International Yoga Day: Beautiful pictures show celebrations of yoga around the world

A sadhu performing Yoga in a tree on the occasion of 1st International Yoga Day in Allahabad today. (Photo by Prabhat Kumar Verma / Demotix)

Today marks the first ever International Yoga Day.

People from around the world have been celebrating the occasion in ever continent.

Hundreds of Parisians unfurled their yoga mats underneath the Eiffel Tower in the French capital this morning.

The canary yellow mats made for an unusual sight as they were rolled out under the iconic structure.

Hundreds of people attend a yoga session under the Eiffel Tower in Paris today in a mass yoga session to mark the first International Yoga Day. (Photo by THOMAS SAMSON/AFP/Getty Images)

In India, which petitioned the UN for International Yoga Day to be created, thousands marked the occasion.

The day has been championed first and foremost by the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Mr Modi joined hundreds today in a surprise appearance as he took part in a mass yoga session.

A sadhu performing Yoga to mark today's International Day of Yoga (Photo by Prabhat Kumar Verma / Pacific Press)

Yoga sessions were held outdoors at a prison in Bhopal and on stage before tens of thousands of participants in Delhi.

Others eschewed yoga mats altogether and adopted poses whilst hanging from trees.

Inmates of Central Jail in Bhopal, India take part in a mass Yoga session today (Photo by EPA/SANJEEV GUPTA)

In Afghanistan, school children put down their pencils and textbooks for a moment of relaxation as they performed yoga with their classmates at schools.

Although this is the first international day to celebrate yoga, it is hoped to become an annual tradition.