Hugs, friendship & asanas: Moments from PM Narendra Modi's yoga session with Richard Gere at UN go viral

Popular Hollywood actor Richard Gere joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a special yoga session at the UN Headquarters in New York to celebrate the 9th International Day of Yoga on Wednesday.

Several pictures of the duo hugging and sitting next to each other and performing Yoga on the UN headquarter lawns have been doing the rounds on social media.

Hours after the session concluded, Gere heaped praise on PM Modi and called him a "product of Indian culture."

The actor, who is known for his performances in Hollywood hits like 'Pretty Woman', Primal Fear', 'An Officer and a Gentleman', 'Chicago', 'Days of Heaven', and 'Intersection', told news agency ANI he would love to hear Modi's message of "universal brotherhood and sisterhood".

"It is a lovely message. He (PM Modi) is a product of Indian culture and comes from a vast place like Indian culture does. This message of universal brotherhood and sisterhood is the one we want to hear again and again," Gere dressed in a kurta pyjama was quoted as saying to ANI.


Alongside Modi and Gere, Salesforce Chief Digital Evangelist Vala Afshar, award-winning storyteller and podcaster Jay Shetty, chef and restaurateur Vikas Khanna, three-times Grammy Award-winning music composer Ricky Kej, VM Ware Chief Operating Officer Mike Hayes, and prominent American singers Falguni Shah and Mary Millben among others, also performed breathing exercises at the event.


Iyengar yoga exponent Deidra Demens and New York City Mayor Eric Adams were among the well-known personalities who joined Modi for a yoga session.

Meanwhile, the PM Modi-led yoga session - which included top UN officials, ambassadors, envoys, delegates from Member States as well as prominent members of the global and diaspora community - was attended by people from 135 countries. The historic moment created the Guinness World Record for the largest gathering of individuals from different nationalities performing yoga together.

Recognising its universal appeal, in December 2014, the UN proclaimed June 21 as the International Day of Yoga. The first International Day of Yoga was commemorated in 2015. The special day has been celebrated at various iconic locations across the world.

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma lauded Modi's efforts to promote yoga as "India’s official export to the world."


The UN underlined that yoga is an ancient physical, mental and spiritual practice that originated in India. The word ‘yoga' is derived from Sanskrit and means to join or to unite, symbolising the union of body and consciousness. Today, it is practised in various forms around the world and continues to grow in popularity.