Summer is my season. When the weather turned over the weekend, and the sting of September was in the air, I admit I felt heartsick. My season was so short, and so weird this year. I didn't quite get enough. Never even made it to the beach!But, September is here and yoga nation is back. My impromptu dog-days hiatus from blogging is over (you can even need a vacation from blogging and from Twitter), and I'm ready for a fall season of yoga news, yoga quirks, and yoga love. Watch for my upcoming piece on YogaCityNYC about celebrity yogis! Up next week. In this space, I'll have news from the American Viniyoga Institute (where I'll be over Labor Day), plus a video of John Friend trying slackline yoga, an interview with the makers of the next yoga film---and more, folks, and more, and coming your way....Namaste!
Wanderlust Not Woodstock; Props from NYTimes
A bristling bouquet of Wanderlustees arms raised in high lunge. That's what you see on the front of today's NYTimes Arts section, some high profile coverage of yoga's rock'n'roll bonanza last weekend in Lake Tahoe. What's more, John Friend and Duncan Wong front the pack of sun drenched yogis gathered for class at the top of Squaw Valley Mountain to put their arms vigorously in the air. (Love the headband, no-shirt, sunglasses, crushed straw hat look of yogis practicing outdoors. See the physical paper today and the multimedia show on the Times' site.)
For all those likening the festival to Woodstock Festival from 1969, the yoga at least has a pretty updated feel to it---even if joints were also smoked in the non-yoga hours. (And according to my sources, the Kula village had an almost bougy vibe at times, Burning Man flashbacks (for some) notwithstanding.) Wanderlust 2009, Woodstock 1969 Reconciling the inner rocker with the outer yogi wasn't a problem for most people says the Times ---and most people I've talked to who were out there. In fact, I'd wager that strict righteousness that keeps yogis from rocking out (literally and metaphorically) only describes a few yogis these days, not the majority. That's just some kind of bad hype that's been hanging around. Shiva Rea rocks out on the main stage. All color photos by Jon Hyde for NYTimes. The Times article points out some of the downsides of the festival---the head-scratching combo of indie music (and its fans) and yoga (with its devotees).
“Frankly, when I heard about it,” said Mr. Bird, the singer and multi-instrumentalist who was a headliner on Sunday, “my first reaction was, is that going to work, because some of the bands don’t exactly spell inner peace, musically — nor do I, lyrically.”
The rapper, Common, who replaced the sick Michael Franti last minute, was too lewd for some yogis, and some musicians such as Kaki King could not get their heads around the yoga angle.
“I’m not going to do the hippie dance,” said Kaki King, the Brooklyn-based guitarist and singer who performed early on Saturday on the mountaintop stage. “I’m going to put shoes on and I’m not going to drink any mold” (a reference to kombucha, a fermented tea). And, she continued, “I’m not going to do any yoga.”
Mold! We love mold. But even if it wasn't all peace and love, the true spirit of yoga and love of a good time shone through for most. Gregg Gillis, the mash-up artist who performs as Girl Talk, and whose shows resemble a raunchy spring break party, is about as far removed from peacefulness as possible. But many festival-goers said they got the same rejuvenating charge from raucous dancing as from mindful breathing.
“These are audiences with open minds,” Mr. Gillis said. “Even if they’re not into it, they’re not there to critique it. And if they like it, they’re not embarrassed to get into it.”
The future is looking bright for Wanderlust, which almost broke even in its first year---in the middle of an enormous economic depression. Not bad, not bad. And 2010? Well, they are "already considering expanding Wanderlust next year, to three events on three mountaintops."
Yes, those hills will surely be alive with the sounds of yogis and music.
Wanderlust Could Be Yoga's Burning Man, says Ashley Turner
Yoga ticket sales at Wanderlust are closed as of Saturday afternoon, though tickets for music are still available. The yoga is hot, hot, hot!In fact, Wanderlust is smoking hot, says Ashley Turner, LA native and bi-coastal yoga teacher who spent Friday and Saturday hanging with yogi friends at the festival's yoga village.I spoke to Ashley this morning. Because of a scheduling snafu (she had to teach down in SF on Sat), Ashley didn't end up teaching at Wanderlust this year. But she did attend the Friday night VIP party for teachers, artists, and sponsors, as well as the launch part for YAMA (yoga artists management agency. Yes, I know!!!! Weird!)
"Wanderlust is just a very cool idea. I don't know why we haven't had yoga conferences like it before," says Ashley who includes live music in her Friday night classes at the legendary Exhale Center for Sacred Movement, in Santa Monica. She sees the blend of yoga and music as the way of the future. "I just had time for one class, and I practiced with John Friend under a big tent in the yoga village right before sunset. The breeze was going with that hot summer air. It was amazing to practice in the elements like that."
LEFT: John Friend sees a woman crying during his session. She's joyously moved. From Ossumnis on TwitPic. RIGHT: Yoga Tree tent, Janet Stone class. From Phyzzyoga on TwitPic. Turner didn't have time for any of the big-ticket music events, so I asked her what the scene was like in the yoga village.
"The yoga village was amazing. Most of the teachers and a lot of the participants are staying in the village. You literally walk out the door and there are tons of restaurants and shops. Then at night with bands playing it had a Burning Man edge to it."
"There were people in costume, on stilts, it's a whole other artistic edge happening. That vibe adds another dimension to yoga, too. It's like the mystics and wanderers wandering around us. It was so magical. My favorite thing was being with all of my peers from throughout the country converging at one point. All my best friends were there." Schuyler and Jeff [Wanderlust organizers] really nailed it. “This is the next generation of yoga."
Adi Carter Reports from Wanderlust
Wanderlust poster
I caught up with Adi Carter, of Acro Yoga and Mindfulness Challenge fame, as she was waiting to board a "gondola" to the top of Squaw Valley Mountain to see Commons---Michael Franti's replacement act---perform some Saturday night magic.Carter's favorite moment so far at the jam-packed festival was doing yoga on the VIP deck at the top of the Squaw Valley mountain.
"It's a pretty cool place to do yoga," she says, "different from being in a little room" as she has been down in the yoga village. (VIP ticket-holders only get to experience sweeping views of the Valley, its terrain and forests, as they practice on the deck at the top of the mountain.) Adi practiced back to back Saturday morning with Duncan Wong of Yogic Arts and then John Friend, founder of Anusara Yoga.
"Yeah, Duncan Wong was pretty cool," Carter reports. "He blasted Justin Timberlake. Then, in Warrior 1 pose, he turned on the hip hop super loud and told everyone to dance. We just broke out." "Wong is super knowledgable and a little crazy. That's a great combo."
Aside from rockin' it out with yoga celebrities on the VIP deck, Carter has been teaching Acro yoga in the Yoga Village, where most of the yoga classes have been held. "I've been teaching slack line down in the jungle gym, romper room. It's pretty cool." On Sunday, says Carter, the Acro Yogis might string a slack line across the swimming pool in the VIP area. I guess that might turn out to be slack line aqua yoga.
Stay tuned for more from Adi and others at Wanderlust this weekend.
India Patents Poses
This from a 2005 article from the London Telegraph. Dated, but still news: outraged that Americans and Europeans are making money off yoga, India started a project to record and patent 1,500 yoga poses.
This argument has been bubbling beneath the surface for a long time: who owns yoga?
Are Americans like Baron Baptiste and John Friend really corrupting yoga? Or, as with Western interpretations of Buddhism and meditation, are they reviving the practice as well as putting their American twist on it? Would yoga be so popular in India today if it hadn't first caught on in America? After all, yoga was nothing to get excited about 50 years ago.
Hmmm...