Free summer yoga returns to Randall’s Island Park in New York City

Randall’s Island Park will bring back Yoga in the Park with weekly Saturday classes from July 11 through August 29, 2026, from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. The free outdoor series will meet at the East River Picnic Area, with New York City’s skyline and the East River as the backdrop for a steady summer practice.

NYC Parks says the classes are open to all levels and abilities and will be led by a local yoga instructor. No registration is required. Water and a limited number of mats will be available to borrow, but attendees are being told to bring their own mat if possible or arrive early to claim one. The park listing also invites people to come with a friend, a family member, or even a yoga-loving pet, which fits the loose, community-first tone of a class built for casual drop-ins as much as regulars.

That format is what makes the series work. It is free, easy to access, and set up to repeat every Saturday across most of the summer, which gives city yogis a dependable outdoor practice without the friction of a studio schedule. Randall’s Island Park Alliance says it hosts more than 300 free public events throughout the year, and its 2025 calendar included dance and yoga classes alongside festivals, cooking workshops, shoreline cleanups, and other volunteer projects. The alliance also says it is proud to offer free yoga and fitness programs and welcomes donations to help support them.

The Saturday series is not a new experiment. NYC Parks listed the same Yoga in the Park format in 2025, also at the East River Picnic Area and also on Saturdays, which makes the 2026 run look like a recurring summer fixture rather than a one-off add-on. Randall’s Island Park Alliance was established in 1992, when the Randall’s Island Sports Foundation began working with the city to revive the park, develop recreational facilities, maintain the grounds, and restore the natural environment.

For anyone looking to keep a summer yoga habit simple, Randall’s Island offers the cleanest kind of setup: show up at the East River Picnic Area on a Saturday morning, bring a mat if you have one, and let the free class do the rest.