A new kind of meditation?

This morning I went to the market, and I saw a group of people doing some new kind of activity.

I usually park my car and then cross a small park to go to the market. In that park, there are sometimes people doing taichi/aerobics, and people playing games (a group of foreigners playing cricket, if not mistaken). Today when I reached the park, there was a group of middle-aged men and women doing some stretching.

On my way back, they had formed a row facing the bushes. (a zig-zaggy one, since the bushes were a  bit zig-zaggy) Each had their hands in front of them, palms together. The bushes were a bit taller than the average human, so they were each fully facing the bush, and fully blocked by the bush (if you're on the other side, of course)

As I walked past, I heard one of them (presumably the leader) saying, "Not just here, but people all over the world are doing this now!" And then, "Some people do this for at least half an hour!"

So does that mean that they are supposed to hold this pose for as long as they can? Strange activity... but if it's being done all over the world, maybe I'll hear about it some day...