6,000-year-old practice now has a recognized date of appreciation.
The Yoga Movement has grown rapidly over the last 4 decades, spreading to every corner of the globe with +250 million people who practice yoga worldwide. Now is the time to unify all the diverse expressions of yoga with the world’s first ever Global Synchronized Yoga and Meditation event on Global Yoga Day. Unify, in partnership with URI, will be hosting the online platform for the yoga movement to be united.
Yoga Day Campaign
We are inviting all our cooperation circles around the world to participate in the following ways on Yoga Day:
- Start your day at sunrise in your region with a personal practice of yoga, meditation, and intention.
- Join the world for a Global Synchronized Hour of Yoga & Meditation at 12:00 Noon Pacific / 7:00 pm GMT.
- Organize an outdoor sunset yoga session in your region, bringing together all the yogis in your city.
You can register your event to a map we are hosting and send us your logo to be featured as part of the yoga event.
Kiran Bali said, "The origins of Yoga date back to pre-Vedic traditions and Yoga is an important part of Hindu Buddhist and Jain religions. The literal meaning of the Sanskrit word yoga is ‘to join’, ‘to unite’, or ‘to attach’ from the root. We aim to join and unite our diverse family through the power of yoga.
Yoga poses are designed to refresh your body while calming your mind, and with a calm mind we can work in a more positive manner towards cooperation. By promoting yoga through practical sessions we will tackle social isolation and promote health and wellbeing."
Kiran Bali MBE JP - URI Global Council Chair
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Dear friends,
We are celebrating today (June 21) as UN International Yoga Day. About 197 countries are participating. Yoga is a Sanskrit word which means union. The ultimate goal is the union of the individual soul (antaratman) with the Over Soul (paramatma). Yoga is the greatest contribution of ancient India to the world. It is an excellent tool for overcoming violence through inner peace.
Yoga promises a body free of diseases. Patanjali Yogi was the chief proponent. He prescribed an extraordinary design for keeping the body and mind sound through a series of flexible exercises.
Yoga has been an integral component of our TPA training from the very beginning. It will be great if all our Cooperation Circles around the world can support this UN program. "Yoga for combatting Violence" can be our slogan.
Dr. Abraham Karickam, Executive Secretary, URI Asia Region & Coordinator, South India-Sri Lanka Region
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Yoga enthusiast Bhumi Shah of PEACE CC engaged her Jain community audience through a yoga workshop on June 21st, 2015 as part of the UN Yoga day celebrations. Read the full story here.
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We at Prafull Oorja held our international yoga day program yesterday, bringing together special-needs children, families, and schools from across Bangalore. About 150 members were present. Children had a yoga class and listened to speeches, and spoke themselves.
I would be happy to discuss yoga and peace, in depth, as this was the nature of my master’s degrees and all the work we do at Prafull.
Sowmya Ayyar, International Network of Peace Studies (INOPS) CC
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Greetings from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Last week, an Indian ambassador base in Phnom Penh Cambodia had an opening speech at the Riverside Yoga exhibition. And yesterday evening, they had a big team practicing Yoga in front of the Royal palace.
In solidarity,
Sotheavy Srey, Director, Alliance for Conflict Transformation
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"Day for Yoga" has been big in international and domestic (New Zealand) media. May be a great rallying point for all of us in future yoga days annually. One limitation of such days is that there are so many of them. But with India in on the act, and Yoga being so universal, this might catch on on the scale that is definitely necessary for global mobilizations in the cause of peace and justice in all dimensions of human life.
George from New Zealand
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Keeping the mind in this integrity, in truth, as a real way of being, is a sound process to live by. This event with its impact around the globe is sending and supporting a message to be clear in our participation of what is positive, what is just, what is righteous - what is real in our hearts around the world. All of us that work for transformation of consciousness, our own and others’, as to promote peace equality and live in this peace and equality, seeing all as sacred. Yoga - cleaning the mind, the body, helps us to purify our beliefs - unite us with our souls, and promotes inner integrity.
For me this integrity is the way we conduct global business, fair trade, balance in our lives, and our communion with each other, and for me this is a focus on where products are made - who made it, what conditions they were made in - as to serve the poor and create equality. This started with my visits to India. When I saw the people creating such beauty for the world and being paid so little by the brokers, I prayed to become the broker that would change this. It is also about the use of funds, ensuring that they get to where they are meant to go to serve and empower the people - our most poor.
For others peace will come in many ways. Interfaith awareness will come in many ways. But for me, this is what it means - because I see the poverty and the injustice and believe it can change. We together, all faiths together, can be this vehicle. I see monuments to mankind in large shopping complexes around the globe that house mass production made by the poor. And those who own these shopping complexes, all of which are the same, manage the vendors with in them the same way, making for the demand of even cheaper products. I see our peoples around Australia being trained but not educated in the ways that bring forth that integrity in themselves. I pray that they will see their own beauty, their own uniqueness, and are encouraged to create, so this sameness dissipates.
As a young, enthusiastic, passionate teacher of yoga and meditation in a system that did not understand the inner journey, I tried to embrace and drew out of my students that essence with in them to help them to see who they were and
remember what they could be in the world, and focus on a rigor of inquiry. I also embraced teaching them to continue to live their essence it in the world - now in truth I see mental illness - fragmentation of family and a world that is owned by accountants and lawyers, who benefit from our medical educational and housing, leaving the stillness the unique creativity the joy of living, far from our focus.
I call forth those religious leaders around the globe to look at this and to encourage the shepherds of all faiths to call forth a new way where business people reinvent themselves and begin to see what is of value, where a not for profit and enterprise system is more about empowerment rather than being a means to pay for its self, while keeping the poor, poor.
I was so happy to see the image in our Australian media of so many beautiful souls participating in this discipline, including India's leader. This is an abundant blessing on our world.
I pray for real equality and justice for those who are yet to fend for themselves and the opportunity for this to emerge in systems that empower economic renewal, as a means to real peace. From this, all else will unfold - our interfaith work in action can be a real global mobilization.
Love to all,
Pauline, Bumblebee Foundation, Global Renewal Projects, URI
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Dear URI Friends,
UN Yoga Day had the involvement of URI member Jonathan Granoff today at the UN and we are co-sponsoring an event tomorrow at the UN. May all good thoughts, meditations and stretches help shift us into a more peaceful time.
May Peace Prevail on Earth,
Monica Willard
United Religions Initiative,
UN Representative
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The photographs on CNN of 45000 people doing yoga together in India is an awe inspiring feat. The unity and oneness displayed through unified movement is a testimony to how movement brings peace. I did see a report with some challenging the yoga day and this is a good place to attract dialogue towards deeper understanding and harmony between religious groups.
In Cape Town, numerous yoga gathered at public spaces and shared yogic practices for hours. It was so well received with many joining who had never practiced. What a sight!
With blessings of peace for a more harmonious world,
Karen Barensche, Regional Coordinator for URI Southern African Region
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Photos from Zero Limits Cooperation Circle celebrating International Yoga Day in Kottayam, Kerala, India:
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Dear Friends,
Namaste and greetings of peace from eastern part of India. It gives me so much joy to connect with you again and again. URI community is a network of Joy. Here I am sharing with you some photos of our celebration on International Yoga Day.
We started the day at 10 am with tree plating organized by Rural Development Society CC (RDS) lead by Rev. Kisku, at the foothill of Susunia Mountain, in the Bankura District of West Bengal state which is mostly surrounded by Tribal land. Members from Tribal Development Society in the district also participated in the program.
We have planted a few significant plants with a ritual and a promise of planting 1000 more plants during the following months, in the same area where we dream of creating a nature-based temple of interfaith cooperation. During this month of monsoon, tree planting is very ideal due to an abundant source of water. We have been working to sustain and harvest rainwater in the area to promote organic farming and planting fruit trees, which eventually will provide nutrition to the local tribal communities - especially among the children. It is our realization that, unless we keep a balance with our nature, yoga only can not keep us fit.
In the evening session we have started a yoga session at the conflict center beginning with a few children. We are planning to take this yoga session to a larger level.
At the end, we closed the day with a heartfelt message from each member and each of us made a commitment to spread the message of URI in our own local community.
Namaste and Peace,
Biswadeb Chakraborty, Regional Coordinator, India, East Zone
