SPOTLIGHT FESTIVAL: TAHOE YOGA FESTIVAL

SPOTLIGHT FESTIVAL: TAHOE YOGA FESTIVAL

Festival Spotlight: TAHOE YOGA FESTIVAL

August 13th, 2023
South Lake Tahoe, CA

FESTIVALS

Bend Yoga Festival - Group Photo
Looking for something to do this August? We are thrilled yoga festivals are back and can’t wait to check out all the amazing events taking place around the world. This week we had a chance to connect with Hillary Atalina, partnerships and talent manager at the Tahoe Yoga Festival taking place in South Lake Tahoe, CA who we are thrilled to partner with! You will be able to get complimentary copies of our magazine at this festival! 

What inspired you to create a festival?
I’ve always found inspiration through the collaboration with passionate individuals. When Jess came to me with the idea of building a festival, I didn’t think twice about working on this project with her. She has shown me that bringing ideas to life is possible with determination, humility, and imagination. I am thankful to be working on this event with a badass group of women and to be influenced by these movers, shakers, and dream makers that make up the TYF team.

Jess Broyles, owner of OMNI Tahoe yoga studio, is the visionary behind the festival and she envisioned the festival as a transformative journey bringing together the power of yoga, music, mindfulness, and community. According to Jess, “My goal in creating the Tahoe Yoga Festival is the same as the goal for our studio and many other events I am involved in, to invite community members into a positive, non-judgemental, and fun environment while supporting our local businesses as a collective.”

What makes your festival unique?
The location! The festival is located on the Heavenly Mountain Resort, right in the heart of South Lake Tahoe. To access the festival, guests take a gondola ride up the mountain overlooking the beautiful Lake Tahoe. Guests also have the option to explore the mountains surrounding trails, blending yoga and nature.

What offering/presenter or class are you most excited about for this year’s event?
We are hosting some of the region’s most influential teachers and presenters. I am especially excited to see Yoga Trade Founder Erica Hartnick lead a discussion on creativity and community.

Bend Yoga Festival - Logo
SPOTLIGHT: THE NACHAN PROJECT

SPOTLIGHT: THE NACHAN PROJECT

SPOTLIGHT: THE NACHAN PROJECT

By: Gina de la Chesnaye

PROFILES

Bilingual Meditation

The Nachan Project, founded by Gina de la Chesnaye, brings mindfulness-based practices to the women and children of the Karamojong tribe living in the Katwe slums of Kampala, Uganda as well as humanitarian aid, psycho-social support, public health advocacy and capacity strengthening. They also offer trauma informed trainings to social workers, street counselors and caregivers in East Africa. We asked Gina to share with us some of the photos of the people who have inspired her and their thoughts on LOVE, along with her own.

What was the inspiration to create The Nachan Project? 
Well, honestly I think the women and I found each other. I had been invited by my friend and colleague, Allan Katteba, who is a local social worker to visit the slums and see for myself what was going on. After spending many days in the community Allan asked me to offer some basic practices for trauma and resiliency. After that, I couldn’t walk away. The women named themselves “Gina’s Women of Uganda Group” which was very sweet and I was very honored, but I asked them to please name the group after someone important to them in their community. They chose the name Nachan, which means “someone who relieves the suffering of others.” This organization is devoted to breaking cycles of suffering.  

How do you stay inspired to continue this work?
I remind myself to get out of my own way. I had no one to protect me or help me when I was sexually abused as a child, but I did, and do have resources that include basic human rights, access to food, clothing and shelter as well as education and employment. The women have none of that. My meditation, yoga and martial arts practice has saved me again and again from intense pain, and that’s why I have dedicated the majority of my life to this work. These women have no resources, but they do have their bodies, the connection of their mind to their bodies, and to each other. This is the essence of practice and of sangha.

I also visit at least two to three times a year to continue training the staff, and to share practice with the women while also working on public health advocacy, and shooting a documentary of their lives.

