Each year for International Yoga Day, Light on Light magazine publishes a special issue (host edited by Dr. Kurt Johnson and Karuna) curated by the International Day of Yoga (IDY) Committee at the United Nations, chaired by Denise Scotto. This year we welcome TRENDS to the media landscape for Yoga Day. We are delighted to offer what the IDY Committee, which is the UN NGO Committee, will be sharing in 2021. The annual special issue for the UNIDY will appear on or about Yoga Day, June 21st. The goal of the special issue is not only to let people know about Yoga on this special international holiday, but to also let the world know about the special work that Yoga communities do worldwide through various means with a special focus of how Yoga is experienced and practiced within the context of the greater UN Community. The IDY Committee will also be holding a special event on Saturday, June 19 to celebrate World Yoga Day.
Almost everyone is familiar with Yoga in today’s culture. With its explosive presence in global popular culture and its deep roots in the heritages of some of the world’s greatest religions, Yoga’s tried and true methods for bringing well-being to the body and mind are now employed around the world. This is quite a change from when, in earlier centuries, Yoga was well known in only a few world cultures.
As appreciation of its benefits grow and Yoga’s physical health and meditative components have swept the world, it’s no surprise that in 2014 the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed “The International Day of Yoga,” which has been celebrated annually on the 21st of June ever since. There is more to the story than just Yoga itself, and the proclamation of this special day to celebrate it.
The declaration of World Yoga Day provided a unique opportunity to also expand global recognition of the activities of Yoga communities around the world that, every day, serve the critical health and well-being of millions of men and women; especially of children, elders, the most vulnerable, and the disenfranchised and marginalized.
Why the United Nations?
One advantage of declaring a specific day dedicated to celebrating Yoga by everyone around the world at the same time through the United Nations community, is to facilitate the birth of what has become the International Day of Yoga Committee at the UN. Denise, the Chair of that Committee, alongside the production staff at Light on Light, produce much of the various media the committee employs to share in its important message worldwide.
The committee, comprised of members from multiple service organizations from around the world, plays the dual role of not only promoting the benefits of Yoga itself but coordinating, and making the rest of the world aware of, the multiple human services that Yoga communities provide to meet the basic needs of so many people. These include services in clean water, sanitation, healthcare, safe and prosperous agriculture, education, and much more that would otherwise simply not be available. And why? Because these are the basic values of Yoga itself—love, caring, mutuality, compassion, and well-being.
As a global organization, the United Nations provides the opportunity for service and education about Yoga—through publications, organized events and initiatives, outreach, and global messaging. Each year, the International Day of Yoga Committee at the UN creates what amounts to an “annual report” on Yoga’s role around the world—though the popular media of free international e-magazines and internet radio.
There are several other initiatives that uniquely carry out the global activities of United Nations community—including the Programme of Action for a Culture of Peace, Yogic Values Promoting a Culture of Peace & Non Violence, and numerous environmentally related actions of UN agencies, such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). These initiatives are additions to the UN’s 17 action areas of its “Sustainable Development Goals” embraced by 193 nations worldwide. There actions achieve truly lasting beneficial effects.
The COVID Pandemic Has Been a Special Opportunity
2020-21 has been a unique time due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its wide ranging social effects. With so much global activity, service, and activism going “online,” opportunities for the committee’s outreach and activity have both transformed and expanded.
Meeting the challenges of these times, the Evolutionary Leaders (of which We.net’s Rick Ulfik is a part) had a unique opportunity to combine nearly 550 years of combined life experience— across over forty of its well-known members (we actually did the math!)—to prepare an extraordinary book on today’s global issues and their possible solutions. This opportunity became the published book Our Moment of Choice: Evolutionary Visions and Hope for the Future, which won a Gold Nautilus Award in 2021. Key authors from the book joined the 2020 International Day of Yoga activities and media, and in June 2021 will again join together for Yoga Day. They will also come together in September 2021 for the online observance of another United Nations global holiday—the International Day of Peace on September 21st.
In 2021 Light on Light and The Evolutionary Leaders Circles also joined with We.net’s Rick Ulfik in publishing Universal Principles and Actions Steps, a compendium of statements, declarations and initiatives for unity and peace from leaders, organizations and networks around the world (https://issuu.com/lightonlight/docs/universal_pri nciples_and_action_steps).
Historians often say that the unique challenging times are also often joined by unique opportunities, and this has certainly been the case in 2020. Distinctive opportunities for further service and recognition of Yoga came to the committee and the international community precisely in these years surrounding the UN’s 75th Anniversary.
In this critical and uncertain time, the International Day of Yoga Committee at the United Nations remains in service to the UN, and the greater UN community itself, by holding the highest ideals for the institution and for all people everywhere in our world. Emphasizing spiritual values in this way uplifts the UN’s crucial work and the actions of all those dedicated to creating a better world for humanity and our Earth. Recent events have made it clear that no country, no culture, can exist on its own. It is through our unified efforts that we are able to meet pressing needs and provide assistance that affects people in their daily lives.
You can read more about the 2021 International Day of Yoga and the work of Yoga communities around the world in Light on Light’s 2021 UNIDY special issue at https://issuu.com/lightonlight.
Indeed, this is our global moment of choice! Let’s choose the future we know is possible from our deepest senses of love and caring. These are at the heart of all our world’s revered Wisdom Traditions.
Dr. Kurt Johnson and Karuna are the Contributions and Host editors of Light on Light magazine, respectively, and Karuna leads Light on Light’s Yoga activities through her https://lightonkundalini.com/. Kurt is a co-editor of the book Our Moment of Choice: Evolutionary Visions and Hope for the Future and three other award-winning books in science and spirituality. He serves in several United Nations committees and NGO’s. They assist the annual International Day of Yoga though publication of the annual magazine and internet radio productions for the IDY through Light on Light Magazine, the Light on Light Press, and VoiceAmerica internet radio (https://www.lightonlight.us/).
Denise Scotto is an attorney at law, international policy advisor, public speaker, interfaith minister & Founding Chair of a variety of international committees, most recently, the International Day of Yoga Committee at the UN. She is a member of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle and the Secretary of the Source of Synergy Foundation. She has held leadership roles in professional bar organizations organizing numerous events at UN fora as well as at national and local levels on global issues of pressing concern including the first legal education program in the City and State of New York on the topic of human trafficking. As a UN staff member in NY Headquarters, Denise worked on issues to reform the internal system of justice, then, in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs formulating policy to advance law, good governance and human rights.
