Mysuru:  The second rehearsal for the International Day of Yoga (IDY), organised by the District Administration, Department of AYUSH and various Yoga Schools and organisations to be held on June 21 at the Mysore Race Course premises, was held at Mysore Palace premises here at 6.15 am today which was attended by 2,500 yoga enthusiasts.

The participants were students of AYUSH, Yoga College, JSS Ayurveda College, members of GSS Yogic Foundation, Patanjali organisation, Mysuru Yoga Federation, Mysuru District Yoga and Sports Foundation and other organisations.

Though 4,000 participants have registered online for the main event on June 21, the organisers are expecting one lakh participants and are roping in yoga schools and other yoga organisations to make sure that one lakh people will take part in the main event.

The rehearsal began with a prayer for a minute, followed by warm up session with 17 exercises for four minutes and 25 minutes of Yoga which included 17 asanas. After the rehearsal, 14 minutes Pranayama, breathing exercises and meditation was held.

After the rehearsal, a meeting was held in the Palace premises where it was decided to assemble one lakh people for the main event. In order to keep the count of participants, token system will be implemented at all the entrance gates of the Race Course, said AYUSH Department Director Dr. Seethalakshmi, who added that lucky dip with prizes for 10 participants will be organised for the main event. She further said that five ticket counters would be set up across the city to issue tickets for those willing to participate in the main event.

“There is no fee for the tickets, but tickets with serial numbers will be issued to keep count on the number of participants. Even members of the public should obtain a ticket and there is no entry without a ticket,” Dr. Seethalakshmi said.

Department of Information and Public Relations Assistant Director Raju, Nehru Yuva Kendra Co-ordinator M.N. nataraj, CADA Public Relations Officer Ravikumar, Tourism Department Deputy Director H.P. Janardhan, Srihari of GSS Yogic Foundation, Dr. Maruthi, Dr. Ganesh Kumar, Rathna Rao of Patanjali and others were present.

The third rehearsal will be held on June 17. People can register at www.yogadaymysuru.com to participate in the main event.

It may be recalled that 55,506 participants took part in the International Day of Yoga last year which was the result of the hard work of the then Deputy Commissioner D. Randeep and other officials, which created a record by entering the Guinness World Records For Largest  Yoga Lesson.