The Great Namaste

UPDATE 7/10/2014: We're officially sold out, but you can still come to Pioneer Courthouse Square to watch. Just before the record, if there is space, we'll release a small, final batch of tickets. See you tomorrow!

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Make History This Summer:
Set a Guinness World Record
With 697 Close Friends

Think back—for just a moment—to a time in your life when you’d just accomplished something incredible with a team of people you admire and respect.

Maybe it was finishing a big project at work or winning a game with your sports team. Maybe you built something amazing with friends or family.

How did it feel—that moment you realized everything you’d hoped for had come to pass?

Today, we want to invite you to experience this feeling again.

This summer, 3,000 people will descend on Portland for the 4th Annual World Domination Summit. With so many amazing folks coming to town, we wanted to find a way to bring our attendees together with Portlanders to accomplish something both meaningful and memorable.

What better way to do it than with a world record?

If we said you could be a part of history just by coming out and doing yoga in the warm summer sun with a big group of fun people, would you believe it?

Actually, you probably would. You seem like the adventurous type who understands great things can be accomplished by having fun and working together.

With that, I’d like to welcome you to The Great Namaste.

What It's All About

India is the home of yoga. It also happens to be the home of the world record for “longest yoga chain” (people doing the same pose in succession—think of it like doing the wave at a baseball game).

At 8:30 AM on Friday, July 11th, you'll join your fellow WDS attendees and local Portlanders as we team up downtown at Pioneer Courthouse Square to bring that record to Portland!

It will take 697 of us to swipe the record away from India. Are you up for it?

We couldn't think of a more fun way to connect WDS to the city than getting hundreds of people from all over the world together with Portlanders to hang out in our famous square and break a world record.

A fun event like this is the perfect marriage of community and adventure—two of the core principles of WDS. Even more, it’s the best way we could think of to kick off a weekend.

In the spirit of service, we’ll be working with local yoga-based nonprofits that serve the Portland community.

How To Participate

Just like yoga itself, The Great Namaste is open and accessible to everyone young or old, big or small, experienced or novice.

In fact, you don’t need to know or have prior yoga experience to participate. Come join us, and we’ll teach you what you need to know—simple.

As you can see, there’s a small cost of $15 to participate. Your admission fee includes a fun WDS yoga mat—no need to bring your own—and helps us to cover the cost of organizing the event.

What To Bring

The Great Namaste is a yoga-based event, so plan accordingly. You’ll be able to perform our poses in almost any clothing, but something stretchy or loose—you know, the stuff yogis wear—will be most comfortable.

What to bring:

1. Yoga appropriate clothing
2. Your photo ID (for registration)
3. A friend! It’s more fun to break world records with friends.
4. An adventurous attitude

There will be an unsecured storage area for personal belongings. If you bring a bag with your name on it (first AND last), we'll have a place for you to put it.

Waiver And Disclaimer (The Lawyers Said We Had To…)

There aren’t a lot of risks involved in an event like this, but the lawyers tell us we’re supposed to make it very clear that your participation is strictly “at your own risk.”

The World Domination Summit—and any of its affiliated partners or members—will not accept any liability for your participation. You'll be required to sign a legal waiver at registration in order to participate.

Lastly, we're going to do everything we can to break the record, but we can't 100% guarantee it will happen. We need everyone to show up! In the unlikely event we don't break it, we'll plan to try again.

Questions And Attempted Answers

Some of the most popular questions (and their attempted answers):

Is it okay if I don’t know how to do yoga?

Yes. Whether you’re a seasoned pro, a beginner, or hardly know what yoga is, you can be a part of The Great Namaste. Our instructors and volunteers will show you everything you need to know to participate, and we’ll have a round of practice as a whole group. We’d love to have you join us for this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

What if I don’t have a yoga mat?

This is no problem at all. Your entry fee includes a yoga mat, and you can take it home with you when you’re done. As a bonus, you’ll never have to ask, “What if I don’t have a yoga mat?” again.

Can I use my own mat?

We'll be providing mats for everyone and arranging them into a color-coded art form (you know, to make our world record attempt even more awesome). To preserve the quality of the production, we’ll be asking everyone to use our mats. (But we're sure your mat is awesome, too.)

Will I have fun if I don’t know anyone there?

That’s kind of the whole point. This is an inclusive event where participants are coming from all over the world -- and their goal is to have fun and break the record just like you.

If you want to meet some new friends, this is a great place to do it. Or, if you just want to come be a part of the fun without feeling the pressure to socialize, that’s possible, too. Yoga really is for everyone.

Will the weather be good?

This is Oregon, so we can’t promise anything. But we can’t remember the last time it rained on July 11. No really, we can’t remember at all; so we looked it up. The average rainfall for the month of July in Portland is 0.08 inches. That works out to less than .0026 inches for July 11.

In other words, we expect it to be quite dry!

Will this actually work? Will you break the record?

Only if you show up! This is another variable we cannot guarantee, but we'll do everything we can to succeed. In fact, here’s a video of us breaking another world record last year with over 600 people on The Willamette River last year:

What's a yoga chain?

Good question! Think of it like doing The Wave at a sports arena, except with yoga. We’ll get 700+ people together in a line and as the person to your left completes a pose you begin yours. We’ll do several different poses to ensure we break the record. And, of course, we’ll teach you all the poses beforehand.

Where will I put my stuff?

We’ll have a storage area for you to leave a small bag of personal items. Make sure you come with your bag marked, and please leave anything very valuable at home. We’ll have volunteers watching the bag area, but it will not be fully secured.

Can I bring my friends/family?

Please do! Just make sure they have a ticket so we have a mat for them. This a “fun for all ages” event, and the more people you bring, the bigger the record and, of course, your sense of pride!

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All tickets to The Great Namaste are non-refundable and non-transferable. If you get a ticket and aren't able to come, however, please let us know—unless we hear otherwise, we'll be counting on every ticket holder to show up to help break the record.