On 21 June, International Yoga Day is marked across Europe and Asia and also in USA, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia and in a few countries of Africa.

In Bulgaria the day will proceed under the auspices of the Ambassador of India to this country H.E. Mr. Rajesh Kumar Sachdeva. It will be held in more than 20 towns and cities. Tens of yoga schools will make demonstrations of various practices at the National Palace of Culture. All lectures and demonstrations are with free admission.

On 20 June, on the eve of the International Yoga Day, classical Indian dancer Anjana Rajan is going to give a performance at Lumiere Hall of NPC together with her dance company Story Travellers lined up with performers of classical Indian instruments.

The first organized yoga courses in Bulgaria began in 1930s. At the end of 1970s, a Yoga Section was founded at the Bulgarian Union for Physical Culture and Sport.

Anna Pavlova, a leading yoga instructor, is an economist by training. She became very ill and this took her to yoga. Doctors saidthey could do nothing to help her and told her she had a few months left to live.

“This was in the 1960s, and I was 23”, says Anna Pavlova. “I did not believe that anything could be done outside official medicine, but I decided to try yoga. I worked hard and in 3 to 4 months most of my symptoms disappearedand a year later I felt perfectly well. Being a curious person, I wanted to learn more about this system that was so effective where official medicine had failed. At first, I took an interest in everything concerning health. After that I started exploring yoga's relation to the mind and spirit. I have been practicing yoga for fifty years. On 21 June I will give a lecture on Yoga & Chakras, because this knowledge is the basic springboard for revealing one's potential.”

The International Yoga Day program includes topics such as Yoga & Longevity, Yoga in Education: Studying with Joy, Techniques for Improving Thinking, Yoga as a Therapeutic System and others.