Acharya Swamishree Maharaj gave His Darshan throughout a mass yoga session at Shree Swaminarayan Mandir Kingsbury on International Yoga Day. IYD was launched by the United Nations recently under the lobby of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was a student of Shree Swaminarayan Arts College at our headquarters at Maninagar, Ahmedabad, India.

While Mr Modi led thousands in a mass yoga programme in the nation’s capital, Delhi, on the first ever International Yoga Day, tens of millions followed suite by holding yoga sessions in over 190 countries around the world. A yoga enthusiast, Mr Modi persuaded the United Nations to declare 21 June International Yoga Day.

Maninagar Shree Swaminarayan Gadi Sanstha held a number of yoga session at its centres worldwide. Acharya Swamishree Maharaj, presiding in London, led a mass yoga practice at Shree Swaminarayan Mandir Kingsbury.

The 200 or so gathered would-be “yogis” expected Acharya Swamishree Maharaj, an avid practitioner of yoga, to attend only part of the hour-and-a-half session, but were surprised and delighted when He not only joined in with the exercises, but executed each posture to perfection – and gave His Darshan for most of the session.