Yoga for Peace Holds World Event on 9/11 Anniversary
an article by Tony Dominski

On September 8, 2007, the Yoga for Peace Project held its annual “action of peace to benefit all mankind” marking the 6th Anniversary of the bombing of the World Trade Center. Locations included New York City, Santa Cruz, Savannah, Brunswick ME, St. Louis, Dallas, Boulder, Honolulu, Boston, Chicago, Toronto, Los Angeles, New Haven CT, Bali, Cologne, Germany, Reykjavik and Tokyo. The event featured 108 yoga postures called Sun Salutations and a peace mandala constructed from human bodies.

The first such event in September 2002 was held in New York City as an alternative to visiting the WTC site. I attended this year’s event in New Haven [see news article and video] on a warm, sunny day with 200 other people. The speakers explained the yoga philosophy of non-violence and the recognition of the sacred within all human beings and nature. Dr. Alice de V Perry, head of the National Religions Campaign Against Torture, recalled Martin Luthor King’s plea to honor the “inescapable network of mutuality” which bonds all human beings.

The New Haven participants spent over an hour in silence doing the 108 Sun Salutations. I sat in the shade of large tree with 10 people, including a man in a wheelchair, doing less demanding “chair” salutations. Under the gazebo a group of 8 musicians and singers played traditional Indian instruments and chanted.

In this mellow atmosphere I could believe that the ancient Culture of War would ultimately give way to the equally ancient 5000-year-old yoga philosophy of non-violence.

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