Millions observe worldwide Yoga Day

NEW DELHI – Millions of yoga enthusiasts bent and twisted their bodies in complex postures across India and much of the world today to mark the first International Yoga Day.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had lobbied the U.N. to declare June 21 as global Yoga Day, spread his mat among rows of people, including his Cabinet members and foreign diplomats, at New Delhi’s main thoroughfare that had been transformed into one sprawling exercise ground.

Tens of thousands of schoolchildren, bureaucrats, homemakers, soldiers and ordinary folk took part in the exercise, which was repeated in all Indian state capitals. In Modi’s home state of Gujarat, public yoga events were organized at nearly 30,000 places, state officials said.

“We are not only celebrating a day, but we are training the human mind to begin a new era of peace and harmony,” Modi told participants. “This is a program for the benefit of mankind, for a tension-free world and to spread the message of harmony.”

In Taipei, Taiwan, more than 2,000 participants rolled out mats and performed 108 rounds of the “sun salutation” – the sequence of yoga poses often practiced at the beginning of a routine as the sun rises.

Similar events were held in Bangkok; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and other places.

Indian officials said more than 35,000 people participated in the New Delhi event that was also an attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the largest single yoga class at a single venue.