Good Sweat
World’s largest documented yoga class lasts a New-York minute [photos]
The long wait and long lines to get into Central Park tested even the patience of yogis
Yoga at the Great Lawn, the public art-meets-yoga event hosted by Flavorpill and New York City Anusara teacher Elena Brower, managed to set the record for the world’s largest documented yoga event with 13,000 RSVPs. It will also go down in history as the shortest. Fortunately Well+Good and portrait photographer Benjamin Spell showed up early to bring you this pre-game photo essay of the single-salutation yoga class.
While yogis were lining up with their free Jetblue-Gaiam yoga mats to practice, and Brower was giving interviews (I can’t wait to see how CNN covers yoga), the rain clouds were blowing in. When she took the stage at 7:30ish, it was to say the event wouldn’t be allowed to continue if there were thunderstorms. Apparently it’s written into the park permit. So we crossed our fingers (and our legs into lotus).
Shri Dharma Mittra, now 71, led the park in an Om that kept going for several minutes, and, for several more, the rain slowed. A single row of Who’s Who yoga teachers like Sadie Nardini, Sarita Lou, and Duncan Wong sat like Adidas-branded Buddhas, all in matching white tanks. (Not a great color in the event of rain…) Behind them, the 7,000 yogis who showed were doing the opposite of a rain dance.
When Elena Brower said “Come to the top of your mat,” the crowd cheered, taking it to be our reprieve. She eased us through just one sun salutation before the rain returned and the plug was pulled. Just as well: the mats were becoming slicker and some yogis had already put them to use as rain tarps.
So how does the world’s largest yoga class cope with this anti-climactic disappointment? Did the several thousand yogis smile serenely look for the “blah-blah message” in this? Hell no. These yogis are New Yorkers first. No one wanted to run for cover, and would have preferred to keep practicing despite the downpour. Instead they rolled up their free mats and sulked off to the subway and Souen to drown their sorrows in brown rice and bancha tea.
Check out our photos of the abbreviated event, and why not send your friends here to see them? We’ll see you at the rain-date class in Central Park later this summer.
Om shanti, Melisse Gelula & Alexia Brue
Yogis warming up for the class that wasn't
Elena Brower and Shri Dharma Mittra leading Om
Yoga teachers, decked out in Adidas, were given Masters status at the event
Good vibrations: The Om heard across the park
Heart felt: The rain moving in during Om
Open sky: Yogis eager to take upward-facing dog before the downpour
The 7,000 yogis stretched across the Great Lawn albeit briefly
The last warriors standing after the class is canceled
If it’s written into the park permit that class could not take place in the event of thunderstorms, Flavorpill really should NOT have sent those “Event will take place rain or shine!” emails just hours before it started. A little honesty would have gone a long way in what was an extremely poorly planned event.
I arrived at 6:00, thinking I had plenty of time before the 7:00 scheduled start. Instead, I found myself on a line that lasted for more than 2 hours. I decided that I would get my free mat, bag and other goodies and head out since it was getting late and I was STRESSED. Lines make me panic. I waited on line for so long I figured the least I could get is my mat. But when I finally got to the front of the line, they canceled the event and refused to let me have a mat.
Not cool. When you invite 10,000 people to an event, you better be prepared to let 10,000 people in. They should have opened it up long before 5:30 — what were they thinking?
I was angry. And to make matters worse, the event ended up COSTING me money as I had to pay for a taxi to get out of the monsoon.
[...] Our friends at Well + Good did a great recap in photos – The World’s Largest Documented Yoga Class Lasts a New York Minute [...]
lines were ridiculous and it really should have been more organized. i feared a chaotic bum rush. what’s the point of rsvp’ng if it’s 3000 ppl over anyway and rain should always be considered a possibility when outdoors.
too bad about the rain! i find that taking yoga outside of the studio is always a good lesson in surrender and acceptance.
here in montreal, a group of yogis gathered for a sunrise yoga practice on the top of mount royal… only to be subjected to an hour-long rant from a drunk man. he did his best to distract us from our practice and provoke some kind of confrontation, but we all simply responded by focusing on ourselves and politely ignoring him. it was a reminder that no matter how beautiful and idyllic i might want my practice to be, i also have to give up control and face reality.
[...] been reading the blog posts and dispatches from the Yoga at the Great Lawn event in NYC. The largest gathering of yogis ever (10,000 of ‘em) also turned out to be the [...]
We are making a concerted effort to expedite the door, make the rain/shine message more clear, and we will see you in September. TO DORI: email me at [email protected]. i’m treating you to a class at virayoga. ~e
Elena, what a classy gesture.
Flavorpill’s letter to all who attended:
Greetings all,
The goal of Yoga at the Great Lawn was to share the gift of yoga with the greatest number of people in the heart of our home, New York, the greatest city in the world. We very much appreciate the overwhelmingly positive response and support we received about the event, despite the rain and the difficulties with the long lines, distributing free mats, bags, and water. The warm feedback made all the hard work and even the bittersweet ending worth it. We will do it again in September, date to be announced soon.
Yoga at the Great Lawn was a big endeavor and posed many challenges — most particularly, how to get 10,000 people in very quickly, such that we don’t damage the jewel lawn of our great park — and we know that we disappointed many people who waited on exhausting long lines to enter, only be turned away due to the weather. We apologize to all of you who waited in lines and never made it in. It was our intention to have you all on the Great Lawn and settled on a mat in time for the class. To show you our gratitude for your willingness to stick it out on the line, we would like to offer you guaranteed “express entry” to our rescheduled Yoga at the Great Lawn happening this September. So, if you waited on the line for an extended period of time and never made it on the Great Lawn please email [email protected] and we will make sure you get a great spot in September for Yoga at the Great Lawn 2.0 without any line drama.
Once again, we are honored to have the opportunity to share Yoga at the Great Lawn with our fellow New Yorkers and yogis all over the world. We have learned so much during this whole process and appreciate your patience, enthusiasm and unrelenting support. Thanks to your feedback we will be back with a better event as we’re committed to finishing what we started: a full yoga class for more than 10,000 people on the Great Lawn in the heart of New York City!
Feel free to send us any additional feedback.
Namaste NYC
Team Flavorpill
Do you have the date in Sept. that the yoga gathering is rescheduled for?
thanks,
Jane