VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh government is preparing to celebrate the 12th International Yoga Day on June 21 on an unprecedented scale under the banner Yogandhra-2026.
Health Minister Satya Kumar Yadav announced that the State will host two weeks of awareness programmes from June 7 to 20, culminating in a grand state-level event on the Krishna River Bridge (West Bypass) in Amaravati, where Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will lead 25,000 participants.
The minister said the celebrations will be held under the theme ‘Yoga for Healthy Ageing’, with the goal of integrating yoga into daily life rather than treating it as a one-day ritual.
Across Andhra Pradesh, one crore citizens - including farmers, women’s self-help groups, fishermen, tribal communities, cultural artists, youth associations, auto and lorry unions, students and voluntary organisations - are expected to take part.
The government aims to train 10 lakh regular practitioners, supported by 2.5 lakh yoga instructors, including an additional one lakh trainers added this year.
To institutionalise the effort, Chief Minister Naidu has approved the establishment of the AP Yoga Prachara Parishad, which will oversee the continuous promotion of yoga beyond the annual event. Three regional offices will be set up, and a ‘war room’ at APIIC in Mangalagiri will coordinate activities and monitor progress.
Last year’s record-breaking yoga events earned two Guinness World Records, 21 World Book of Records entries and a Skoch Award. Education Minister Nara Lokesh has already directed that yoga be integrated into school curricula, ensuring students benefit from early exposure.
The programme will feature district-specific themes, including police personnel in NTR district, farmers in Konaseema, auto and lorry associations in Krishna district, celebrities in Tirupati and ex-servicemen in Visakhapatnam.
In addition, yoga demonstrations will be staged at 56 major tourist sites, including Undavalli Caves and Mangalagiri Lakshminarasimha Temple in Guntur district, Srisailam and Mahanandi in Nandyal district, and Mypadu Beach and Swarnala Cheruvu in Nellore district. Each site will host at least 500 participants daily.
Competitions will also be held at four levels — village/ward (June 7–9), mandal (June 10–12), district (June 14–16) and state-level finals in Vijayawada (June 18–20). Categories include individual demonstrations of asanas and pranayama, synchronised group yoga, and knowledge-based contests such as quizzes, essay writing and slogan competitions.
Winners will receive awards, and the best performers will be invited to join the Chief Minister at the Amaravati event.
On June 21, the concluding celebrations will be held simultaneously at district headquarters, each drawing around 3,000 participants, while village and ward secretariats will host events in parks, schools and playgrounds. Altogether, officials expect participation to reach one crore people statewide.
To make yoga accessible to households, government advisor Dr Manthena Satyanarayana Raju has produced free instructional videos in four categories: 90 general asanas, 21 therapeutic routines, seven daily practice sets and 50 short clips addressing common doubts. Citizens can download these via WhatsApp by sending ‘Hi’ to 8142404888, which provides a QR code linking to Google Drive. Additionally, the Sanjeevani app will host videos on yoga and pranayama.