My mind is still bursting from all the incredible energy, learning, and inspiration I received last weekend, when I was lucky to attend the very first Tadasana Festival in Santa Monica, California, with the 3-day pass I scored from itsallyogababy.com. My full recap and photographic extravaganza is coming soon, but until then, I thought I would share a top 10 list of highlights that made Tadasana Festival ROCK (in no particular order, because that would be too hard to decide!):
1. Community Hugs– At Tadasana Festival, public contact was not only acceptable, it was enthusiastically encouraged. Many of the classes I attended included group hugging, high-fives, and loving assists during yoga asanas. The yoga community of love was at large.
2. Kickass Yoga Teachers– Ok, my line up of teachers included Shiva Rea, Seane Corne, Jennifer Pastiloff, Amy Ippoliti, Kathryn Budig, Sara Ivanhoe, MC Yogi, Amanda Giacomini, Guru Singh, Hemalayaa, Parashakti, Kia Miller, Suzanne Sterling, Tommy Rosen, Steve Ross, and Elana Brower. ‘Nuff said! Well, I guess I’ll say one more thing: there were many more awesome teachers whose classes I wanted to attend, but I didn’t have the time. If I have any complaint about Tadasana Festival, it would be that it needed to be a few days longer so I could experience more!
3. No $10 Class Change Fees – At the New York Yoga Journal conference, we were made to pay $10 if we wanted to change a class! At Tadasana Festival, I was able to change classes and even attend more than the 3 daily classes included in my pass, as long as there was space. I can’t tell you how much this relaxed attitude made the festival that much more enjoyable and allowed me to create to a richer experience.
4. Beach– I got to do my Daily Downward Dogs for three days straight on the shore of the Pacific Ocean. The Tadasana Festival tents were set up on the beach, and when you walked outside of the classes, the view of the ocean, palm trees, and the ocean air was breathtaking (except on Sunday when it got a little chilly)!
5. Music– OMG, I don’t know where to begin. Attending yoga classes with live music is killer! And not only live music, but live music from artists like Wah!, DJ Drez, Guru Singh, Morley, DJ Cheb I Sabbah, Hassan Hakmoun, MC Yogi, The Toure-Raichel Collective, Karsh Kale, Manose, and Vishal Vaid. At night they had Tadasana After Dark concerts, and I got to jam out with Donna De Lory, Manose, C.C. White, and MC Yogi. I’ve got lots of great material and new artists to introduce for my Cool Yoga Music blogs.
6. Connecting – One of the things I love about blogging and social media is that I’ve had the opportunity to meet awesome yogis all over the world. My trip to the West Coast afforded me the chance to finally meet up face to face with some of my favorite yoginis – Joni, Adrienne, Dee, Lo, and Tracie, a dear old friend from my Cali days.
7. Awesome Staff– Everyone I encountered at Tadasana Festival was super friendly, helpful, and happy. The volunteers rocked, and there were people stationed inside the tents to help you find a space when classes got full, which was a really nice touch.
8. Trying New Flavors of Yoga– This was quite the trip to the ice-cream counter as I tried out some Kundalini, Trance Dance, Bhakti Vinyasa, Singing Yoga, and Acro Yoga!
9. Inspiration – Tadasana Festival Confession: I cried in several classes, but they were tears of absolute joy! So many of the teachers lifted my heart, raised my spirits, and helped me peel away layers of doubt and fear so I could realize what really is important…to follow my bliss. Be of service to everyone, and you will be happy. Quite frankly, I was moved.
10. Dancing – Any yoga class where you get to dance, or want to dance, on your yoga mat is a beautiful thing. My hips were jiggling to the awesome music in every class I took. I was blind-folded and danced freely for ten minutes in one, and in several of the classes we were cued to dance and let go!
11. “I can never stop at 10!” Food– This festival was a vegetarian’s dream come true. No fried Twinkies or corn dogs to be found at this fest; instead there were tasty raw vegan vegetable curry dishes, healthy green smoothies, healthy snacks and drinks at the vendor booths, and all you can eat Luna bars.
