New Delhi, June 21 (IANS): Yoga is both an art as well as a science and has amazing curative and preventive powers for the well-being of humanity, President Pranab Mukherjee said on International Yoga Day on Sunday.

The president, who inaugurated a mass yoga event at Rashtrapati Bhavan, said yoga can also help prevent and cure modern lifestyle related disorders.

"Yoga is both an art as well as a science. It has amazing curative as well as preventive powers for the well-being of humanity and for the management of many modern lifestyle related disorders," he said.

Conveying his best wishes on the occasion, the president said India was the home of yoga where it was practiced over centuries.

The president expressed his happiness that many residents of Rashtrapati Bhavan have been practicing yoga for a long period of time and had participated enthusiastically to commemorate the International Yoga Day.

Around 1,000 residents and staff of Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President's Body Guard, the Army Guard, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the Delhi Police participated in the mass yoga session.

The event was organized in collaboration with Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga.

Yoga practice classes were conducted for residents of the President's Estate from June 1 to 20, 2015 in preparation for the International Yoga Day.