The theme of this issue is LOVE, can you share with us what working with your Nachan Project community has taught you about love?
The women are my driving force. They are our sisters, mothers, daughters and grandmothers and I refuse for them to be forgotten or discarded. Love means seeing and being seen by each other, as well as ourselves, with respect and dignity.


Learn more: thenachanproject.org

BILINGUAL MEDITATION

BILINGUAL MEDITATION

BILINGUAL MEDITATION

By: Chanty Cohen
Photo: Edson Smitter

PROFILES

Bilingual Meditation
Empieza a notar tu respiración. 
Begin to notice your breath. 

Comienza a sentir como tu pecho se infla y contrae.
Start to observe the rise and fall of your chest. 

Inhala, eleva tus hombros a tus orejas. Exhala déjalos ir. 
Inhale, raise your shoulders up to your ears. Exhale, let them go. 

Empieza a notar el espacio en que estas.
Begin to notice the space where you are at. 

Nota que esta presente en tu vida, y permite que pase.
Notice what is present in your life and allow that to happen. 

Ahora, vuelve a tu respiración, y continúa notando como puedes controlar tu respiración. Iguala el largo de tu inhalación con tu exhalación.
Now, come back to your breath, and continue to notice how you can control your breath. 

Match the length of your inhales with your exhales. 

Con cada respiración que tomas traes una vida nueva a tu cuerpo.
With every breath you take you are bringing new life into your body. 

Mientras concluimos esta meditación, toma un momento de gratitud para tu cuerpo. 
As we end this meditation, take a moment to bring gratitude to your body. 

Gratitud por estar aqui, por poder respirar. 
Gratitude for being here, for being able to breathe.

Inhala gratitud. Exhala, expande ese sentimiento dentro de tu cuerpo.
Inhale gratitude. Exhale, expand that feeling in your body. 

Recuerda que en cualquier momento de tu día puedes acceder a tu respiración para traer paz y gratitud a tu día.
Know that at any moment of your day you can access your breath to bring ease and gratitude to your day. 

Inhala gratitud. Exhala, expande ese sentimiento dentro tu cuerpo. 
Inhale gratitude. Exhale, expand that feeling in your body. 

LOVE SPOTLIGHT: Dharamsala TC

LOVE SPOTLIGHT: Dharamsala TC

LOVE SPOTLIGHT: Dharamsala TC

PROFILES

BIG BEAR YOGA FESTIVAL
To celebrate the release of our print issue themed LOVE, we reached out to our amazing community to share with us a few thoughts on love. This week we celebrate Dharamsala TC  in Michigan and founder Kay Epple. Dharamsala TC is “a women owned and operated yoga studio in Traverse City, Michigan. Our story is rooted in a desire to share the beautiful benefits of Yoga + Mindfulness. Dharamsala TC is a sacred space for everyone to feel welcome.

From the moment you first visit, you will sense the genuine warmth and vibrant energy. It is a collective passion for yoga and well-being shared by amazing teachers and students practicing here. The word Dharamsala means rest house or shelter. And that’s just what we offer to all who enter our doors. Our yoga studio is a place to spend time together soaking up the beautiful benefits of this practice.” Pick up your free copy of Yoga Love Magazine at Dharamsala TC today!

Share with us what you love about what you do:
I opened my studio, Dharamsala TC in Traverse City, Michigan in 2021 with  the intention of bringing community-practiced yoga back to my community. All of the studios in town had closed during the pandemic and I missed teaching in person and sharing the energy of yoga when practiced with others. Dharamsala TC serves as an inclusive sanctuary, a safe space, and a  shelter for all to practice yoga and learn the benefits of a lifelong practice.Through this dream my daughter Hilary Lee joined me as a co-owner and we grew to open a second location. While I love seeing adult’s faces leaving class with the look of yoga bliss on their face, I personally am most passionate about bringing yoga to kids. As the Dalai Lama said “If every 8- year-old in the world is taught meditation, we will eliminate violence from  the world within one generation.” I strongly believe in the emotional benefits of yoga, breathwork and mindfulness for children of all ages. We are teaching them lifelong tools that can be used on and off the mat for  overall health and well-being. I love providing children and families with  tools for living healthy, happy lives.

