International Yoga Day: Indian diaspora performs yoga at London's Trafalgar Square

The International Day of Yoga 2023 celebrations returned to Trafalgar Square on Tuesday after a hiatus since the COVID-19 pandemic, when the event had to take on a more virtual element.

Several members of the Indian diaspora and Yoga enthusiasts more broadly gathered at the iconic square in London and followed the lead of experts from UK-based Yoga organisations such as Isha Foundation, Iyengar Yoga UK, Heartfulness Meditation and Shrimad Rajchandra Mission Dharampur (SRMD) UK in a two-hour holistic session. The gathering, organised by the Indian High Commission in London and backed by the Mayor of London, began with prayers and incorporated several asanas and breathing exercises as the experts explained the benefits of each move.

“Yoga is India’s gift to the world and also one of our most popular and indigenised exports, available as a practice everywhere in the world today,” said Vikram Doraiswami, India’s High Commissioner to the UK.

“It’s also special that the Yoga Day in London is a precursor to the event that’s being held in New York, where Prime Minister Modi would be celebrating the International Day of Yoga at the United Nations headquarters. It’s a very nice precursor to that very high-level event, which is going to precede a major state visit to the US. So, it’s an important moment for all of us at the mission in London to be able to help build up anticipation for that visit,” he said.

International Day of Yoga (IDY) is marked the world over on June 21, and this year’s theme is Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – or the world as one family.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who departed for a historic state visit to the US, will participate in a Yoga session at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Wednesday, marking the ninth Yoga Day since he proposed the motion at the UN in 2014.

In London, the High Commissioner was joined by many senior staff from the Indian mission in taking part in the wide-ranging Yoga session, including Deputy High Commissioner to the UK Sujit Ghosh.