Kashi marks International Yoga Day with sunrise asanas at Namo Ghat

Through the third week of June, Namo Ghat on the Varanasi riverfront has turned into an open-air yoga studio, as Kashi builds up to the 12th International Yoga Day on June 21. An International Yoga Week opened at the ghat in mid-month, drawing hundreds of residents — men and women alike — to early-morning sessions beside the Ganga. Each day, participants move through the Common Yoga Protocol together under the guidance of local yoga instructors, the river flowing quietly alongside. Officials at the gathering have described yoga as the foundation of a healthy life and mental balance, encouraging people of all ages to make a few minutes of daily practice a habit and calling it a part of India's heritage now embraced around the world. For a city long associated with breath, meditation and spiritual discipline, a riverside yoga celebration feels right at home. The broad steps of Namo Ghat — among Varanasi's newest and most spacious ghats — give families room to spread out and newcomers space to follow along. If you would like to join the rhythm, sunrise is the time: morning yoga and the dawn Subah-e-Banaras programme remain free and welcoming ways to begin a Varanasi day. Carry a mat or a light cloth, arrive a little before first light, and let the city's oldest discipline set the pace.

Compiled by HelloBanaras from public sources: Times of India · UNI India