 On 27th September 2014, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed an International Day of Yoga at the United Nations General Assembly. I have great pleasure in welcoming the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, His Excellency Narendra Modi. Today, I would like to draw your attention to another subject. When we talk about climate change, when we talk about holistic healthcare, when we talk about unity with nature, when we talk about getting back to basics, I would like to say something special about this subject. Yoga is our ancient, traditional and invaluable gift. Yoga symbolizes the balance of body and mind, thought and action, achievement and self-control, and the coming together of human beings and nature. It provides a comprehensive vision of health and well-being. It is not merely physical exercise, but also a means of building harmony within oneself and with the world and nature. Yoga aims a transformation of our lifestyle and its awareness can help us in our struggle against climate change. It has worked towards making a beginning in this direction with an international day of yoga. From its ancient beginnings in India over 5,000 years ago to the modern gyms, schools and parks everywhere today, yoga is the world's favourite holistic health practice. Yoga helps millions of people achieve health, well-being, balance, harmony and real inner peace and happiness. Yoga transcends religious, geographical, ethnic and racial boundaries and helps us all become healthier, calmer and more harmonious human beings, building a more sustainable and peaceful planet. But what really is yoga and how does one practice it? Can yoga really bring us into harmony with our deepest selves and nature? Join us as we take a journey into yoga. Every year in February, thousands of people from all over the world make their way to one of India's most sacred sites at Rishikesh in the Himalayas to experience, learn and share yoga. The week-long International Yoga Festival attracts yogis from over 50 countries for a week of workshops, meditations, classes, initiations and dialogues with living yoga masters. This is the biggest and most global gathering of yoga teachers anywhere in the world today. When I came to India, I learned what yoga really means as a union and suddenly my yoga in India became not just the body, but the body, the mind, the thoughts, the emotions, the spirit and in India I started to have a glimpse of the real yoga, that union of ourselves to the divine. I always be sick, always. I don't know the reason, but when I decided to quit, I started to practice yoga and I feel your life become more colorful and meaningful. This is my eighth trip to the International Yoga Festival. I come to study with the masters, the teachers, to learn, to study, to grow, to evolve. Yoga means to us unity and love, inner love and peace. When I was a student, I got a little sick. I just met yoga. I practiced. I could recover my health completely or I'd get more healthy than before. So I was really surprised. I started to interest in yoga very much. But where did this all begin? Human beings have always struggled to live in harmony with nature as our needs have often gone against what is best for the planet or for each other. Somewhere in India's long history, the desire for a harmonious relationship between the human being and nature turned inwards. This inner journey came to be known as yoga. The origins of yoga can be found over 5,000 years ago in the Indus Saraswati Valley civilization. Archaeologists discovered carvings, seals and artifacts displaying yoga-like practices, poses and greetings similar to those found later in the depictions of Pashupati, Rudra and the god Shiva. Shiva is considered to be the first and original yogi who taught mankind the art and science of yoga. This connection can still be seen in the sadhus, yogis and mystics travelling across India, Tibet and Nepal. The word yoga comes from Sanskrit and came into popular usage during the Vedic period around 1000 BC. The word comes from the root yuge which means to bind, to yoke, to align or to hold. It is about realigning ourselves with our deepest selves and with nature as well. Returning to the source. Yoga's philosophy has its origins in Sankhya philosophy which describes the universe as a duality between Purush and Prakriti or consciousness and nature. Yoga was well known across India and began to appear in Vedic scripture particularly the Upanishads as well as in Buddhist and Jain teachings of that age. The Upanishads speak of four types of yoga practices mantra or the repetitions of sacred sounds laya or devotional connection to a higher being hatha or the channelization of internal energies and rajayog or what came to be known as dhyan or ashtanga yoke. Today all schools of yoga around the world can trace their origins back to one of these principles. In the second century BC the teachings of yoga were codified into a written scripture known as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. hatha yoganushasana Om, now yoga is explained. Yoga is the stilling of the modifications of the mind stuff so the seer can see their true and original selves. According to Patanjali the purpose of yoga is to overcome the attachments to the physical world in order to realize one's true consciousness. According to the Tethriya Upanishad the human being is made up of five layers or koshas that act in unison. When the koshas are out of balance they lead to disease, disharmony and suffering. When brought together through yoga they lead to a state of perfect health a meditative mind and pure bliss. At the core is the physical body or the Annamaya Kosha. Then there is the life force or energy body known as the Pranamaya Kosha. Then there is mental consciousness or the world of the mind known as Manomaya Kosha. Then there is the higher mind or the intuitive discerning mind known as the Vignanamaya Kosha. And then finally is the ultimate state of being or the perfect blissful state called the Anandamaya Kosha. Prana, which is the life force or vital energy in every living being moves between all of these layers and keeps them interconnected. To align the koshas together and restore harmony Patanjali prescribed a system for yogis called ashtanga or the eight-limbed path. The first limb is yama which guides a yogi in what not to do in the world. The second is niyama or what the yogi should do or think in their lives. The third limb is the asanas or the use of the body to conduct the pranic energy and still the mind. Today this is what most people think of as yoga. The fourth limb is pranayama or the practice of breathing to circulate the prana through the five koshas. Prana is the vital energy or life force of the universe and this practice is critical for well-being and balance. And then you come to pratihara which is self-control or the withdrawing of the senses. To remain detached and balanced in the world. The final three limbs are called the antarangas as they are the internal limbs of yoga the limbs that govern the mind. Dharana is the practice of focusing