A Guinness representative announced that 135 countries participated in the event, setting a record for the largest number of countries gathered in a single yoga class.
Post Date – 11:15 PM, Wednesday – 6/21/23
United Nations: Wednesday’s celebration of International Yoga Day at the United Nations campus set a Guinness World Record for most ethnic groups congregating for a yoga class, reflecting the message conveyed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres The message that ancient art is a universal unifying force.
A Guinness representative announced that 135 countries participated in the event, setting a record for the largest number of countries gathered in a yoga class.
Modi said yoga unites all people of all faiths and cultures.
“Yoga is really a generic brand,” he said.
“Yoga reveals our common humanity and helps us understand that despite our differences, we are one,” Guterres, who was in Paris for the conference, said in a video message.
He said Yoga Day embodies the spirit of solidarity and determination to build a better and more harmonious world for humanity, the planet and ourselves.
The UN lawn is dotted with yellow yoga mats covered in mosaics of different races and ethnicities. As a person, they performed a series of simple yoga exercises that focused on breathing and relaxation.
About 1,800 people — officials, diplomats, United Nations workers and yoga enthusiasts — attended the event, which flocked from lawns to sidewalks along the East River.
Before the yoga ceremony, Modi paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at his statue and at their memorial to the peacekeepers who died in the service of the United Nations.
UN General Assembly President Chopper Korosi has highlighted yoga’s role in protecting the environment.
“Yoga is a moral compass, it’s a sustainable compass, not overused,” he said.
New York Mayor Eric Adams has called for yoga to shape the city and national agenda.
The spiritual and emotional aspects of yoga should be ‘challenged’ [us] Fight war, fight gender oppression, fight violence, fight lack of clean water,” he said.
