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Today we celebrate the first world yoga day, declared by the United Nations at the initiative of the Government of India, and his Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in order to promote this physical discipline as much as spiritual.

This Sunday morning, the government thus organized the largest gathering of yoga practitioners in the world, with 35 000 people gathered along New Delhi's central avenue.

Known for its slowness and procrastination, The UN quickly adopted a proposal made in September by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to establish an International Day of Yoga. It will take place every 21 June, the longest day of the year.

Non, it's not a fashion effect. More like the Modi effect. We explain : in September, just four months after coming to power, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took advantage of his first state visit to the White House to promote yoga, a discipline of which he shows himself to be a fervent follower coupled with a tireless proselytizer. After extolling the merits of this age-old practice, 2 500 years to Barack Obama, he had, in the process, called for the UN to establish a World Yoga Day.

Almost unanimity at the UN

Pushing his convictions further, Narendra Modi even benefited from a major cabinet reshuffle on 9 last November to appoint a Minister of Yoga to his government, which surprised many people and even, why hide it, sparked some sarcasm in the West. Today, we are no longer laughing because the UN found the idea of ​​the Indian Prime Minister so good that it has just decided that the 21 June – the longest day of the year – would now be International Yoga Day.

So of course, as you are observant, you are going to say that the 21 June was already International Slow Day. But we will also answer you bluntly that not only is it not incompatible but that it can even prove to be complementary. Never mind, to tell the truth. The adoption of the text was not the subject of endless debates along the East River., in New York City, Since 175 of 193 States represented at the United Nations voted in favor, a near unanimity which saw countries as different as France, the United States, Russia, Syria, China and the Philippines adopt the resolution.

It is true that yoga would count at least 250 millions of followers around the world, whose 20 million in the United States and well over 1 million in France, where the figures are difficult to calculate because the discipline is split into several federations. “Yoga can bring communities together in ways that engender respect”, explained the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, before adding : “it can also bring peace and promote resilience against the ills of lack of communication”. The happiest in the affair was obviously Narendra Modi who was quick to let it be known on his Twitter account that he was “translated with joy”.

A minister of yoga
It was at the initiative of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the UN General Assembly adopted Thursday 10 December 2014 a resolution inviting us to celebrate yoga day, and thus allow “promote the benefits of practicing yoga”. 177 nations have joined this initiative.

Narendra Modi had already set an example by appointing a Minister of Yoga during a reshuffle of the Indian government ! It was, According to his account, to revive this ancient discipline…

Let's be zen
Some will certainly see it as a gadget day, as it is true that our Western minds are not very inclined to be interested in this way in a discipline combining the body and the mind in the search for well-being.

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