Outdoor yoga class sees explosive growth

On Saturday mornings in Des Moines, people find themselves rolling out of bed to do more than just watch TV. They come to do yoga in the park.

"I love it. I think it is just so fun," said Lyn Marie Cunningham.

The Parks and Recreation Department was hoping to get 30 to 40 people when Yoga in The Park started. The event is at Grays Lake. But, with ever increasing attendance, it gets anywhere from 300 to 350 people every Saturday in the summer.

"People can come out if you've never tried yoga before. You can give it a chance without having any skin in the game, so to speak, just come up if you like it. You can just pick up and walk away. You don't have to worry about losing any investment," said Ben Page.

Yoga in the Park offers a different yoga experience each week because of the always-changing instructors. The 16 yoga teachers involved means it is like 16 different yoga studios.

"We went out, and we contacted all the yoga studios in the community, and we just got a tremendous response from them. And everyone wanted to be part of the program," Denny Kelly said.

"It's a nice way to start a Saturday, especially if you do a little yoga and go to the farmers market. It's a great Saturday," said Laura Jontz, who was there with John Hardy, who agreed.

Yoga at Gray's Lake started about four years ago. It is on the southeast part of the park. It starts the first Saturday in June and runs through the last Saturday in September.

Gray's Lake has its own Facebook page with nearly 10,000 likes.

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Outdoor yoga class sees explosive growth