World’s Largest Yoga Class Ever Guinness Record set by Standard Hotels and Jetblue

What does it look like when 10,000 people downward dog? Well, something like what we saw yesterday evening in New York City’s Central Park, when Flavorpill partnered up with the likes of Standard Hotels  and Jetblue to create a world record for the largest yoga class ever.

We popped into the park on a whim to check it out, after registering last-minute and printing our free ticket. With the class scheduled to start at 7pm, the line to enter at 6pm snaked through what seemed like half of the park, coiling down paths, under bridges, over rocks and down grassy hills.

The offer of a free tote, Gaiam yoga mat and more sure helped get the word out, and by 7:30pm we were all an example of the power of social media when mixed with free stuff and the outdoors as we began to do downward dogs, sun salutations and cobras until rainclouds surprised everyone.

When all was said and done, over 13,000 had registered for the event and they made the record. If only the weather had cooperated, we’d have seen 10,000 people doing far more advanced poses, but don’t worry too much; there’ll be a rain date.

Dharma Mittra led the crowd in a chanting of “Om” before Brower taught a single sun salutation before the Parks Department required the event be shut down for rain. “Twenty thousand hands and ten thousand hearts full of gratitude later, the rain poured down,” Brower wrote today on her blog.

Not all was lost. Participants spent a couple hours mingling in the sunshine before the yoga itself began, enjoying one another’s company and entertainment by musical performer Reggie Watts, and taking in the sheer scale of the experience.

“This isn’t just a yoga event, it’s a cultural event,” said Mark Mangan, co-founder of Flavorpill, who hosted the event. Flavorpill’s other founder, Sascha Lewis, is a longtime yoga student of Brower’s.

“Take your practice home with you. Be in the moment. Celebrate life. This is what it’s all about,” he told the crowd of anticipating yogis, minutes before the rain.