Free outdoor yoga classes over the festive season in Whanganui

Day 6 of Summer Yoga by the Awa, with teacher Emma Dickinson leading a class. Photo / Bevan Conley

Yoga is just right for restoring the balance after a really crazy year, Rosemary Miller says.

She and two other Whanganui yoga teachers are taking turns offering classes outdoors at Pākaitore/Moutoa Gardens until January 4. The classes are free and suitable for anyone.

They start at 9.30am and run until 10.45am. People can bring their own mats or use the grass and they can pay with a koha.

The Summer Yoga by the Awa/12 Days of Christmas idea is an experiment dreamed up by Miller.

"It just seemed like a nice community event. Apart from the Cemetery Circuit there's not a lot on in Whanganui over this period, so I thought it would be fun to try," she said.

On day one, December 24, rain was pouring down at 9.30am and the group got permission from Mere Whanarere to move into a room in the nearby waka ama building. They didn't completely escape the rain.

"Rain was dripping through the roof," teacher Emma Dickinson said.

The weather has been kinder since - though cool and windy. The largest number of participants so far was on Monday, December 28, when there were 18 people. They included children, some of whom went off to climb trees when they got bored.

Miller and Dickinson are joined by fellow yoga teacher Martin Nagle in leading the classes.

"It gives people an opportunity to experience different styles. We have all got different styles," Miller said.

The koha they collect will be split between the teachers and pay for use of the reserve and the room in the waka ama building.

Holding the lessons at Pākaitore is special, Miller said. They are outdoors, overlooking the river, and in a public place with some privacy and shade.

She first got permission from the Pākaitore Historic Reserve Board, and said the classes fitted with its aspiration to get more use of the reserve.

For her, the spiritual side of yoga also fits with the reserve.

"Gathering people to practise yoga together in a place where we can connect to the awa, to the whenua and to ourselves and each other recognises that Te Awa Tupua is a source of our spiritual sustenance," she said.