Share with us what you have learned about LOVE:
I’ve learned that the more love you send out into the world, the more love that returns to you. Love is such a positive force of energy that when you do things with love as the motivator you can’t go wrong.

What inspired you to support Yoga Love Magazine?
I support Yoga Love Magazine for many reasons, not the least of which is  that it represents real yoga, not a social media version of what yoga should  look like. Yoga is truly for everyone and Yoga Love Magazine highlights people of all cultures and backgrounds. I also love that your magazine is distributed for free!

BIG BEAR YOGA FESTIVAL
LOVE, ON THE RUN

LOVE, ON THE RUN

LOVE, ON THE RUN

By: Ingrid Baquero

PROFILES

Yoga on the Rocks

For some of us, the Etch A Sketch is a nostalgic reference. A classic tool where designers bring to life drawings based on the art technique of lineography (drawing without lifting the pen, with the turning of two knobs). Yoga Love Magazine met with the human version of the modern Etch A Sketch, Lenny Maughan. His canvas? San Francisco. His tool? Strava, a running app. His knobs? His legs. Say whaaat!?!

 

As a street artist, marathon runner, and yogi from the Bay, Lenny has been creating this unique art for over 8 years, bringing his imagination to the pavement and into Strava. Combining his love for running and drawing, Lenny brings joy to the community via his thoughtful and eccentric route sketching. For him, it’s not about the miles, nor the pace, it’s about the joy in the journey and the hitting that FINISH button to see the final piece.

 

Since his first sketch, “Spock” a Vulcan salute from March 2015, Lenny has been reimagining each stride month after month, consistently. Finding inspiration around him, and inside him to bring smiles through his IG account @lennymaughan. Strategically, planning each creative run, knowing his city in and out, and finding mindful movement in his practice.

We love to hear stories about people that inspire us through their creativity, and what drives their passion. Tell us about yourself. 
I’m a longtime resident of San Francisco. I lived in NY as a teenager, and that’s where I started running when I was on the track team in high school. I’m not a record breaker or anything like that, but I love running, and I’ve been doing it all my adult life up to this day. This morning, I did a little 5K around the city.

What got you into running?
It was a persuasive high school gym teacher. I tried out, and I made the cross country track team, and enjoyed that for a couple of years in high school.

Did you fall in love with running?
I’m more about the fun. It makes you feel good, and there’s a high associated with it. That’s what I noticed as a teenager, and that’s what I feel up to today.

How did this combination of running and creating art through routes come to be?
It was about eight years ago when apps started allowing GPS technology to track your movements, and it instantly became popular with runners, walkers, cyclists, and even swimmers – people who move and want to know where they were and what their stats were. So you can see visually what you did. Sometimes those stats would create a shape, by accident, of course, but you can also make them intentional. So I decided to begin with the end in mind and sketch something and see if it turned out exactly how I sketched it. I like to draw, so it’s kind of another way to draw for me.

I did the Vulcan salute as a test, a simple hand gesture, and it was successful. I thought, that’s pretty cool! Then I just started getting these ideas, sketching it out, running it very carefully. And as it turns out, I’m on a streak of doing one a month for many months.

I used to draw as a kid a lot and I noticed this GPS tracking technology, it basically is sketching out a route. And it makes me think so much of the old Etch A Sketch. For the kids out there: An Etch A Sketch is an old toy tablet with two dials on it, and you just turn them to make a line. So you start with one line, you can cross over, you can double back, but you can’t pick it up or move it somewhere else. And the idea is at the end, you have a work of art that you’ve made. It’s challenging, but that’s part of the joy in it.

I love how you connected the old school Etch a Sketch and a modern app. Do you decide to start the app and take off on your run and take your route, or do you have a route in mind? To actually take the time before your run to design, say a Vulcan salute, that takes a lot of time.
It really does. And thank you for acknowledging that because that part is the hardest part of the whole process. There’s a lot of sequences to do along the way, but designing it is a very big challenge. Sometimes it takes me longer to design something than it does to actually run it. But I’m up for the challenge. I’m determined if I have an idea of something, I’ll make it fit somehow. It won’t be perfect, but maybe the variation on it will be part of its charm.

