Four-hundred people all doing yoga together under one teacher’s instruction sounds like some sort of North Carolina record, and that’s because it would be and might be thanks to an upcoming event.
Legacy Event Planners, backed by 16 different organizations, is hosting its second YogaFest from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, April 6 at N.C. State’s McKimmon Center.
For $35, the event will allow participants of all skill levels to take various yoga classes all day, ending in a large group class of 400 to learn together under one instructor.
In addition to the classes, 16 sponsoring exhibitors are set to be in attendance, according to Sarah Plonk, a senior in psychology and event manager.
Exhibitors include You Call This Yoga, the primary sponsor, as well as Irregardless Café, Acupuncture Associates, Ten Thousand Villages and others. Neomonde, a local Lebanese and Mediterranean café and deli, will cater the event.
“One of my main responsibilities was getting exhibitors at the event,” Plonk said. “The exhibitors are usually willing because it’s an opportunity to promote health and wellness.”
Along with involving businesses, Plonk said she spread awareness to hype the Raleigh community.
On its second year, the event planners already anticipate a little more than twice as many participants as last year, which had about 200. Planners have shifted their focus from just adults with various wellness problems to include students as well.
“I think the main aim last year was to get adults to come,” Plonk said. “I think now that I’m involved, as a student, they want to involve more students. They’re like, ‘Oh, you enjoy yoga? I had no idea younger generations enjoyed it.’”
Established in 2008 by three N.C. State students, Legacy Event Planners works with non-profit organizations to host various events.
Plonk started working with Legacy in January as event manager, but said she has mostly worked on organizing YogaFest.
“They dove me right into [the position],” Plonk said. “I interviewed on Tuesday, I had the job on Thursday, Sunday I was leading a meeting.”
YogaFest is the signature event for You Call This Yoga, a non-profit Dr. Howie Shareff founded in 2010.
Shareff said he first found yoga while in dental school when a teacher gave a demonstration. Fifteen years later, a patient encouraged him to take a class.
Yoga helped manage stress from his work as a dentist as well as with his athletic training, Shareff said.
When Shareff had to retire from dentistry due to arthritis, he turned to yoga to manage neck pain as well as to make a living.
“As I was approaching my 50s, I felt what I was doing would be beneficial to the boomers,” Shareff said.
Shareff had once made a wellness video for the baby boomer generation before starting his organization. Seeing yoga as an opportunity to help spread the ideas of health and wellness in an accessible way, Shareff founded You Call This Yoga.
“The mission of You Call This Yoga is to bring the benefits of yoga to community,” Shareff said.
Benefits of yoga, according to Plonk, are both physical and mental. Yoga helps with flexibility and preventative wellness by reducing the risk of muscular and skeletal problems. It also improves frame of mind, she said.
“Yoga works,” Shareff said. “It’s adaptable to the person, it can be free and can be done anywhere — even in a chair.”
