SPOTLIGHT FESTIVAL: Yoga on the Mountain

by iana velez | Feb 5, 2023 | ARTICLES, Festivals

SPOTLIGHT FESTIVAL: Yoga on the Mountain

Sept. 28-Oct 1, at The Lodge at Magazine in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas

FESTIVALS

Looking for something to do this Fall? 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 Krista DeBuhr, Founder of Yoga on the Mountain Festival (YOTM) in Arkansas who we are thrilled to partner with! As a special exclusive gift to our community, save 10% on your ticket purchase via code YOGALOVE10% off tickets: one day, two day, three day and all 4 days.

What inspired you to create a festival?
Unite the Arkansas yoga community. As yoga was growing, I felt the energy of an event would keep the momentum and inspire people to live healthier, more fulfilled lives. People come from all over the Southwest. YOTM was in Aspen/Snowmass for 3 years (2017-2019) before the pandemic.

What makes your festival unique?
It’s small, intimate, and the event lodge, cabins and trails are nestled at the top of the mountain without other businesses or housing. The moment you turn up the windy Ozark hills, it feels like home. The gathering feels like family.

What offering/presenter or class are you most excited about for this year’s event?
We are excited it’s YEAR 10 and I love the variety and social events we are able to offer with so many local teachers: Sunset Social, Farm to Table Picnic, Opening and Closing Jams, Meditation, Sunrise Flow, Highest Point Hikes, Music themed Power Flow, Handstands, YIN, Mala Making, Writing, Sound Bath, Restorative, Yoga Nidra + live guitar, massage, Yoga Therapy, and more!

Learn More:

https://www.facebook.com/yotmfestival
https://www.instragram.com/yotmfestival
https://www.yotmfestival.com/

Festival Spotlight: Catskill Mountain Yoga Festival

by iana velez | Jan 24, 2023 | ARTICLES, Festivals, Profiles

Festival Spotlight: Catskill Mountain Yoga Festival

PROFILES

FESTIVALS

Looking for something to do this Summer? 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 Raegan Reed, founder and coordinator for the Catskill Mountain Yoga Festival who we are thrilled to partner with this July 22, 2023 (Rain Date July 23, 2023). Learn more about the festival here and pick up your FREE copy of Yoga Love Magazine at the event!

What inspired you to create a festival?
Several years ago Northface reached out to me to see if I would host a yoga retreat at Plattekill, for their employees. I was so excited. In the end, the weather turned bad and the company canceled their retreat. I was disappointed, but it gave me the idea to start offering special “Yoga on the Mountain “ classes in the summertime. People would get to ride the lift to the deck at the top of the mountain and I would lead yoga classes there.

Soon after that, I had people contacting me about bachelorette parties and morning yoga before their weddings. It was pretty cool and I thought, hmm…I’ve got something special here! Then I got thinking about all the amazing yoga instructors right here in upstate NY. We are so lucky to have so many amazing teachers here and people were loving the yoga on the mountain classes. My classes always sold out

Another part of this story includes my past as a yoga, dance and fitness instructor.I own The Cardio Club and Delhi Dance Studio. For a decade I would go to these large dance and fitness conventions in NYC or Philadelphia. I loved them and I would take classes all day! It was a dream come true! I thought that someday I would like to create something like this for my community.

I also do a lot of fundraising and events for my community. I am the chairperson for the Delhi Children’s Christmas Fund, I was the founder and president of the Catskill Ladies Association to support and inspire for ten years, the president of the Greater Delhi Area Chamber of commerce for four years and one of the founding members and President of the Delaware Academy PTA. Through these organizations I have gained knowledge and strength in event planning. I love working with my community, bringing joy to people and connecting people too! This helped me find my way as a festival coordinator.

Long story short, after the yoga on the mountain classes were such a big hit, I decided to take a leap of faith and host a yoga festival at Plattekill mountain. The first festival was scheduled for July 2020, then rescheduled for September 2020 when Covid hit. Of course, the September event never happened either. It was the height of covid and people were afraid to gather! we had to cancel the event for 2020, which was pretty devastating, but we bounced back and brought on the fun in July 202, the event was a success! Everyone loved it!! We grew and were even better in 2022 and plan to be the best fest yet in 2023! All of our Catskill Yoga Fest community love us as much as we love them! They keep bringing back more friends and family to join in the fun! We hope that rings true for 2023 too!!

