As Sunday’s temperatures rose and the sun beamed down, thousands of people grabbed their yoga mats and took to the Lincoln Memorial for Yoga on the Mall.
![Thousands gathered in D.C. to practice yoga on the National Mall Sunday, May 19, 2019. (WTOP/Keara Dowd)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga6-1672x1254.jpg)
![Organizers said the crowd was 3,000 strong. (WTOP/Keara Dowd)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga8.jpg)
![](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga4-1672x1254.jpg)
![Thousands gathered in D.C. to practice yoga on the National Mall Sunday, May 19, 2019. (WTOP/Keara Dowd)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga6-1672x1254.jpg)
![Despite sweltering temperatures, thousands brought their yoga mats to the National Mall on Sunday, May 19, 2019. (WTOP/Keara Dowd)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga2-1672x1254.jpg)
![Temperatures were hovering in the upper 80s, near 90 on Sunday, but that didn't stop these yogis from holding a session on the National Mall. (WTOP/Keara Dowd)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga3-1672x1254.jpg)
![](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga5-1672x1254.jpg)
![](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga7-1672x1254.jpg)
It’s going to hit 90 today, so this is basically natural hot yoga @WTOP pic.twitter.com/6aAHK3O2ME
— Keara Dowd (@KGDowdWTOP) May 19, 2019
![Thousands gathered in D.C. to practice yoga on the National Mall Sunday, May 19, 2019. (WTOP/Keara Dowd)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga6-260x174.jpg)
![Organizers said the crowd was 3,000 strong. (WTOP/Keara Dowd)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga8-260x174.jpg)
![](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga4-260x174.jpg)
![Thousands gathered in D.C. to practice yoga on the National Mall Sunday, May 19, 2019. (WTOP/Keara Dowd)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga6-260x174.jpg)
![Despite sweltering temperatures, thousands brought their yoga mats to the National Mall on Sunday, May 19, 2019. (WTOP/Keara Dowd)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga2-260x174.jpg)
![Temperatures were hovering in the upper 80s, near 90 on Sunday, but that didn't stop these yogis from holding a session on the National Mall. (WTOP/Keara Dowd)](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga3-260x174.jpg)
![](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga5-260x174.jpg)
![](https://wtop.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/yoga7-260x174.jpg)
The free class was put on by Metro DC Community Yoga, which had over a hundred instructors and 30 area studios participating.
It was first started 14 years ago by Debra Mishalov, owner of Flow Yoga Center in D.C.
“It’s always good when we get together and come practice yoga outside, especially in this iconic place where so many people have gathered,” said Mishalov.
The 3,000 participants flooded the front of the memorial, and stretched down the sides of the reflecting pool. Krystal Jordan took up yoga to join a community, and is now a teacher.
“No matter where you’re coming from, no matter where you are in life, once you’re done with a class, you feel different,” Jordan said.
Maggie Grant helped organize the event, and she says that yoga and D.C. have a lot in common.
“Our nation’s capital’s motto is ‘E Pluribus Unum,’ out of many, one. And that’s Yoga,” said Grant.
“We don’t talk politics, were all here as one,” she said. “And that’s what’s important.”