Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken a flexible approach to diplomacy in New York, where he led a yoga session for hundreds of practitioners outside the UN on Wednesday.
“Let us use the power of yoga not only to be healthy, happy, but also to be kind to ourselves and to each other,” the Indian leader said at the event celebrating International Yoga Day on the north lawn of the UN headquarters.
The yoga lesson was attended by actor Richard Gere, New York Mayor Eric Adams, UN General Assembly President Csaba Korosi and Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed, among other dignitaries.
Mr Modi was in New York ahead of a visit to Washington. He will have formal meetings at the White House with President Joe Biden on Thursday followed by a vegetarian state dinner.
Mr Modi is a devout Hindu and is a vegetarian who practises yoga daily. He hailed the discipline as universally accessible and in 2014 persuaded the UN to designate June 21 as the International Day of Yoga.
“When we do yoga, we feel physically fit, mentally calm and emotionally content. But it is not just about doing exercise on a mat,” Mr Modi said. “Yoga is a way of life.”
Before his speech, Mr Modi expressed his reverence in front of a statue honouring Mahatma Gandhi, the heroic figure of Indian independence.
Over the next 35 minutes, he joined in breathing exercises, meditation, backbends and other poses ranging from cobra to corpse, as a cloud-filtered sun glinted off the adjacent East River and the flags of the world body’s member nations rippled in the breeze.
In a video message, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres extended his appreciation to Mr Modi for his efforts in promoting the understanding of yoga and its numerous benefits.