What makes your festival unique?
We bring together instructors from all over the country, but many of these amazing folks reside right in New York State! There were so many amazing instructors in the area. I knew I had to bring them together! Another highlight of the fest is its location. It is located at Plattekill Mountain Ski Center. There is a deck at the mountaintop, which is a special place to practice yoga! It is a humbling experience. Participants ride the lift up to the top and get to practice in the clouds! We have classes for every BODY! Everything from restorative yoga, to focus on inversions, aerial yoga, yoga trapeze and everything in between! We have a hike led by the president of the Catskill Mountain Club, an amazing vendor village, awesome workshops, practitioners and plant walks too!

What offering/presenter or class are you most excited about for this year’s event?
It is hard to highlight just one! All the instructors are unique and bring something very special to the fest! We could not do it without them! Kelly Kamm, a world renowned Yogi, will be headlining the fest with her Mythical Vinyasa and fun, quirky style!

www.catskillmountainyogafestival.com
@catskillmountainyogafestival
www.thecardioclub.com

FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT: Front Range Yoga Festival 2023

by iana velez | Nov 29, 2022 | ARTICLES, Festivals, Profiles

FESTIVAL SPOTLIGHT: Front Range Yoga Festival 2023

PROFILES

FESTIVALS

Looking for something to do in June? 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 Rosanne Lockhart, organizer of Front Range Yoga Festival who we are thrilled to partner with! We are thrilled for this exclusive discount for our community: use Yogalove15 (Starts: 1/1/2023)

What inspired you to create a yoga festival?
Ten years ago, at the Telluride Yoga Festival, I laid in savasana while a girl with purple hair played “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley on the harp. Before that moment I liked yoga but after that class, I knew that yoga would forever be a part of my life. Five years ago, I moved to a small town in rural Montana and shortly thereafter I got my 200 hour YTT certificate with YogaKoh and started offering classes. The town, Choteau, was so responsive and grateful to have access to yoga that I thought this would be the perfect place to host a yoga festival. It was inspired by my experience at the Telluride Yoga Festival and the apparent need for yoga in rural Montana. And plus, I just thought it would be fun to do! Choteau is also a perfect location because it sits along the inherently beautiful Rocky Mountain Front Range and it is equi-distant to Missoula, Kalispell and Bozeman.

What makes your festival unique?
The Front Range Yoga Festival aka Yoga Fest is unique because it has a very home-grown and down-to-earth essence to it. Choteau is a town of about 2,000 people and it is surrounded by mountains, farmland and ranches. When you’re here, it somehow feels like time slows down. There’s no rush, no traffic, and nothing to worry about other than choosing what class to go to next. The Yoga Fest team rents spaces throughout downtown Choteau, we turn them into studios, and then we run classes Friday through Sunday. There is a ton of class variety and all the studios are walking distance from each other. We don’t have big city amenities, but we have a few charming restaurants, great little shops, and a welcoming atmosphere. And most importantly, we offer high quality yoga classes by high quality instructors! We also like to encourage people to explore the nearby reservoirs and adventure into the mountains while you’re in town.

But what really makes this event special is the people—it’s the yogis who come back year after year, connect with one another, all while deepening their practice. It’s also the townspeople of Choteau who welcome the yogis with open arms by keeping special restaurant and shop hours to accommodate our guests. It really feels like a group of new and old friends having a yoga family reunion every 2nd weekend of June!

What offering/presenter or class are you most excited about for this year’s event?
This year I’m most excited for Jimmy Wheeler! Jimmy teaches at The Practice Power Yoga in Bozeman and I first came to know about him on Instagram back in 2019. He has a beautifully strong, graceful and creative practice. Watching him over the years has been inspirational and we are pumped to have him teach at Yoga Fest 2023!

Learn More:
@FrontRangeYogaMT

Spotlight Festival: Kentucky Yoga Festival

by iana velez | Oct 18, 2022 | ARTICLES, Festivals, Profiles

Spotlight Festival: Kentucky Yoga Festival

PROFILES

FESTIVALS

Looking for something to do in May? 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 Emma Swendsen, the event manager of Kentucky Yoga Festival who we are thrilled to partner with in May 2023. Check out this amazing festival and make sure you pick up your free copy of Yoga Love Magazine while you are there!

What inspired the creation of the festival?

The Kentucky Yoga Festival was inspired by the desire for community connection and co-creating a space for radical transformations. We saw our Kentucky yoga community wanting more opportunities to immerse in soulful connections and deepen their yogic practices. We believe that when you change yourself, you change the world so we set out to co-create this space with the kentucky yoga community and bring forth the opportunities for growth and change our community needs.

