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10,000 Yogis Rained Out in Central Park

By DNAinfo Staff on June 23, 2010 7:47am

Participants in the world's largest yoga class, which was briefly held on the Great Lawn in Central Park Tuesday, were required to use complementary yoga mats provided by JetBlue.
Participants in the world's largest yoga class, which was briefly held on the Great Lawn in Central Park Tuesday, were required to use complementary yoga mats provided by JetBlue.
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By Olivia Scheck

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

MANHATTAN — Thousands of yogis struggled to maintain positive energy as the sky opened up over the world's largest yoga class on the Great Lawn Tuesday evening.

Yoga was scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., according to a day-of e-mail sent out by organizers, but participants were still filtering in at 7:35 p.m. and by 7:40 p.m. a steady rain had begun to fall on the meticulously ordered rows of people.

Still aiming to claim the record for "world's largest yoga class," yoga instructor Elena Bower announced that the crowd would "do one 'om'."

Helicopters flew loudly overhead, and, two sun salutations later, the crowd was told to exit the lawn.

"Nature has taken over," a Tweet on the Flavorpill feed later explained. "Parks dept is shutting us down. We'll announce a rain date soon."

But the promise of a make-up class was little consolation to the 10,000 people who showed up for the event, many of whom remained on line as news of the cancellation came.

A line with no clear end had weaved through Central Park since the afternoon.

At least participants didn't go home empty-handed – everyone was given a JetBlue yoga mat, which they were required to use during the practice.