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| The fifth U.N. International Day of Yoga at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul is joined by participants in this June 16, 2019, photo. Newsis |
By Ko Dong-hwan
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| A poster for the event. |
A space in Gwanghwamun Square at the heart of Seoul will be reserved for 100 people every Tuesday and Thursday night from June 27 to Aug. 31. To keep the event orderly, the city government is putting a cap on the crowd size.
"Gwanghwamun Moonlight Yoga," headed by the square's operation division under the city government's Balanced Development Headquarters, accepts participants from the city's pre-booking website, yeyak.seoul.go.kr. The one-hour sessions starting at 7:30 p.m. are open to all ages and available for those of all levels.
The event kicks off in the month of the United Nations International Day of Yoga, which falls on June 21. The day is also the Summer Solstice, traditionally known in Korea as "haji," a time of the year when daylight is at its peak.
An opening ceremony for the event will be held on the same day on the northern section of the square. Organizers will provide yoga mats for the first 100 participants of the two-hour yoga session starting at 7:30 p.m.
The ceremony's main events consist of endurance yoga challenges for participants, quiz shows and a music performance by a Korean traditional "gugak" fusion band. At the end of the ceremony, the city government will give away yoga tops to all participants.
The pre-programs kick off from 11 a.m. and continue until 6 p.m. when visitors to the square can check out the moonlight yoga and hashtag events launched by the city government.
Yeo Jang-kwon, chief of the Balanced Development Headquarters, said that Gwanghwamun Moonlight Yoga was designed to invite people to experience the summer nights in Seoul at the city's most iconic venue through the globally known practice for bodily and mental healing.
"You will be able to feel the city's new kind of urban night groove at its full length," the organizer said.
Yoga is not just a sport but part of broader cultural activity for all, according to MBN, a local TV network that jointly organized the event with the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Out of the high-tension, stressful city life, the event has been planned to provide a peaceful, therapeutic space to urban dwellers, the broadcaster added.
One of the nifty ideas available at the festivity is collecting points and exchanging them for goods at the end of the campaign. Reserved for pre-online bookers, those coming to the square for the moonlight yoga programs from June through August get points at each session. Goods include yoga outfits, yoga mats and tumblers.
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