From Arctic to Antarctica, India plans worldwide International Day of Yoga celebrations on June 21

New Delhi: Lakhs of people are gearing up for the 9th International Day of Yoga (IDY) 2023 on June 21. The Yoga Day national celebrations will be officially led by vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar at Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.

About 15,000 people are expected to participate in the main event. This year’s theme of IDY is ‘Yoga for Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, a tribute to Indian socio-cultural heritage.

This year, prime minister Narendra Modi will lead yoga at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, USA, where more than 180 countries are expected to join to show their commitment towards yoga.

Before leaving for a two-nation visit, PM Modi said that he is looking forward to this special celebration at the same place that supported India’s proposal in December 2014 to recognise International Day of Yoga as an important occasion across the world.

Preparations began in March

The preparation of IDY 2023 started on March 13, 2023, with 100 days countdown launched by the minister of Ayush. Since then, daily countdown has been observed by all stakeholders, including government bodies, making it a mass movement, that will culminate on June 21, 2023.

This year’s Yoga Day will witness unique feature like the Ocean Ring of Yoga, where Indian Navy and merchant ships will organise CYP demonstrations at port/vessels of the friendly countries in different oceans.

Yoga from Antarctica

Yoga from Arctic to Antarctica is another feature in which MEA is coordinating with the Ministry of Ayush to organize CYP in countries falling in and around the Prime Meridian line besides UN member countries.

Yoga events will be held at the North Pole and South Pole regions in coordination with the MoES at Himadri, the Indian research base in Arctic and Bharati, the Indian research base in Antarctica.

Yoga Bharatmala has been conceptualised, where Indian Armed Forces along with ITBP, BSF, BRO will make a chain of yoga demonstration in unison. Yoga Sagarmala will witness yoga along Indian coast line. There will be yoga demonstration at the flight deck of INS Vikrant under the leadership of the defence minister.

Har Aangan Yoga

At the national level, International Day of Yoga will try to achieve ‘Har Aangan Yoga’ by enabling people’s participation of yoga at village level.

PM Modi, in his letter to village sarpanchs, appealed them to celebrate the day with their villagers in full strength. Any can join the observation in their nearest anganwadis, health and wellness centres and schools.

Apart from this, around 2 lakh Common Service Centres, AYUSH Health and Wellness Centres under the National AYUSH Mission, AYUSH Gram will also participate in the International Yoga Day celebrations. Around 50,000 people are expected to gather at Amrit Sarovar to perform yoga.

Photography contest

The Ministry of Ayush, in collaboration with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the Ministry of External Affairs, is hosting photography contest ‘Yoga My Pride’ on MyGov.in platform.

National and international participants can upload a photo of themselves doing yogasanas along with a caption apt for the photograph, The best photographs in three categories will be awarded prizes.

This year ‘Y-break’ at workspaces was also introduced by the Ministry of Ayush with the aim for employees to get de-stressed, refreshed, and re-focused at workspace. All ministries/departments of Government of India have been requested to ask their employees to practice yoga in their chairs.

All key ministries of the government of India, state governments, national and international leading yoga institutes and organisations, universities, Armed Forces, NSS & NYK volunteers and other stakeholders are already participating in various run-up activities of IDY 2023. Along with these Indian missions and embassies, UN member countries will also participate in the International Day of Yoga on June 21.