WEST HARTFORD — Bending and twisting in unison to the rhythmic sounds of flutes and drums, about 1,800 people gathered for the fifth annual West Hartford Yoga on Om Street event Saturday morning.
“We are here to support each other, not knock ourselves down,” West Hartford Yoga owner Barbara Ruzansky said to the crowd, gently placing her hands on an woman’s back to lengthen her stretch.
About 50 yoga studios from around the state gathered to practice for a little more than an hour outdoors on LaSalle Road in West Hartford Center.
Ruzansky said she stumbled into a yoga class 30 years after she was stricken with depression and a serious eating disorder. Yoga helped her heal, she said.
“When I come to my mat, I feel grounded. I feel at peace,” she said. “For me, it’s like coming home.”
And practicing outdoors, surrounded by hundreds of people, is such a positive experience, Ruzansky said. People leave joyful and happy, she said.
For participant Kathleen Tracy, yoga is a mind, body and soul experience. Tracy said she loves knowing that she is taking care of herself — through yoga, she gains the cardio and balance exercise she needs.
“When you get to be a senior citizen, you really have to focus on not falling,” she said, laughing. “I want to be 90 and not falling.”
A spiritual person, Tracy, of Windsor, said she chants every day and that yoga helps to channel the energy.
Though Alex Don, of West Hartford, has been practicing yoga for only a year, he said he loves how it feels physically, spiritually and mentally. The unity of people at the Om Street event is irreplaceable, he said.
“It’s something that is very moving,” he said. “In a mass of people, it’s so overwhelming and spiritual that I couldn’t resist.”