10,000 Yogis Gather At Central Park (PHOTOS) (VIDEO)

Over 10,000 yogis filled the Great Lawn in New York City's Central Park yesterday evening. It was officially the world's largest registered yoga class to -- almost -- happen.

(PHOTOS, VIDEO BELOW)

The energy was festive even after the first few raindrops started coming down, precisely at the moment renowned yoga instructor Elena Brower began leading the practice.

Dharma Mittra led the crowd in a chanting of "Om" before Brower taught a single sun salutation before the Parks Department required the event be shut down for rain. "Twenty thousand hands and ten thousand hearts full of gratitude later, the rain poured down," Brower wrote today on her blog.

Not all was lost. Participants spent a couple hours mingling in the sunshine before the yoga itself began, enjoying one another's company and entertainment by musical performer Reggie Watts, and taking in the sheer scale of the experience.

"This isn't just a yoga event, it's a cultural event," said Mark Mangan, co-founder of Flavorpill, who hosted the event. Flavorpill's other founder, Sascha Lewis, is a longtime yoga student of Brower's.

"Take your practice home with you. Be in the moment. Celebrate life. This is what it's all about," he told the crowd of anticipating yogis, minutes before the rain.

The anticipation will just have to continue. A rain date has been promised for later this summer.

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