What better setting to practice yoga than under the shade of trees in the crisp autumn air? And what better opportunity to get an introduction to the ancient meditative technique than at Saturday's "Yoga in the Park" at the Hanover Arboretum?

Five Hanover-area yoga instructors are taking their talents outside for the free event in an effort to draw together the yoga community and educate newcomers to the practice. The joint yoga event, to be held behind the Warehime-Myers Mansion on Baltimore Street, runs from 9:30 to 11 a.m. and will be followed by a vegetarian potluck social.

Organizer Misty Stillman said there is a solid but fragmented yoga community in Hanover.

"I feel like sometimes the yoga community is just not

Life In Balance Yoga owner Misty Stillman demonstrates some yoga techniques at her York Street studio. (THE EVENING SUN BRETT BERWAGER )

"Here, there is certainly no reason our community can't come together and get to know each other and support each other and show people who've never done yoga what yoga is all about. I think it's a really good thing," said Stillman, who has been a registered yoga instructor since 2008.

An ancient discipline for physical, mental, and spiritual development, yoga has been steadily gaining in popularity in this country for decades. Yoga proponents say it helps with the body's ability to heal itself and offers a relief from stress, improved concentration and peace

"Every time you do yoga it's an opportunity to get to know yourself better," Stillman said. "For me, it's changed my life. It's allowed me to grow emotionally."

Saturday's event will offer visitors an opportunity to learn firsthand about the different types of yoga and to meet and talk to the various instructors.

"There are so many different styles of yoga and different ways people teach yoga. You need to find a teacher that speaks to you," Stillman said. "Every teacher is different about how they work."

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Taking yoga to the park