Who is Anneliese Richmond, yoga expert who led yoga lesson at UN Headquarters on International Day of Yoga

Ahead of his ‘special yoga session’, PM Modi posted a video message, in which he said that India has always cultivated traditions that unite, adopt and embrace, and that through yoga, it has sought to overcome contradictions, obstacles and barriers. And made a passionate appeal to end resistance. Through yoga we should get rid of our contradictions, obstacles and resistances. The ethos of “Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat” should be displayed as an example to the rest of the world, the PM remarked.

Anneliese Richmond leading the 9th International Day of Yoga celebrations from the United Nations Headquarters with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 21, 2023.

“It is a great honor for me to lead yoga sessions for PM Modi,” says Richmond, who now teaches yoga at over 108 universities across the US, including Harvard, Stanford and Columbia. “Stress and mental-health issues are the same for students in any part of the world,” she says. “It is natural because there is a lot of pressure on them to excel and a lot is at stake. But we have seen that yoga and meditation help them,” Anneliese told The Indian Express.

The Indian Express said that the 47-year-old dancer, who is also a yoga instructor and professor at various prestigious colleges in the United States of America, conducted guided yoga exercises for 25 minutes outside the United Nations Headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. She was reported in the newspaper as saying, “I am guiding a group of six American youths, aged 8-12, who are practicing ‘asanas’. It is a great pleasure for me That I am conducting this yoga session for PM Modi.

But who is Anneliese Richmond really?

Anneliese Richmond spent 15 years as a professional ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. When she was just 18, she had her first experience of yoga, but she didn’t like it as she thought it was just stretching.

After being inspired by the benefits of yoga, she founded the Sky Campus Happiness Program, a wellness project for college students. Students from over 100 colleges in the US use the program.

Richmond is a faculty member of the University of Southern Maine, in addition to lecturing at prestigious universities including Yale University, MIT, UPenn, and Columbia University.

However, at the age of 23, she rediscovered yoga through Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living (AOL) and the love story began. According to Richmond, the yoga postures first helped her physically recover from her ailments and discomfort.

Richmond, AOL and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Richmond’s connection to yoga comes through Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s Art of Living, and she credits the center for inspiring her love of the traditional Indian exercise.

Richmond visited the AOL campus in Bengaluru in 2006 to practice yoga, and has maintained a connection to India ever since. He has visited the country on several occasions and has lauded both it and yoga for changing his outlook towards life.

When asked how he was approached for the big yoga event, he told The Indian Express that it came through the Indian representatives at the United Nations and his local instructor in New York City.