Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday hailed the first International Yoga Day as heralding a “new era of peace”, moments before he surprised thousands in New Delhi by taking to a mat himself to celebrate the ancient Indian practice. Yoga-loving Modi led more than 35,000 people, including bureaucrats, students and soldiers, performing poses such as the half camel and cobra in a 35-minute mass outdoor yoga session beginning at 7:00 am (01:30 GMT) on a New Delhi boulevard.

The event set two new Guinness Book of World Records — one for the largest yoga class at a single venue with 35,985 participants and another for the most number of nationalities to attend with people from 84 countries, a government statement said late Sunday. The previous record was set in 2005 when 29,973 students in the central Indian city of Gwalior gathered for a yoga class. “Yoga is more than only physical fitness. We are not only celebrating a day but we are training the human mind to begin a new era of peace,” Modi told the crowd at Rajpath avenue.