Across India and the world, people partook in massive yoga sessions as part of the third annual International Yoga Day. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promoted his country's cultural export.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/R.K. Singh
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International Yoga Day around the World
With India leading the charge, the world celebrated with massive yoga demonstrations across the globe. This is just a selection of the imagery on the third annual International Yoga Day.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca/M. Elshamy
Lucknow, India
Indian prime minister leads a group of 50,000 in Rama Bai Ambedkar Ground - a park in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh in northern India.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/R.K. Singh
Bogota, Colombia
Colombians gather in the high-altitude capital of Bogata to commemorate International Yoga Day.
Image: picture-alliance/Xinhua/J. Paz
Zhangye, China
Women use rocks instead of yoga mats as they practice yoga in the Zhangye National Wetland Park in northwest China.
Kathmandu, Nepal
Thousands bring umbrellas to shield themselves from the rain during a yoga session in the Nepalese capital.
Image: picture-alliance/ZUMA Wire/S. Gautam
New York City, United States
The Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations helped organize this yoga session outside UN Headquarters in Manhattan.
Image: picture-alliance/abaca/M. Elshamy
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Rain poured down onto the crowd as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi lead 50,000 people in an outdoor yoga session on Wednesday at Rama Bai Ambedkar Ground in Lucknow, the capital of the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Among the participants were students and government officials, whom Modi, dressed in a white T-shirt and long pants, occasionally stopped to help with their poses.
"Yoga connects body, mind and soul. It is playing a big role in bringing the world together, too," he said after performing various poses.
Since his Hindi national government came to power, Modi has spearheaded the initiative to restore the ancient practice as part of as a historic part of Indian culture. Part of that initiative was setting up a ministry dedicated to promoting yoga and other traditional practices.
Modi, who credits yoga with his ability to work long hours with little sleep, also persuaded the United Nations to create a dedicated International Yoga Day in 2014.
"Many countries which do not know our language, tradition, or culture are now connecting to India through yoga," Modi said addressing the crowd.
Celebrated across India
Mass yoga demonstrations were performed all across India to celebrate the holiday. An estimated 5,000 events were being held in India and in 180 countries around the world, according to media reports.
The largest of which was in the western city of Ahmedabad, where celebrity yoga guru Baba Ramdev lead a group of 125,000 in an attempt to set a new Guinness World Record. Police also closed roads in New Dehli to accommodate a large crowd of yoga enthusiasts in the Indian capital.
Indian soldiers performed yoga at a height of 18,000 feet (5,500 meters) in the Himalayan region of Ladakh. Others did the same with their families on the deck of an aircraft carrier.
"It is not only the world's longest serving aircraft carrier but also the world's longest-serving warship. I think the ship must have done lots of pranayaams to be sustaining for so long," Puneet Chadha, a top naval officer, told a TV channel, referring to a yogic breathing technique.
Indian scholars say yoga dates back 5,000 years, first practiced by Hindu sages. It is one of India's biggest cultural exports, a lifestyle industry estimated to be worth $80 billion.
"There was a time when yoga was confined to sages meditating in the Himalayan caves. Now, it is becoming a part of people's lives not just in India but across the world," Modi said in his address.
dv/sms (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
5 extravagant yoga ideas
Millions of people practice yoga, but some of them want more than the usual asanas. That's why they beef up their exercises by creating a meditative atmosphere — or by resorting to animal training partners.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Breloer
Yoga with humor
Sometimes everyday life doesn't provide enough opportunities to laugh, so laughing yoga makes up for that. The course starts with a rather artificial laughing exercise consisting of "hohoho" and "hahaha." Real giggling is supposed to automatically ensue. Laughing yoga, which eases tensions and strengthens the immune system, is the easiest form of yoga — and is a good option for beginners.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/G. Breloer
Yoga in a museum
Before the Museum Albertina in Vienna opens its doors to the public, it fills up with yogis. The yoga course starts at 8:30 am in the museum's pompous halls, whose meditative atmosphere creates ideal conditions for practicing the art. When the museum finally opens at 10:00, the yogis may just as well stay — their museum visit is included in the fee for the yoga course.
Image: DW
Yoga in the air
As if yoga weren't difficult enough as it is, aerial yoga gets participants to hang from the ceiling using a broad piece of cloth that looks like a hammock. During their asanas, the yogis lie, hang or sit in the cloth. You need a lot of body tensiont, but that is thought to be helpful when it comes to the more difficult exercises.
Image: picture-alliance/AA/S. Karacan
Yoga with goats
The concept is simple: Goats just show up for the yoga class too. They don't care about asanas, but watching goats ruminate is believed to have a soothing effect on humans. Some people think that being touched by goats can even have a healing effect. There's no reason to worry about keeping a hand free to pinch your nose — only billy goats stink.
Image: Reuters/B.Snyder
Yoga with beer
The sun salutation is replaced here with a long "cheeeeers." Beer yoga combines the sport with the art of German beer brewing. Following each exercise, participants are rewarded with a few gulps of their beverage. Two bottles are consumed during each hour-long session. Towards the end of the lesson, the arsanas might not be carried out quite as precisely as at the beginning.
