Aspen. Where the beer flows like wine and where yogis from all over the world gathered over Fourth of July weekend to attend the Wanderlust yoga festival in Snowmass, Colo.
The Wanderlust festival offered a range of classes from Acroyoga to blacklight yoga to meditation and self-reflection, all of which were offered against the backdrop against the picturesque Rocky Mountains. While I wanted to dive right in and take some aerial yoga classes and try some acroyoga, I determined that it was probably a good idea to start gradually since it had been almost half a year since I have practiced yoga.
But that doesn’t mean that I didn’t think about yoga.
I decided to take four classes the first day of the festival all thirty minutes apart, and I went to my first class with a positive mind and stiff legs, ready to take on “open your heart and take flight” blacklight edition.
Upon my arrival to class, I received a blacklight marker to decorate my body, a neon string to adorn somewhere on my body, and an emailed playlist from the DJ. I was surrounded by people who glowed in their white and neon outfits, and as class began, I really had no idea what I had gotten myself into. The class name, “open your heart and take flight” didn’t refer to finding your true self in child’s pose for an hour and a half, instead it referred to a class full of handstands and arm balances and I was completely unprepared. However, as the class continued and I got used to the nonexistent lighting, I became confident in my yoga skills that just needed a little dusting off, and believed that I might be able to accomplish the difficult poses such as grasshopper or side crow.
Despite a valiant effort, I wasn’t able to conquer the grasshopper pose, but throughout the class I bonded with my neighbors as we fell over in our crow poses and gave high fives when one of us accomplished a handstand or some other super complicated pose and by the end of the class, I made a bunch of new friends and completed zero poses, but I was far from discouraged.
This weekend at Wanderlust made me feel especially grateful to live in a state with such beauty, and to be able to practice yoga in a place that exudes so much magic. Even though some of the classes I took were at a more advanced level of yoga, I came to realize that yoga is not about successfully accomplishing a pose (although it’s a perk), yoga is about the journey it takes to successfully accomplish a pose, and the people and feelings you encounter along the way.
I left Snowmass with more flexibility, more Lululemon attire that I probably don’t need, and the ability to put granola bar connoisseur on my résumé, but more importantly I left Snowmass with more gratitude and appreciation for the place we all call home.
Photo by Pablo Tsukayama for Wanderlust Festival
Keen on more Wanderlust Festivals? The Squaw Valley festival starts today. Get there!
