New Delhi - Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, today highlighted the importance of practicing yoga to improve mental and physical health while called for expanding that discipline in the world.

On the occasion of the International Yoga Day on Tuesday, Modi headed this morning in Chandigard city more than 30,000 people who gathered to bend and contort their bodies.

To perform these exercises is part of life, said the head of government shortly before the practices started.

Yoga does not discriminate between rich and poor, Modi said, after noting that today gynecologists increasingly recommend this ancient discipline to pregnant women.

The head of Indian government also said that diabetes can be treated with these exercises and denied that it was a religion, as some believe.

He also announced that from next year his administration will begin delivering prizes on the occasion of this day to those working to popularize it in the world.

On Tuesday, millions of Indians throughout the country left their houses to perform various postures, bending and stretching.

The United Nations in December 2014 approved a resolution submitted by India to declare June 21 as International Yoga Day.

The initiative was supported by 177 countries, a record at that international organization.