UN Declares World Meditation Day

The United Nations General Assembly has unanimously voted to establish an annual ”World Meditation Day”.

The UN General Assembly, in a resolution adopted on 6 December 2024, affirmed that “the benefits of meditation would be beneficial for the health and well-being of people around the world.”

In a rare unanimous decision, the UN General Assembly voted to establish World Meditation Day. The resolution acknowledged “the universality of meditation, practiced in all regions of the world” and said meditation was in line with the target of “promoting mental health and well-being” as part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Global Cooperation

In a testament to the worldwide spread of meditation practice, countries from four continents worked together to propose the resolution.

These ground-breaking initiatives were the result of many months of global cooperation. One of the international groups that played a leading role was the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB). The network has members in more than 25 countries. One of its leading members, The Venerable Miao Hai, was among the key sponsors. The coordinating team was in touch with the UN Secretary General and with governments and institutions in a wide range of countries, spanning the world’s cultures and spiritual traditions.

They set up the World Meditation Foundation to raise support for the idea of World Meditation Day. Its goals include “promoting a meditative lifestyle globally”, “enhancing mutual understanding and respect among diverse faiths” and creating “a world of multicultural coexistence and harmonious development.”

Key to this success was global cooperation which included a petition to the United Nations. Ven. Miao Hai Ven is seen here at an event in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The organizers reached out across the world’s cultural and religious traditions, holding meetings and collecting signatures in diverse locations including Uzbekistan, Vatican City, Shanghai, Lichtenstein and the World Future Energy Summit in the United Arab Emirates.

Worldwide Events

The first World Meditation Day was on Saturday 21 December, 2024. Events to mark the occasion – and practice meditation – took place worldwide.

Global gatherings included meditation practice at UN headquarters in New York, an open-air meditation event in Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, and an online global mindfulness practice with people from 26 nations taking part.

The United Nations invited Indian meditation master, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, to lead an event titled ‘Meditation for Global Peace and Harmony’. “Today, meditation is not a luxury but a necessity,” he said. More that 600 people took part in the gathering at the Trusteeship Council in New York. General Assembly President Philemon Yang said, “Meditation transcends borders, faiths, traditions, and time, offering each of us the opportunity to pause, to listen, and to connect with our inner selves.”
Hundreds gathered in an open-air meditation in Kathmandu together with Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli. Speaking at the gathering, Swami Anand Arun said it was in their country, with a long history of spiritual traditions, that meditation had originated. “The adoption of this resolution marks a significant step in the global recognition of meditation’s transformative power,” said MSN News Nepal.

Global mindfulness practice

The worldwide online practice session was organized by “The Mindfulness Initiative”, a charity that gives mindfulness training to members of the UK Parliament and civil service. It also supports cooperation among similar mindfulness programs in other countries’ national legislatures.

The one-hour global mindfulness practice was recorded and is now available online.

At the outset of the global practice, Maria Arizaga of a UN Wellbeing Unit said the resolution was “particularly significant”. “The overwhelming support received from all regions of the world, really reflects the unifying power of meditation as a universal practice.” she said.

Maria Arizaga of the Wellbeing Unit of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights emphasized the importance of the UN resolution as “global recognition of the importance of meditation as an essential tool to promote mental and emotional well-being.” She said World Meditation Day was not about dedicating one day a year to this practice. “It is really about promoting meditation as a tool that can, and should be, incorporated into our lives every single day. It recognizes meditation as a universal practice that really goes beyond borders, cultures and traditions.”

Our world faces “unprecedented challenges”

The world’s most senior human rights official recorded a message especially for the occasion. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said, ”Meditation is more than just a personal practice. It is a universal and time-honoured approach to fostering resilience and promoting well-being.”

“At a time when our world faces unprecedented challenges,” he said, “meditation help us manage stress, improve focus, and foster mutual understanding. It strengthens our ability to navigate complex and often tense environments with clarity and empathy, reinforcing our capacity to promote human rights in meaningful ways.”

In a specially recorded message, the world’s most senior human rights official spoke of the relevance of meditation during this time of “unprecedented challenges”. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said “meditation helps us manage stress, improve focus and foster mutual understanding.”

He said the values underpinning meditation are “fundamental to compassionate human rights advocacy, and effective diplomacy. On World Meditation Day, I invite everyone to embrace meditation to help keep us centred amid challenges, and to listen with openness, to help us better advance human rights for all.”

World media coverage

Media worldwide picked up the historic story. Coverage in countries like India, one of the resolution’s co-sponsors, was extensive. “From Times Square in New York to the European Parliament in Brussels and embassies in Malaysia,” said the Indian Express, “meditation has guided humanity toward inner peace and resilience for millennia.”

Resolution widely welcomed

The General Assembly resolution and the first World Meditation Day have been widely welcomed. “The UN’s establishment of a World Meditation Day is wonderful news for the global meditation movement. The more people embrace meditation and other contemplative and body-mind practices, the more peace and justice we will have in the world,” said Dr Fleet Maull, founder and director of the Heart Mind Institute. The institute will be hosting an Art of Meditation Summit, 11 – 17 March, 2025. Each day of the summit will be focused on a different tradition: Vipassana, Zen, Tibetan, Vedic, Abrahamic, Nondual, Mainstream Mindfulness & Self-Compassion, and Neuroscience-Based & the Science of Meditation.

The next World Meditation Day will be on Sunday 21 December 2025. The day will always be observed on the 21st of that month, which coincides with the Winter Solstice in many parts of the world and is considered sacred in many of the world’s spiritual traditions.