London: International Yoga Day in London, started on Sunday 18th June with Om International Yoga Day one day festival in the grounds of Alexandra Palace in North London. There was a team of over 50 BK volunteers who supported the BK site and also helped with the main registration for the event. There were over 3,500 people who visited the festival throughout the day.
BK’s had a slot on the main stage from 2pm-3pm and Sister Sujata led a class with Om-Chanting and various lighthearted and simple yoga exercises before Sister Maureenreminded everyone the importance of collectively sending our peace and good wishes to the world at this time of great upheaval and tragedy before leading a silent gathering into a powerful meditation.
A whole range of activities were offered throughout the day, from 9am-6pm, to give people an introduction to Raj Yoga and many of its benefits:
Meditation Space, with a programme of rolling 20 minute meditation sessions, led by a variety of BK’s. titles such as ‘moments of peace’; ‘Being before Doing’; Healing Relationships’; ‘Just-a-minute meditation on the go’ were explored and each session was full, with 733 attending 16 sessions.
Human-Soul Connection: A chance to share drishti and eye contact on a one-to-one basis with experienced meditators and many shared powerful experiences from this.
Tree of Good Wishes: an invitation to write a wish for the world and tie it to the tree. The tree was in its fullness with over a thousand leaves by the end of the day.
Meditate for The World: A place for people to come and join in the wave of World Meditation taking place throughout the planet on this day, third Sunday, whether for a minute or an hour.
Raj Yoga Exhibition Space: Taking people through the basic tenets of Raj Yoga and signposting on to further investigation and exploration!
Emergency Optimist : Always a hit, with many taking benefit and finding practical spiritual solutions to dealing with their present issues.
BK publications stand offering a wide range of items to support people on their ongoing spiritual journey.
Virtue Wheel: fun for all the family,where people identify different positive qualities within….where the wheel stops and walk away with a blessing and a smile.
See below for some of the feedback from those who benefited:
‘I loved all of these stations! I pickout forgiveness at the virtue wheel and ended up attending the forgiveness meditation so that was particularly special for me!’
‘Really amazing experience at each area, thank you’.
‘The sessions I attended really helped me to connect with myself, so thankyou’.
‘A very insightful, realistic and thoughtful speech, achievable and attainable. Thank you’.
‘This was a timely reminder for me so thank you…I would like to practise meditation much more’.
‘I found it very relaxing and inspiring’.
It was a really engaging talk, which gave me a better understanding of what meditation can give me’.
‘I really loved this time with the meditation activities. It has made me aware and onscious of changes I need to make and I’ve learnt to look at things from different angles’.
‘Great event for improving mental health’.
International Yoga Day at Alexandra Palace 18th June 2017.docx
