Home Events International Yoga Day 2016 – On and off the Mat!

International Yoga Day 2016 – On and off the Mat!

by Arundhati Baitmangalkar

13450194_1212179202125562_3018995155849366126_nWe wrapped up our second annual celebration of International Yoga Day at Aham Yoga on Sunday, June 19th – and wow! What a weekend! 7+ hours of yoga and 5+ hours of workshops mixed in with a delicious international potluck, a great community of yoga practitioners, and a willingness to learn, grow, and expand our minds to all that is yoga.

Our mission in our recent celebrations was to aim to educate our willing community of practitioners and teachers on what it means to take yoga “off the mat”. We wanted to offer something more than just the asana classes that they experience with us every day of the week, and bring them access to the wealth of knowledge that is found within yogic theory.

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After kicking off the weekend with a challenging yoga asana practice, we all sat around the studio on a rainy Friday evening and told Mythical Stories that were created around different yoga poses, dipping our toes into the depth of culture in India where yoga was born. We delved even deeper into the origins and evolution of yoga in Classical vs. Modern Yoga, walking our participants through time, from 5000 years ago until now, to what we know of yoga today. Through doing this, we aim to connect all of us together into something that is eternal within the practice of yoga, something that we can take with us both on and off the mat, and something that will continue to grow and enrich each of us individually as we maneuver through life.

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We wrapped up our celebrations on Sunday morning by saluting the sun 108 times, cleansing our minds and sinuses with the practice of jala neti, and completing a series of pranayama exercises to settle our bodies and minds.

We look forward to growing this event in the years to come, continuing to enhance the celebration of International Yoga Day, and encouraging all participants to take their practice with them always, anywhere and everywhere they go.

To see more pictures, check us out on Facebook.

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