Everything You Need for the Perfect International Yoga Day Practice

21 June is International Yoga Day — and in 2026 it falls on the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. Here is how to mark it with a practice that actually means something, from the mat spray that sets your intention to the savasana that makes it complete.

The Nook yoga studio — where the Spritz Wellness range was born

Why 21 June Matters — International Yoga Day and the Summer Solstice

International Yoga Day has been observed on 21 June every year since 2015, when the United Nations officially declared it a global day of celebration following a proposal by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The date is not arbitrary. The 21st of June is the summer solstice in the northern hemisphere — the longest day of the year, the point at which the sun reaches its highest position in the sky, and a day that has been associated with ritual, reflection and renewal across cultures for thousands of years.

In yoga tradition, the solstice is a natural moment to pause — to recognise the light, to acknowledge how far you have come in your practice, and to set an intention for the months ahead. A class on International Yoga Day is not just a class. It is a deliberate act of marking time. And the way you prepare for it, and how you close it, matters as much as what happens in between.

How to Set Your Intention Before Practice Begins

Rolling out before practice — the mat spray and eye pillow ready at the front of the mat

The way you begin a practice shapes everything that follows. Rolling out a mat without a moment of conscious preparation is different from rolling it out deliberately — choosing to be here, choosing to begin. The ritual around that first moment is where intention lives.

For Laura, and for the students at The Nook, that ritual has always involved the Energise Yoga Mat Spray. The reason is not primarily hygiene — though it is naturally antibacterial, blended with lemongrass and tea tree. The reason is that scent, used consistently, becomes a conditioned signal. The brain begins to associate the smell of lemongrass with yoga. With arriving. With leaving everything else at the door.

On a day as significant as International Yoga Day, that moment of spraying the mat — breathing in deliberately, feeling your feet on the surface, taking the first conscious breath — is worth slowing down for. Longer than usual. More intentionally than usual. The practice starts here, before the first pose.

What to Do Differently on International Yoga Day

Downward dog — one of the most fundamental poses in yoga, and one of the most rewarding to spend time in

Most of us have a yoga routine. A set of poses we return to, a familiar sequence, a teacher whose class we go to on a regular day at a regular time. There is value in that consistency. But International Yoga Day is an invitation to step outside it — to approach the mat with a beginner's mind, as the tradition puts it, and to try something that challenges or deepens your practice in a way your routine does not.

That might mean attending a class at a studio you have never been to. It might mean practising outside for the first time, taking your mat into the garden or a park in the early morning light. It might mean staying in a single pose for five breaths longer than you usually would, or choosing an intention and returning to it consciously throughout the session rather than letting the mind wander. It might simply mean committing to the full practice — including the warm-up and the cool-down — rather than arriving late and leaving before savasana.

On the longest day of the year, there is no excuse not to give the practice the time it deserves.

International Yoga Day is the one day a year when everyone who practises — wherever they are in their journey — pauses to remember why they started. That is worth honouring. Not with a perfect practice, but with a present one.

— Laura Colucci, Founder, Spritz Wellness

Why Savasana Is the Most Important Part — and the Eye Pillow That Makes It Complete

Every practice ends in savasana — the pose that makes the rest of the work land

Savasana is the pose that most people skip, or halfheartedly observe for ninety seconds before rolling up their mat and reaching for their phone. This is a significant mistake — and on International Yoga Day, it is worth understanding why.

The physical work of a yoga practice — the stretches, the strength, the effort — creates change at a neurological level. Muscles are not the only things that adapt during practice. The nervous system, the fascial network, the breath patterns — all of these shift during active yoga. Savasana is the integration phase: the period during which those shifts consolidate, when the nervous system processes and absorbs what the body has just done. Cutting savasana short does not just feel unsatisfying. It physiologically shortens the benefit of the session.

An aromatherapy eye pillow placed across the eyes in savasana changes the experience considerably. The gentle weight activates the oculocardiac reflex — a vagal response that slows the heart rate and invites genuine parasympathetic engagement. The complete darkness removes the last remaining visual stimulus that keeps the mind active. The dried lavender and chamomile inside release a continuous, soft aromatherapy scent that deepens the calming effect. Five minutes with a well-made eye pillow in savasana is qualitatively different from five minutes lying still without one.

On International Yoga Day specifically, give savasana ten minutes. Set a timer so you do not spend the time watching the clock. Place the eye pillow, breathe slowly, and allow the practice to complete itself.

After Practice — the Ritual That Closes the Day

On International Yoga Day, the ritual does not have to end when you roll up your mat. The summer solstice evening is long and light, and there is something particularly fitting about closing the day as deliberately as you opened it.

After practice, the Relax Yoga Mat Spray — blended with lavender and chamomile — is the natural companion to the Energise spray used before. Where Energise sharpens and focuses, Relax grounds and settles. Spritz the mat before rolling it away, or use it in the space around you to transition the atmosphere from active to restful.

If you practised in the evening, the Sleep Atmosphere Mist is the final step — spritzed onto pillows or into the bedroom as the natural signal that the day is complete. On the summer solstice, with the sky still bright at nine o'clock, the eye mask worn to sleep blocks out the light that June evenings bring — making the lavender aromatherapy all the more effective as a cue to let go.

This is what the Spritz Wellness range was built around: not individual products, but a complete arc. Morning preparation. Active practice. Deep savasana. Conscious wind-down. On International Yoga Day, it is worth following it all the way through.

Laura Colucci is a yoga teacher based in London and West Sussex, founder of The Nook yoga studio, and the creator of the Spritz Wellness range.