A s practitioners and teachers, husband and wife Jay and Terry Gupta say they've seen the benefits yoga can offer people coping with chronic physical and mental health problems.

And they share that message every year at NH Yoga for Peace, a daylong public celebration of yoga, health, well-being and community.

"We really believe everyone should have access to yoga," said Terry Gupta who, with her husband, founded YogaCaps Inc., a nonprofit group that works with hospitals and community organizations to offer therapeutic yoga to treat and prevent chronic diseases.

On Saturday, the sixth annual NH Yoga for Peace conference will kick off at 9 a.m. at Merrimack High School with an opening ceremony and a keynote speech from Dr. Amita Chopra, who will talk about how to meditate.

Throughout the day, more than 60 local practitioners will offer classes on different types of yoga and meditation for people of all ages and levels of experience.

There also will be lectures on other aspects of health and well-being, as well as music, dance and food. Admission to NH Yoga for Peace is free, but donations are welcome. Any money raised will be used to support YogaCaps' Volunteer Corps, which provides free yoga classes to cancer patients, seniors, veterans and patients at the Greater Nashua Mental Health Center. Donations also will help fund a group of Merrimack High students who plan to attend Peace Jam, a youth-oriented social justice conference organized by 13 Nobel Peace laureates.

"Yoga for Peace is the world as we would like to see it," said Terry Gupta. "We need everyone on board to build a community where everyone is healthy."

Roseann Latona of White Swan Yoga in Manchester will be back on board for a third year at Yoga for Peace, offering a class in gentle yoga for beginners and people recovering from injury.

"It's a wonderful day of like-minded people coming together," said Latona. "I always come home saying it's one of the best days I've ever had."

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When the contemplative rigour of yoga meets the energy of hip-hop, interesting things happen.

When Steve Ross was touring the world in rock bands, he practised yoga as other musicians partied.

A guitarist who once recorded and toured with Fleetwood Mac, The Beach Boys and Men At Work, Ross was doing the downward dog and eating healthy while others were busy doing, well, other things.

"Everyone else was partying to the maximum possibility and I was meditating, doing yoga and eating fruit,"Ross said.

Striking a pose: Steve Ross, former guitarist and founder of hip-hop yoga, with Sammy Veall. Photo: Jason South

He has been practising yoga since he was 17 years old, and spent four years living as a Vedic monk, which involved getting a shaved head, celibacy and learning from an Indian guru.

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He last toured in 1993, but after opening his Maha Yoga studio in Brentwood, Los Angeles, the former guitarist came up with a way of blending his passions for song and sun salutations.

Ross is the founder of hip-hop yoga, which combines the stretching and breathing of yoga with booming and sometimes brash hip-hop.

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Ex-guitarist combined love for music, sun salutions to create hip-hop yoga