International Yoga Day 2015: Watch Summer Solstice Live Stream In New
York's Times Square With Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
By Lora Moftah on June 21 2015
Courtesy :http://www.ibtimes.com/
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| People practice yoga in New York's Times Square while celebrating the summer solstice June 21, 2014. Reuters/Eric Thayer |
New
York’s Times Square will host one of the many worldwide celebrations of the
first International Yoga Day Sunday. Coinciding with the summer solstice, the
longest day of the year, the festivities are expected to draw tens of thousands of people who will participate in yoga classes
throughout the day, in an event that will be live-streamed around the world.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to
deliver a keynote address at the beginning of the celebration, which will be
captured on the iconic seven-story-tall Nasdaq screen in Times Square. “Yoga
offers a simple, accessible and inclusive means to promote physical and
spiritual health and well-being,” the U.N. chief said in a message before the event. “It promotes respect
for one’s fellow human beings and for the planet we share.”
The idea of an international celebration of the
ancient practice was first proposed last year by Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi, who called yoga “a holistic approach to health and well-being” during his
address to the U.N. General Assembly in September. Government officials have
promoted the event as a means of advancing Indian soft power around the world,
an effort that has been met withcontroversy back home.
The New York
festivities will feature a workshop by the spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi
Shankar, who will lead a demonstration of the benefits of yoga. “It’s through
yoga we can create able citizens, peaceful citizens,” Shankar said. “Yoga is that which unites people across
religion, race, nationality.”
While this is the first year that Times Square
will host an International Yoga Day observance, the storied New York intersection
has been the site of a yoga celebration on the day of the summer solstice for
more than a decade.
“Solstice in Times
Square originated thirteen years ago when I was joined by two other yogis to do
sunrise yoga on the longest day of the year, and it is phenomenal to now see
this event grow to become an internationally recognized worldwide celebration,” said Tim Tompkins, the president of the
Times Square Alliance. “We look forward to leading the global pose in Times
Square and for participants around the world to join in via our webcast.”Below is a live
stream of the celebration provided by the Times Square Alliance:
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