How do you find inspiration for what you want to draw? 

I try to stick with things that are timeless that will be just as interesting 10 years from now than they are today. So I get inspiration from either one or two places. I’ll either look at a San Francisco map and something will pop out at me the way the streets are aligned, or I’ll think of a shape in advance and I’ll try to fit it on the map.

That’s very cool because even in San Francisco streets, the elevation is so high, and then you go low, so you are really working.

Yes, it’s a lot of work. Few people acknowledge that third dimension of the elevation. It’s not just a flat one place to another, but it’s up and down. Sometimes it’s up and down and up and down and up and down to accomplish a certain line.

When you decide what you want to sketch, do you test the route before you actually take off or do you map it out and then go for it?

I’ve lived here since 1996, and I run here all the time, so I’m very familiar with the streets and looking at a map, I know what that street is going to look like. So I plot it out on a map in advance very carefully, and I go through many iterations to get it just right. Then I use that as my guide or template when I run and I make very certain to be careful and not make a wrong turn because there’s no undo feature in this thing. I can’t undo the last mile.

Some of these images or creations that you make are like 60, 70, or 80 plus miles worth of time running. How do you do 86 miles? Do you stop along the way?
It’s not a race, so I’m in no hurry. The objective is to follow this path, running or walking fast or whatever as accurately as I can and not quit until it’s done. And for the design to look interesting, it pretty much has to go big. There’s no way around it. I could run around the block and say, hey, there’s Colorado, and that would work, but it would be short, and it wouldn’t be that interesting. So they just have to be big. I don’t design them to be long in miles, they just sometimes happen to be.

I take a lot of breaks, even yoga breaks, and I just pause the app. I pause it and restart, it and carry on from there. And sometimes I do this overnight. I’ll pause, go home, eat, shower, sleep, then go back the next morning to the same spot, resume and carry on.

How do you stick to the goal of finishing the design? 
It’s a mental game. So I think about how hard it was to make whatever inspires me. And that seems to keep me on to the finish line, literally.

You mention taking yoga breaks, how else has yoga been a part of your life? 
I do yoga every single day, and I do it with joy and with love. I like to do it early if I can, so that I can have the benefits last me the rest of the day, especially if I’m going to do a run afterwards. I find yoga before and after, sometimes just a short session, really helps a lot. So I don’t have injuries that are common to creep up now and then with other runners. I’m very grateful and thankful about that and very fortunate and privileged that I stay pretty much injury free. I don’t push myself too much. I’ve set my PR times for marathons, half marathons and such. Now I’m more about the love and the fun of it and taking my time to smell the roses, and it’s a beautiful thing. In my evolution as a runner and someone who does yoga, it’s no longer something that I need to be competitive with.

Have you had other people join you on runs along the way?
No, never. I made the offer, and a lot of people ask, and people have expressed interest, but they don’t show up. I tell them to just follow my steps. It’s easy. I’ve done the hard work. Just follow behind me, and you’ll make the same thing I’m making. But that doesn’t happen.

I like to design these in solitude. I like to be 100% original with it. My idea, my design. No one made any suggestions and I don’t even tell people what I’m going to do until I finish doing it. So it’s totally my baby. I’ve created it and done it without any input and I didn’t copy anyone else’s design, nothing.

Have you ever considered a route in a different city?
One thing that’s consistent with this is it’s all San Francisco. The drawings are all random things. There’s no connection. There’s no theme or anything like that, but they all are in San Francisco. So I like that thematic unity of everything in one place.

Here in San Francisco the streets are tightly packed, like a grid, so it makes it easy to find a shape in there somewhere. There are some shapes that can’t be done, but I like to challenge myself by putting something I imagine onto the streets and making it fit.


Learn more: follow Lenny on Strava and on Instagram @lennymaughan to see his whereabouts for his next run.

Yoga on the Rocks