International Yoga Day: PM Modi on why 'Yoga at home, with family' is the need of the hour

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on International Yoga Day on Sunday, stressing on the benefits of yoga as he elaborated on the theme 'yoga at home, yoga with family'. This year's International Yoga Day theme, PM Modi revealed, was to stay away from social gatherings owing to the dangers of the COVID pandemic and urged the citizens to perform yoga from home with their family. PM Modi elaborated on the positives of performing yoga, its effect on boosting one's immunity system and its need at the time of the coronavirus pandemic. 

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'Yoga from home with our family'

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PM Modi's full address

What is Yoga Day?

The idea of celebrating International Yoga Day was first suggested by the PM Narendra Modi in his 2014 UNGA speech. Followed by the propositions, the United Nations General Assembly drafted a resolution that was titled International Yoga Day on October 14, 2014. The draft proposed humongous support across the world and 21 June was selected as the International Yoga Day.

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First Yoga Day celebrations

International Yoga Day was first observed across the world on June 21, 2015, and was observed in New Delhi. In 2015, the Ministry of AYUSH helped set up the event that included PM Modi, several dignitaries that arrived from about 84 countries and around 35, 985 people gathered at Rajpath, New Delhi to celebrate the day. Around 21 yoga asanas were performed for about 35 minutes.

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