What makes your festival unique?

We like to say that the Kentucky Yoga Festival has the heart of a retreat with the soul of a festival. It is a place for beginner and advanced practitioners alike to come to learn, connect, and heal. We are a family friendly event with kids yoga and playshops in the Sprout Garden and something for every age and phase of the journey. We lean into all branches of yoga and seek to have something for every family member to enjoy even if they didn’t come for the yoga itself.

What offering/presenter or class are you most excited about for this year’s event?

There is too much to be excited for! Something that has me buzzing going into our 5th year though is welcoming new instructors who began their yoga teacher journeys at the very first Festival in 2019. There are many returning instructors with new offerings that we are excited to be sharing as well in addition to phenomenal vendors, artists, and musicians.

Instagram: @kyyogafest
Website: kyyogafest.com
Ticket Link: kyyogafest.com/get-tickets

Festival Spotlight: Vegandale Fest

by iana velez | Sep 27, 2022 | ARTICLES, Festivals, Profiles

Festival Spotlight: Vegandale Fest

By iana velez

PROFILES

Vegandale

Looking for something to do this Sept? We are thrilled 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 Jenna Owen, from Vegandale festival taking place Sept 24th in NYC at Randall’s Island Park.

Your name and role in the festival
Jenna Owen, and I am the Marketing and Communications Director for Vegandale.

What inspired you to create a festival?
Vegandale was founded and is led by steadfast abolitionist vegan, Hellenic Vincent de Paul, who has significant live event experience. Hellenic has hosted performers and celebrities such as DJ Khaled, LeBron James, and countless others. Hellenic began attending various vegan events, noticing they were all the same, with a farmer’s market vibe and rooted in environmentalism and/or plant-based eating. The messaging used was never about the animals, and the events were, quite frankly, boring. He saw this as an opportunity to introduce a vegan experience that breaks vegan stereotypes with a focus on ethical based messaging in an epic party environment.

What makes your festival unique?
What makes Vegandale unique is its contrasting vibe to veg fests and food festivals. It has been described as ‘Coachella meets SXSW’ with a defiant twist, due to our unapologetic messaging and major party vibe.

What offering/presenter or sponsor are you most excited about for this year’s event?
Vegandale New York is our flagship event that we look forward to every year. We are expecting over 200 vendors with nearly 50 coming from as far as the Philippines, which makes it a very unique opportunity for people to try new and innovative products they may not otherwise. This year we introduced over 40 new art installations that have been extremely popular amongst attendees for photo opps. We actually have a contest running right now where people who take a photo with our artwork and use #vegandale are automatically entered to win a free trip to our LA event in October.

Learn more:
Instagram: @vegandale
Tickets: vegandalefest.com/newyork/tickets

YogaLove Magazine - Vegandale Festival - Vegan Food

Spotlight Festival: PlayThink

by iana velez | Sep 5, 2022 | ARTICLES, Festivals

Spotlight Festival: PlayThink

FESTIVALS

Looking for something to do this June? 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 Paige Zen, Founder & CEO of PlayThink Festival who we are thrilled to partner with and share complimentary copies of Yoga Love Magazine. Thank you Paige for offering an exclusive promo code for our community: YOGALOVE will provide 10% off tickets for this event.

What inspired you to create a festival?
I was a professional hula hooper and wanted to learn how to up my skill. I had exhausted the local and regional options for instruction and decided to start an event where we brought in proficient instructors in not only hula hooping but a wide range of modalities. PlayThink, 12 years later, is still an amazing festival for skill-sharing!

What makes your festival unique?
PlayThink has a massive amount of “playshops” where you can learn just about anything – all while being in an environment that is family friendly and sober. A festival you can bring your kids and your grandparents to? That’s almost unheard of! A festival where folks focus on getting to know themselves without the veil of alcohol? Even more unheard of! For these reasons alone, PlayThink is incredibly unique. Add in that folks feel seen and heard in a radically un-judgemental way, and it’s simply heaven.

What presenter or class are you most excited about for this year’s event?
Our application process doesn’t close until January 15, 2023 so I’m unsure of who will be presenting for our next installment but there are some AMAZING applications and the music line-up is set up to be one of the best! I suspect, as usual, we’ll have a wide variety of movement, music, and healing workshops by some of the most renowned instructors in the nation. From laughter yoga to slinky arts, unicycling to beatboxing – there’s a little bit for everyone!

facebook.com/playthinkfest
instragram.com/playthinkfest
playthinkfestival.com