The project aims to unite the global yoga community. (Photo courtesy of Yoga Barn)

Bali to Host Yoga Event for International Day of Peace

The yoga, meditation and music communities of Bali will gather Saturday to celebrate the UN International Day of Peace, which falls on Sept. 21.

A series of classes and shows for adults and children will be held in Ubud, with more than 25 teachers and musicians participating.

Donations received from each event will go to Yayasan Widya Guna, an orphanage in Bedulu, Bali, and Breathe of Hope Foundation, a nongovernmental organization helping children.

The series is a part of the Global Mala Project, which aims to unite the global yoga community through collective practice. In 2008, there were more than 400 Global Mala events in 35 countries. This year, particularly between Sept. 19-21, yoga communities all over the world will be holding a similar event. Organizers hope to form a mala — prayer beads commonly used by Buddhists to keep track of time during meditation — around the world. “This event shall connect yogis all over the world in good spirits,” said Noviana Kusumawardhani, the business director of BaliSpirit Festival, one of the participating groups.

The schedule for the event involves yogis doing 108, a series of yoga postures called sun salutations, as mala has 108 prayer beads. Lisa Siregar