Outdoor yoga event appeals to the masses
At a time when you can stream free online yoga instruction, on demand, into your front room, the collective power of a class can sometimes be overlooked. But Stretch City Hong Kong's OmTogether in collaboration with Green Summer Festival, will go to the opposite extreme.
The event, at the Central Harbourfront Event Space on September 14, hopes to attract a patchwork of hundreds of mats, on which all shapes, sizes and ages of yogis, yoginis, and beginners, will experience asanas and mindfulness to a soundtrack of yogic tunes.
Miko Bantigue, chief executive of Stretch City Hong Kong, participated in Summer Solstice Yoga in New York's Times Square. He was further inspired by the capital's Fashion's Night Out, when he created Stretch Saturday, which brought together 10 yoga studios and 10 yoga-friendly restaurants and shops in Hong Kong in July.
"Instead of shopping, our version got people taking classes from studio to studio, and taking advantage of deals at participating restaurants and stores," Bantigue says.
"For OmTogether, we're taking yoga out of the studio and into the heart of Central."
At OmTogether, she'll be taking students through a series of Vinyasa poses, designed to align movement and breath.
Whitney was the inspiration for Lau to take up and start teaching yoga himself. He went on to create Pay-what-you-wish yoga, which offered classes to those who could not afford Hong Kong's studio memberships.
Lau mixes Western principals of anatomy and physical conditioning with traditional yoga.
"The union is so natural, powerful and effortless that I want to share the joy of it with everyone," he says.
During the two-hour experience, Whitney and Lau hope to pass on elements of the spiritual as well as physical. "Leading a big class, including newbies, is like planting seeds," Lau says.
"The mindful experience will allow them to become open to the spiritual yogic journey they may take one day."
With DJ Jason spinning tunes, Bantigue is anticipating a holistic and motivating event.
"Whether we choose to listen to music or not during yoga practice, it is hard to argue with the notion that a good playlist takes you on a journey," Bantigue says, adding that a class of this size will help open yoga up to a wider audience.
"Firstly, it connects you to the broader community; secondly, it raises awareness about the physical, emotional and spiritual benefits of yoga; and thirdly, it allows people who are new to yoga to join their friends and family in an inclusive, fun environment," Bantigue says.
