For the first time, a Yoga event was held at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization headquarters in Beijing on June 16, kicking off this year's International Day of Yoga celebrations in China.

In 2014, the United Nations declared June 21 the International Day of Yoga. This year is the fourth such festival, held to celebrate the ancient physical, mental and spiritual practice which originated in India more than 5,000 years ago.

The theme for the 2018 celebration is "Yoga for Peace". China, which has a huge base of yoga fans, celebrates every year with massive gatherings. But the June 16 event was the first activity of its kind to be held at SCO headquarters.

SCO Secretary-General Rashid Alimov, himself a yoga enthusiast, said the idea for the event came when he visited the International Yoga Center in Delhi a few months ago to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take part in the SCO summit, which was held June 9 and 10 in Qingdao, Shandong province.

"After the visit to the International Yoga Center, I promised to organize the Yoga Day at SCO headquarters. Today we are very happy, as we did it," he said.

"What it means is yoga represents the Shanghai spirit. The Shanghai spirit and Yoga spirit are the same. It means people must be together without national and political differences," Alimov said, adding "Yoga is one of the symbols of uniting people, who want to preserve spiritual and physical health."

More than 100 people from different countries and age groups participated in the event. Yoga brought them together, he added.

Gautam Bambawale, the Indian ambassador to China, said yoga techniques have proved extremely important in ensuring healthy and fulfilling lives for millions across the globe.

Yoga schools have sprouted all over the world, including in SCO countries. The practice of yoga and its benefits are becoming apparent to people in every corner of the world, including in China, where there is an India-China Yoga School at Yunnan Minzu University in Kunming, Bambawale said at the opening of the event.

Mohan Singh Bhandari, the founder of the Yogi Yoga institution in China, conducted the exercises.