12. Earth Day Love – Very auspicious that this festival was held over Earth Day weekend. Green messages were everywhere, the trash receptacles were clearly marked for recycling with volunteers at hand to help you if you weren’t sure which one to use, and the theme of honoring and protecting Mother Earth was weaved into many of the classes and talks.
I’m lucky to have had many cool yoga experiences, and right now Tadasana Festival is definitely at the top of the list. I heard through the grapevine that Tadasana Festival will be coming to London, New York, and Brazil! I’m putting out the intention right now that I will make it to these international destinations for more yoga, music, community, and inspiration! Thanks Tommy and Fabian for dreaming and putting together such an amazing celebration of yoga, music, and community.
P.S. If you like my black Serene jacket it’s from the awesome folks at MPG Sport and it kept me warm and stylish all weekend long!
If you were at Tadasana Festival, please leave a comment and let me know what you loved about it!
Ah sounds wonderful I hope I get to attend soon!!!
This recap is all too cool!! Looks like you had a blast. Love the acro yoga pic!
Hola Amiga! Excellent recap–and I love all the pictures!! You did a much better job at photo-documenting the experience than I did. This was my first yoga festival, so I didn’t really have anything to compare it to, but I thought it was wonderful–left me wanting more yoga!
My favorite part of the whole experience (I volunteered for a day as well) was all the amazing people I met, other volunteers, students, teachers, musicians–everyone was so nice, open, and interesting!
Lots of love to you!
This was such a sweet read! Thank you for coming to class! Honored to be in your blog and hope to see you again. 🙂 xo Amy
Amy – honored that you stopped by and read my blog. I’ll be writing more about that awesome class I took with Elana and you on Sunday at the festival 🙂
Thanks for this beautiful recap of an awesome weekend! It was my first yoga festival and I can’t wait to do it again…I was totally re-booted from all the love, energy, music, food, juices, teachers…what a high-vibrational fest it was! I have become a new being, and I love,love,love this whole new world I have embraced.
Hope to see you in a class, somewhere, sometime soon!
Blissings,
Michelle in Sedona
Blissings – LOL – I love that and am so using it!!
Oh yes – all the healthy food and juice I sampled at Tadasana Festival really energized me too! Let’s stay in touch – would love to come out to Sedona and do some yoga!!
Wow!! I am blissful just reading about it. I am putting it out there that sometime I will be able to join you for Tadasana soon! So glad you got to go and can’t wait to hear about everything!!!!
We will dish about all of this at book club on Sunday – can’t wait to see you!
that sounds AWESOME. road trip next year?!?!
Well maybe not a road trip – that’s a bit far..or wait – maybe that’s not such a bad idea…we hit Tadasana first, then Hanuman on the way home and I’m sure there are a few other festivals on the way there and back we could hit!! Who else wants to come with?!
Wow – thanks for all the love yesterday! All time high for visits to the DDD! Sending out a big community hug!
Great pictures! Thank you for posting them. I am so glad you came because this event was definitely a neat way to sample many of the teachers in LA (and some others from far away). I only went on Friday but really enjoyed the three very different classes I took. Sean Corn, Elena Brower, and Dina Amsterdam. Even for those of us in the LA area, it’s difficult taking class from some of these teachers because of the long drive or hours conflicting with my work hours…etc.
It was refreshing to meet the new teachers and receive their message.
Funnily, many of the local yogis I know went on the one day pass… not sure why that is- maybe because we have the option to just drive home and pick the days we want to/can come. I really like how this festival felt quite laid back. Maybe Friday was a slow day… but it was pretty mellow, which I liked.
Even though we were moving our bodies & tiring ourselves out, I felt relaxed, open, & my mind mellow out. My drive to Santa Monica was rushed, hurried, as I was anxious about parking & getting a spot in class (which was not bad at all!), but my drive home was a much different experience. It was nice having a day to myself to do what I love. Looking forward to attending next year!
I loved that you shared so much of your experience, unable to make it to a festival, recovering from illness, i’m enjoying it thru all the wonderful people sharing.
Awesome
Love
Shea