Stretch your dollar: free yoga classes in Hong Kong

Ahead of Sunday's first International Day of Yoga, we let you in on where you can enjoy yoga for free in the city

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Om Together: more than 600 participants came together to stretch and sweat throughout the 90 minute yoga practice during the Green Summer Festival at Central Harbourfront Event Space in September 2014. Photo: Stretch City

Published: 8:30am, 17 Jun 2015Updated: 2:31pm, 17 Jun 2015

Hong Kong and 250 other cities around the world are set to strike a collective pose come Sunday on the first International Day of Yoga. Headlining the day’s commemorative activities will be a free mass yoga event at Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park in Sai Ying Pun, co-organised by the Consultate General of India in Hong Kong and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.

Many other smaller yoga events – all free of charge (see listings below) – will be held across the territory to celebrate the International Day of Yoga, which was proclaimed by the United Nations in December last year following endorsement by a record 175 member states at its 69th General Assembly.

“By proclaiming 21 June as the International Day of Yoga, the General Assembly has recognized the holistic benefits of this timeless practice and its inherent compatibility with the principles and values of the United Nations,” says Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General.

June 21 is the Summer Solstice, Northern Hemisphere’s longest day of the year. It also has special significance in yogic tradition: on this day, it’s believed that Adiyogi (the first yogi) first set his eyes on the Saptarishis or Seven Sages, who were his first disciples to carry the science of yoga to many parts of the world.

The day will be celebrated in 191 countries, driven by India’s diplomatic missions in each location. Only Yemen has no official events on the day because India recently closed its mission there, according to Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj.