Yoga's soft power reigns at UN during Modi's US visit

Guinness record set for people from most nationalities coming together to perform yoga in single session

- Prashant Jha

In a grand display of India’s soft power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi participated in the International Day of Yoga celebrations at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday, and described yoga as a “truly universal” and unifying force across ethnicities, faiths and cultures.

The UN north lawns, overlooking the Hudson river, turned into a sea of white with an estimated 2,000 people representing around 135 nationalities joined Modi, the UN General Assembly president Csaba Korosi and the New York mayor Eric Adams in performing yoga. The participation of the most number of nationalities in a single yoga session hit the Guinness Book of World Records, and the Prime Minister hailed this unprecedented coming together of people from across the world.

“Yoga comes from India. It is a very old tradition. But it is living and dynamic. Yoga is free from copyright, from patents, from royalty payments. Yoga is adaptable to your age, gender and fitness level. Yoga is portable — you can do it at home or work or in transit. Yoga is flexible — you can practice it alone or in a group, learn from somewhere or be self taught. It is unifying, for all ethnicities, faiths, cultures. Yoga is truly universal. When we do Yoga, we feel physically fit, mentally calm and emotionally content,” Modi said, speaking in English.