Yoga diplomacy: Ahead of U.S. state visit, India's leader takes to his mat at the U.N.

Grab a mat.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi did just that Wednesday on the North Lawn Area outside the United Nations' headquarters in New York. Modi, who stopped by the U.N. on his way to Washington, where he'll be wined and dined and bilateral'd by President Joe Biden's White House as part of a state visit, showed off his yoga technique alongside diplomats, policymakers, members of the Indian American community and various bendy-aspiring U.N. types seeking to combine the body, mind, spirit and soul in the pursuit of health, balance and well-being.

Before getting down on all fours for some tadasana (mountain pose), malasana (garland pose) and other standing, balancing and seated poses, Modi said a few words. Not along after he became India's leader, in 2014, Modi convinced the U.N. to adopt a resolution declaring June 21 as the International Day of Yoga.

"Namaste," Modi said as he began his address.

"Yoga is free from copyrights, patents and royalty payments. Yoga is adaptable to your age, gender and fitness level. Yoga is portable and is truly universal," he said, as he looked out across a small sea of yellow mats.

Large videos screen displayed images of Indian heritage and culture.

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A short while earlier Modi had placed some flowers on a bust of Mahatma Gandhi, the famous Indian lawyer and proponent of non-violent resistance. It was a gift by India and is permanently located at the North Lawn Area after it was installed in December last year under India's presidency of the U.N. Security Council.

Modi's message: let's be kind to ourselves

"Let's use use the power of yoga, not only to be healthy, happy, but to be kind to ourselves and each other," Modi said, from a stage that held in its wings several senior U.N. diplomats as well as New York City Mayor Eric Adams, Richard Gere, the Hollywood actor, and Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N."Let's use the power of yoga to build bridges of friendship and a cleaner, greener, sustainable future."

Modi, like many other participants, was dressed for the occasion.

He wore a loose-fitting white t-shirt and trousers. Adams wore a suit and tie. If the latter is yoga-inclined, he wasn't traditionally dressed for it, though he did not appear to join the other revelers in the communal stretching.

Still, Adams gave a good line in yoga-tinged political talk.

"New York City is the largest and most important city in America. As I stand before you as the mayor of that city,I share with you in a clear and a universal tone that we are no longer focused solely on the physical body but the anatomy of our spirit. But there's a larger challenge for all of us. What we do on the mat and practicing Yoga must become what we do on the streets and in our countries. We cannot become universally connected through the yellow mats that we lay on but disconnected as we move through our communities," he said.

"Use the spirit and emotions of yoga, to challenge and fight against war, to fight against gender oppression, to fight against violence, to fight against the lack of clean water, to fight against the food insecurity."

Using yoga to distract from a poor human rights record?

Some of Modi's critics have accused him of using yoga to distract from his poor human rights record and pursuit of a form of Hindu nationalism that has grossly penalized India's minority groups, its Muslims especially.

He has cast himself as an ascetic, a pious man of the people who spends his down time meditating. (One carefully constructed election campaign photo from 2019 portrayed Modi in saffron robes, sitting cross-legged, his back to the wall of a cave framed by the Himalaya mountain range.)

In Washington, Modi will get down to business: China, weapons, Ukraine, trade, all that.

In fact, while Modi was in New York on a yellow mat exploring inner peace, the U.S. Defense Department contemporaneously released a two-page fact sheet on "India-U.S. Defense Acceleration Ecosystem," or "INDUS-X." The document detailed how "with support from our governments, closer cooperation between our private sectors and research institutions will catalyze innovation within our defense industrial bases."

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Heads down, eyes closed, phones off or at least to one side, few in the crowds likely noticed.

"Exhale, turn the chin over the right shoulder. Look all the way over to the right. Feel the stretch in the left side of the neck. Inhale. Back to the center," Annelies Richmond, a former professional ballerina who led the group yoga session on the North Lawn Area instructed. "Smile. Exhale, turn the chin over the left shoulder. Feel the stretch in the right side of the neck. Good. Inhale. Come back to the center and exhale. Good. Relax."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: India's leader, Narendra Modi, takes to his yoga mat at the U.N.