the mind on a single thought or object. This could be your breath, an object, a word or an image. Dhyana is the deep state of meditation achieved where one is evenly aware of the body, the mind, your surroundings and you are moving towards complete stillness. And finally the last limb of yoga is samadhi or the completely absorbed and still mind where the meditator, the object of his meditation and everything around him become one. Beyond samadhi the yogi discovers kaivalyam or total freedom and ananda or pure bliss. If you practice the first five limbs diligently then the last three are the outcome and through this practice the yogi brings their koshas into perfect harmony with nature and the cosmos. Yoga is dhyana. Dhyana is the beginning of real yoga. Once we meditate there is ultimately there is a beautiful synergy and also there is change within. That change makes us better human beings and better humans make the better society. In India the government set up a ministry dedicated to India's ancient wisdom knowledge in healthcare called Ayush and established the Muraji Desai National Institute of Yoga to codify, preserve, document, disseminate and teach classical and traditional yoga to the world. The institute offers diplomas and degrees in yoga and manages a network of all teachers, schools and practices across India and the world. The WHO recognized yoga as a traditional medicine of India and the institute has been funded to continue its research and spread the teachings around the world to all member countries. India believes that yoga belongs to everyone and traditional and classical yoga should be shared with the world in an open and transparent way. The institute has set up the largest digital library of yoga poses, teachings, scriptures and techniques. Throughout India's long history yoga has been integral to everyday life and most religions and philosophies used its practices in their rituals and methods. In the Middle Ages, two great teachers revived the practice of yoga. In the 8th century, Adi Shankara brought the Upanishads and yoga back into popular consciousness and Gorakshanath of the Nath Sampadaya brought about the revival of Hatha Yoga at around the same time. By the 18th century, the practice of yoga had become more secluded and monastic and had disappeared from the lives of most ordinary Indians. It was in the 20th century that yoga would see a remarkable revival. Yoga is India's gift to the world. From the 1890s, many Indian teachers brought yoga to the world like Swami Vivekananda in 1893 who introduced the world to Vedanta and Raja Yoga and Swami Yogananda in 1920 who introduced the world to Kriya and Kundalini Yoga. Teachers like Swami Sivananda, Swami Rama, Swami Sakchitananda, Swami Kovalayananda, Sri Yogendraji and other great yogis also spread the deeper aspects of yoga around the world. One of the most influential yoga teachers in the 20th century was Sri Krishnamacharya who was the personal teacher of the Maharaja of Mysore and started giving public demonstrations of Hatha Yoga for the first time in India in the 1930s. His students, B. K. S. Ayangar, K. Patthibha Joyce and his son Desi Kacharya became three of the leading exponents of yoga and helped spread it around the world. Ayanga Yoga and Joyce's Ashtanga Vinyasa Schools became the leading yoga schools in the US and Europe. And in 1965, Ayanga's seminal book Light on Yoga became the first global guide to yoga. And was translated into 17 languages. I'm very happy that yoga which was forgotten entirely now, like mushroom seed has come everywhere and at least they have made a beginning and I'm sure when the beginning has been made after touching the grass probably they settle in the subtlest as time goes by. Today, yoga has gone well beyond those early pioneers Teachers like Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Puja Swamiji, Baba Ramdev, Swami Niranjan and Sadguru Jaggi Vasudev are keeping the flame of classical yoga alive around the world. What a pose! On my mat, I normally think about so many things that give me challenges and so many things in life. It's not just yoga when you are on the mat. Yoga is also in you. I've seen and I realized that this can change. You can even change yourself and become a very nice person. The benefits of yoga are now being recognized by science and mainstream medicine. In India, the healing powers of yoga have been known for thousands of years and along with Ayurveda has been critical to Indian healthcare and the prevention of diseases, promotion of higher consciousness and the management of wellness to give the practitioner freedom. At India's leading Neurosciences Institute, NIMHANS, Advanced Research into Yoga, supported by Ayush, has revealed amazing results. I've examined the yoga effects on the brain using MRI. There are some areas of the brain which get better following yoga and there are some situations where when chanting of womb happens there are areas of the brain which are changed for the betterment of the individual. When you keep chanting womb or any other thing, you read Quran, you read the Bible. When you keep reading it loud, you start resonating in your ears. From the ears, the electrical activity comes down and then it starts ascending up. As it ascends up, it causes a calming effect. Another leading Indian Research Institute for the Scientific and Curative Power of Yoga is the S. Vyasa University established by Dr. H. Nagendra, an ex-NASA scientist. A registered centre of advanced research in yoga and neurophysiology accredited by the Indian Council of Medical Research, it teaches yoga, regularly publishes international papers and runs Aurogyadham, a unique yoga therapy research health home and inpatient facility. Yoga has been clinically proven to reduce anxiety, stress and substantially affect and improve the activities of the brain and our genes. I had just come out of very severe drug addiction and I was walking down the street in San Francisco and there was a big sign that said yoga and there was a woman teaching and she started to bend and she went to where I thought a human being should be able to bend to. Then she just kept going and she had so much elegance and strength and grace and really what she had was freedom. Now I had been stuck in addiction. I was looking for freedom. So she was a physical representation of what I had been looking for my whole life. It was so attractive to me and I began to practice vinyasa yoga at that time. The practice of yoga brings about balance, well-being, happiness and the freedom to live life fully. As more and more people take up yoga around the world today we may actually see the beginning of a global shift in consciousness leading to a more balanced and harmonious planet. Yoga practitioners become more conscious consumers, better human beings, more environmentally conscious and good leaders. This is the power of yoga and it can only be good for the world. On 11th December 2014 the United Nations passed a resolution making 21st June the International Day of Yoga. 177 nations co-sponsored the resolution a record in UN history.