India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi performs yoga on International Yoga Day in Vishakhapatnam, India, June 21, 2025. (Photo: India's Press Information Bureau/Handout via REUTERS)

In Visakhapatnam of India’s southeastern province of Andhra Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the event by performing the Common Yoga Protocol with 300,000 people on a 28-km stretch from RK Beach to Bhogapuram. 

The event created a new Guinness World Record for the largest gathering for a yoga session at one place.

Speaking at the celebration, Mr. Modi called for the launch of “Yoga for Humanity 2.0”, a global initiative emphasising the importance of inner peace in global affairs such as climate change, mental health crisis, and challenges to world peace.

At Andhra University, more than 22,000 students performed 108 surya namaskar in 108 minutes, setting the second world record on the same day.

IDY 2025 was held in 2,000 locations across India from island areas, deserts, populated urban areas to rugged mountain regions.

This year marks a decade since the first International Day of Yoga was officially celebrated following the adoption of a United Nations General Assembly Resolution co-sponsored by Vietnam in 2014.

On this occasion, Prime Minister Modi sent a letter to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, thanking Vietnam for its support and companionship with this event over the past 10 years.

He praised Vietnamese people for embracing and developing Yoga as part of the common cultural heritage of humanity, thereby deepening the cultural and spiritual ties between the two countries.