Millions celebrate the first International Yoga Day

International Yoga Day in New York City.
(Image credit: Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

Yoga fans around the world marked the first International Yoga Day on Sunday by attending public events or practicing poses inside of their homes.

In New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — who lobbied the UN to declare June 21 International Yoga Day — was joined by 35,000 people, including cabinet members and foreign diplomats, in a mass yoga event that attempted to break a Guinness World Record. "We are not only celebrating a day, but we are training the human mind to begin a new era of peace and harmony," Modi told participants. "This is a program for the benefit of mankind, for a tension-free world and to spread the message of harmony." Across India, public events were organized to mark the occasion, including 30,000 in Modi's home state of Gujarat, USA Today reports. Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.