International Yoga Day Celebrated Around The Globe For Second Year

International Yoga Day was marked around the World on Tuesday, June 21, the second time the global holiday has been celebrated.

International Yoga Day

Millions of people in countries that span the globe took part in International Yoga Day celebrations that saw groups of dozens and hundreds of people practicing the ancient spiritual movements. The UN-sponsored day was endorsed by 175 countries, where citizens regularly partake in the activity at studios, schools, offices, at home and in public spaces.

While yoga was invented in India, renowned spiritual leader Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev explained that it is not specifically Indian while speaking at a panel discussion at the United Nations Monday.

“We must understand that yoga is not an Indian (thing). If you want to call yoga Indian, then you must call gravity European,” Sadhguru said. “This is why I said yoga is not Indian because a science cannot be Indian. Yes, yoga originated from India and as Indians we are proud of it but it does not belong to India. The very fact that the UN has declared it as International Yoga Day means India has gifted it (Yoga) to the world. It does not belong to India anymore.”

Sadhguru drove home the point that yoga should be viewed as something bigger than a culture, something that can and should be embraced by all.

“Anytime time is yoga time. If you bring that dimension, release it from its physical practice and bring it into a state of experience of life, that’s when it will become universal. It’s not a yoga culture, it’s a yogic science,” he said, adding, “However attached they may be to those cultural elements, they should keep that aside and teach yoga as a science and as a technology. This is most important because only then will it be internationally relevant.”