Cityscape

Namaste: Yoga Benefit Fills Ford Field With The Opposite of Football

February 22, 2014, 11:59 AM by  Alan Stamm


Preparatory stretching at Ford Field on Saturday morning. [Instagram photo by Ariel Black]

There was no tackling, passing, fumbling, jeers or beer at Ford Field on Saturday morning, just serenity and stretching.

In an effort to set a global record for the largest indoor yoga class, while raising roughly $50,000 for Birmingham's Yoga By Design Foundation, about 2,000 people brought mats, lululemon apparel and affinity for Detroit to the Lions' turf.


This could be a world record, organizers suggest. [Twitter photo by Brian Bosche]

Mats stretched from goalpost to goalpost as Yoga Shelter chain founder Eric Paskel led a mass session that ended with a group hug -- or hundreds of group hugs, actually.

"What a great way to kick off a Saturday," tweets Carly Getz of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan..

Bus tours of of Eastern Market, downtown, the riverfront and Belle Isle were offered afterward by D:hive for participants who haven't ventured into Detroit lately.

The main sponsors were the Lions, Come Play Detroit and Yoga Shelter.

The three-year-old suburban foundation that benefits from $25 participation fees  was created by yoga business founder Lynn Meadow to offer yoga to people with multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and cancer, as well as to residents of shelters, prisons and inner-city areas. 


The gridiron filled with a find-any-spot process that was as respectful and courteous as you'd expect from yoga students. [Instagram photo by Mary-Kate Kachel]



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