On June twenty-first, yoga lovers
will gather at the iconic Times Square in New York city, in sixteen Bulgarian
cities, at the Al-Azhar park in Cairo, in Shanghai, China, and in many other
places, both large and small, around the world to celebrate the Second Annual
International Day of Yoga (IDY.)
When the United Nations General
Assembly (UNGA), voted on December 11, 2014, in favour of a resolution declaring
June 21 (the summer solstice, being the longest day of the year in the Northern
Hemisphere and having special significance in many parts of the world,) it gave
birth to the International Day of Yoga. Over 175 countries, including USA,
China and Canada, co-sponsored the resolution, giving it the largest number of
co-sponsors for any UNGA resolution of such a nature.
The largest IDY celebrations this
year are to be held in Chandigarh, India, where an expected 30,000 participants
are to be joined by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Indeed, yoga has
experienced an enormous explosion of interest in its country of origin. India
has a Federal ministry of Yoga (and Indigenous Health systems,) and many millions
of practitioners—civil servants, police forces, convicts and school children—are
exposed to its teachings.
In Canada, the festival will be
observed in all major cities and scores of smaller places, with the largest
outdoor gathering of yogis to occur in Vancouver, B.C. Last year, so many
participants showed up that Burrard Bridge was closed. British Columbia premier
Christy Clark’s government partnered with yoga-attire giant Lululemon and other
businesses to stage was called the largest IDY festival outside of India.
Interestingly, the IDY is becoming
not just an occasion to stretch ones muscles, but also an opportunity to
discover alternate health therapies, holistic philosophies, music and even
cooking. For example, a special lecture series relating Yoga to the achievement
of Sustainable Development goals is to be held at the United Nations
Headquarters in New York this year.
With IDY celebrations spreading
throughout the world, it will be interesting how this special day will grow and
change in the coming years.
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