The Yogathon team thanks all the participants, teachers and Yoga schools for participating in 2020 Yogathon NZ - Health for Humanity. The two weeks have shown us a tremendous response for yoga from all over New Zealand. It has been an amazing journey, which ended on Saturday 27th June. Hopefully the interest in yoga continues.
For the first time, entire yoga sessions were hosted online in Te Reo Maori. The integration of the ancient philosophy of yoga with our local community in New Zealand is heart-warming. The Yogathon team thanks all the participants, teachers and Yoga schools for participating in 2020 Yogathon NZ - Health for Humanity.
At the beginning of this two weeks, we set ourselves a challenge to see if we can do 108,000 sun salutations collectively - as one New Zealand. We have had 3-4 daily classes online and in person with the objective to try and bring yoga to everyone regardless of where we are and regardless of age and ability.
This year we had more than 80 different sessions online and in-person. More than 60 Teachers from different styles and organisations offered sessions for people. As we mentioned last year, we will bring different components of Yoga to New Zealanders and This year we brought so many different components of yoga. Hatha Yoga, Vinyasa, Kundalini, Art , Mantra, Bhakti, Meditation, Music, Talks from the teachers and experts and from all parts of New Zealand.
Yogathon 2020, is also pleased to announce that New Zealanders have collectively done ~ 134,000+ sun salutations over the two weeks of the national challenge. This success belongs to every participant, every person in New Zealand who decided to try a sun salutation and submitted their number to contribute to the target that was set.
Yogathon - Health for Humanity, is a division of Hindu Council of New Zealand. In its 9th year of operation, this is the consecutive second year the target has not only been reached, but exceeded. The organisers are positive of the future prospect the event holds.
Yogathon - Health for Humanity was a two week event across New Zealand, encouraging all New Zealanders to learn, participate and incorporate yoga in their daily lives. Participants registered online, attended online and in-person sessions, individually or as groups, learned and practiced different components of Yoga, did Surya Namaskar (sun salutations) at their own pace and in their own time. They counted the number of times they did the cycle, a combination of 12 asanas and submitted their total count to the organising team.
Yogathon will keep working towards the objective of making yoga more integrated in people’s lives. Our journey doesn’t stop here. Yogathon will keep bringing all elements of yoga. Raja Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga and others for the wellbeing of Kiwis.
The Yogathon started on 13th June and finished on 27th June. This year more than 60 teachers offered sessions, more than 30 organisations supported and more than 20 volunteers from all corners of New Zealand made this event successful. We acknowledge participants, yoga schools, studios, gyms, school, community organisations, teachers and volunteers who made Yogathon 2020 a success.
This achievement would not have been possible without the support of all participants. We are grateful and thankful to all the yoga teachers around all these cities for offering free yoga classes during the Yogathon weeks to support Yogathon and raise awareness of the importance of yoga to our health. The overwhelming support for this event makes us delighted that yoga is indeed mainstream in New Zealand.
Schools, childcare centres, community organisations, youth groups, yoga schools, individuals, everyone collaborated with Yogathon offering yoga to young and old, regardless of ethnicity and background. Each of these helped immensely in ensuring accessibility to yoga was not limited due to ability.
It is with pleasure we share with you that this year, we had participation from more cities than ever. With the participation from more than 80 towns and cities almost every corner of New Zealand participated in this year’s Yogathon.
Like the previous year, Yogathon was organised to coincide with the International Day of Yoga. This made it much easier for everyone to participate, join in and talk about yoga in our lives. “
If yoga schools, organisations, community groups, teachers or volunteers want to be involved with this initiative, please get in touch with us.
Watch this space for more events and next year's event information.
