(VOVworld) - 17,000 people including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, his wife and many other diplomats and UN staff joined a yoga practice at New York’s Time Square on Sunday in response to International Yoga Day.

People practice yoga at Times Square as part of a Summer Solstice and International Day of Yoga celebration in New York. (Reuters photo)

The session took place under the guidance of Indian spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Addressing the event, Mr Ban highlighted the benefits of practicing yoga, saying he hoped that the practice would involve more people worldwide. He said yoga offers a simple, accessible and inclusive means to promote physical and spiritual health and well-being, adding that it promotes respect for one’s fellow human beings and for the planet that everyone shares.