Yogis of all levels are invited to welcome summer under the open sky at Get On Your Mat For Mental Health, which will be held June 20, in downtown White Plains, on Court Street, between Main Street and Martine Avenue. Check-in is at 5:30 p.m. for the hour-long yoga flow, which will begin at 6:30 p.m., taught by Sarah Platt-Finger, the co-founder of ISHTA Yoga and the private yoga teacher of Dr. Deepak Chopra.

Hosted by the Mental Health Association (MHA) of Westchester, Get On Your Mat For Mental Health is an annual, community-driven event featuring mindfulness, meditation, movement and music, all for a good cause: raising awareness of and support for behavioral health issues and services while illustrating the positive impact of yoga on mental wellness. Proceeds benefit MHA, a community nonprofit serving 12,000 adults, teens and children each year through an array of person-centered and recovery-oriented programs and services.

By getting on their mats alongside hundreds of others who are passionate about wellness, participants send a message to the community that #MentalHealthMatters, event organizers say. Participants’ collective physical movements are intended to be more than just synchronized stretches and poses; they are part of a movement to end the stigma that so often surrounds behavioral health issues.

“Yoga is often referred to as a physical practice, but it is just as much a practice for the mind as it is for the body,” Platt-Finger says. “In fact, the ancient traditions of yoga see these two as being inextricably linked. When we experience yoga, we experience embodiment of all that is available to us in the present moment—images, thoughts, sensations and feelings—and we merge them into one unified state of consciousness.”

Platt-Finger teaches trainings, workshops and retreats internationally with her husband, Yoga Master Alan Finger. She is also on the board of directors for Exhale to Inhale, a nonprofit organization that teaches yoga to survivors of domestic violence.

Admission is $30 for adults and $15 for children under 12. The first 125 registrants will receive a free tank top courtesy of White Plains Hospital. To register and learn more, visit MHAWestchester.org.