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espite being held during the holy month of Ramadhan when Muslims refrain from eating and drinking, a yoga event, as part of a series of events building up to International Yoga Day on June 21, has attracted larger crowds than previously anticipated.

Around 1,500 people participated in the event at Taman Menteng in Central Jakarta on Saturday morning, with many of them queuing up at the venue at 5 a.m. At the start of the event at 6 a.m., Manish, charge d’affaires at the Embassy of India in Indonesia, talked briefly about yoga and how it could help create harmony between people, society and environment.

This year’s event was the third time the embassy co-hosted it, having previously done so on two separate occasions at the Bung Karno Sports Complex (GBK). The event was moved from the GBK because of ongoing renovations for the 2018 Asian Games.

Eshila Maravanyika, acting director of the United Nations Information Center in Jakarta, said the aim of the event was to raise public awareness on yoga and how it could help bring peace and harmony through the connection of mind and body.

She also said the UN General Embassy had declared a day for yoga to “show that we all value a healthy living and a healthy living coming from yoga.”

The event saw in addition to a large number of young locals, several high-ranking Indonesian officials, members of diplomatic missions and international bodies and Indian diaspora.

The embassy partnered with local yoga groups in mobilizing participants and organizing the event, including actor and yoga instructor Anjasmara Prasetya, Art of Living Indonesia, Love Peace Yoga, Celebrity Fitness, Yoga Gembira and Gudang Gudang.

To raise awareness for the third ever International Yoga Day, the embassy and its consulates in Bali and Medan organized events on June 18 at Renon Park in Denpasar, Bali; Candrakusuma School in Medan; and Brawijaya Driving Range in Surabaya.