International Day of Yoga 2008

International Day of Yoga is an international awareness or commemorative observance and is optional in the calendar.

The International Day of Yoga joins India's long and varied yoga traditions with a recent global public-health and cultural observance. Yoga developed over many centuries through philosophical, meditative and physical disciplines; the Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita and later hatha traditions represent different strands. Modern yoga also includes newer styles of postural practice and should not be presented as one unchanged exercise sequence from antiquity.

In September 2014 India proposed recognizing a global yoga day at the United Nations. On 11 December 2014 the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 69/131, with a draft supported by 175 member states, proclaiming 21 June the International Day of Yoga. Its first international observance took place in 2015. The date lies near the June solstice, significant in the Northern Hemisphere, but it is not a lunar religious festival or a claim that all schools of yoga began on that date.

Communities mark the day with group practice, breathing and meditation sessions, education and discussions of yoga's cultural roots. Thoughtful instruction, accessibility and adaptation to health needs matter; yoga may support physical and mental well-being but is not a substitute for necessary treatment. Respecting the variety of Indian yoga traditions while making safe participation possible worldwide is central to the occasion.

International Day of Yoga is intended to build public awareness and encourage attention to its associated global issue.

Offer accessible yoga, breathing and meditation sessions with qualified guidance and health adaptations.

Observed worldwide on 21 June; programmes differ by community. It is a fixed-date UN observance, not a lunar festival.