International Yoga Day 2025: 'World going through unrest… Yoga gives direction of peace’: PM Modi leads celebrations from Visakhapatnam

International Yoga Day 2025: This year’s theme for International Yoga Day is ‘Yoga for One Earth, One Health’.

New Delhi | Updated: June 21, 2025 11:47 AM IST

Prime Minister Narendra Modi being felicitated by Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan during the 11th International Yoga Day celebrations in Visakhapatnam on Saturday

PM Narendra Modi being felicitated by Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu and Deputy CM Pawan Kalyan during the 11th International Yoga Day celebrations in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. (PTI)

PM Modi Yoga Day Visakhapatnam: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, leading celebrations on International Yoga Day from Vishakhapatnam, projected Yoga as a “direction of peace in a world which was going through tension, unrest, and instability.”

“Unfortunately, today, the entire world is going through some tension and unrest. Instability has been increasing in many regions. In such times, Yoga gives us the direction of peace. Yoga is the pause button that humanity needs to breathe, balance, and become whole again,” the Prime Minister said on Saturday.

PM Modi added that Yoga leads one on a journey towards oneness with world. “I feel proud when I see that our Divyang friends study Yoga Shastras in Braille. Scientists practice Yoga in space. Young friends participate in the Yoga Olympiads in villages. An excellent yoga program is being performed on all these Navy ships. Be it the stairs of the Opera House, the peak of Everest, or the sea’s expanse — the same message comes from everywhere. Yoga is for everyone, beyond boundaries, background, and ability.”

Reminiscing about the journey to recognising the day internationally, the Prime Minister said: “In the last one decade, when I see the journey of Yoga, it reminds me of many things. The day India put forth a resolution in the UNGA — to recognise June 21 as International Yoga Day — and in a very short time, 175 countries of the world stood with us. This unity and support in today’s world is not a normal incident.”

“My request to the world — let this Yoga Day mark the beginning of Yoga for humanity 2.0 where inner peace becomes global policy,” he added.

Also Read | Unroll your mat, open a book: 7 yoga books for mind, body & soul

Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes part in a yoga session in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. (Photo: PTI)

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu also spoke at the event. He said that Modi has made Yoga popular not only in India but across the world, turning it into a global wellness movement. Naidu also highlighted that Yoga Day is being celebrated in more than 175 countries, across 12 lakh locations with the participation of over 10 crore people.

This year’s theme for International Yoga Day is ‘Yoga for One Earth, One Health’. The event PM Modi is leading in Visakhapatnam is being held in a 26-km-long corridor where more than 3 lakh people can perform yoga together.

From the homepage