When I blogged about the Wanderlust Festival back in June, it did not look like we were going to be able to make it. Fate changed and how I’m happy it did.
After a 4 hour drive, getting out of the car to give yourself a stretch and a breath of fresh air always feels good. When your destination is Lake Tahoe it’s about as good as it gets. The air is crisp with the smell of pine and stars as vivid as you remembered last time you left the city. Our new friend and house mate Alice pointed out the constellations and we felt this is the way to start a weekend of wanderlusting – sore and tired from a long week cut short, yet curious and exhilarated by the possibilities ahead.
The Wanderlust Festival was a first of it’s kind. A majestic effort imagined by couple Jeff Krasno and Schuyler Grant (he a music exec and she a Yoga teacher) to bring together what they felt would be an ideal scenario. A festival with the best in Yogis and hippest of indie music artists as nature would have intended. Our volunteer status meant we really got to enjoy what I felt was the best in all worlds for an event like this. We were up early by choice in order to get to the first class of the day, which was lead by Anusara founder John Friend. He didn’t waste any time letting us know that we weren’t there just to hang out. Wow. I felt pressure, in the most gentle way of course, only to find later on that the two hour class which pushed me was a level one.
We worked under the hot sun for the better part of the day on Friday. It was certainly a far stretch from the summer fog we’d been grown accustomed to in SF. Sunscreen was liberally applied to our fair city skin and we checked the badges of hundreds of participants of the next few classes into the early evening. Enjoying the magic of Shiva Rea taking it “Off the Hook” with a circle of drummers and yogis dancing under the Yoga Tree tent in the heat. After, gathering around on the side with friends to sit and watch John Friend and Christina Nones take the int/advanced session to close out the day. Just as we were leaving the village, it was rumored via Twitter that Michael Franti was hospitalized. Later on, the facts came out that his appendix had ruptured and that he was in fact cancelled.
Saturday we somehow found the energy to get into one of the funnest classes of the weekend with Sianna Sherman, Kenny Graham and MC Yogi in a packed to the patios class in great story telling of Hanuman mixing it up with a blend of old school hip hop, complete with beat-boxing when technical difficulties showed late for breakfast. Taking refuge up the Gold Coast Funitel to the 8,200 level we caught the Gillian Welch and David Rawlings show. The vibe was great. I don’t know that I have ever been to a music venue were it seemed everyone there had the best intentions of having a purely good time without too much pretense. The setting was amazing to boot. Small patches of cloud shaped snow covered shadowed patches just above the tree line. The sky was a pure mountain blue.
Later on in the day, I found myself over at the Yoga Tree tent again with Les Leventahal’s class. Ginger had introduced me to him earlier and we asked him if he’d be interested in showing bayshakti some love with an interview. He was very generous with his time and energy considering he had just finished teaching to a class of a hundred students.
All in all it was an amazing weekend. For me, it was more Yoga than I usually pack in for two weeks. The music was varied and wonderful. Common stepping in for Michael Franti to headline Saturday was a well received move by the organizers. We had seen him once before in a far different setting – downtown Richmond Virginia, but the guy knows how to hold the space and rock the crowd – an excellent showman who really loves what he’s doing when he’s on stage. The people we met were genuinely sweet and so happy to be a part of something this special. For a first attempt at something this different, they must have felt up against a lot. The logistics of controlling people on with the lifts, different stages, and hierarchy of passes had to be incredibly hard to manage, yet like all fun times, everything fell in it’s right place.
Thanks to all the organizers, volunteers, artists, and yogis who coalesced to make this happen.
- Les Leventhal teaches at Yoga Tree in San Francisco
- Amber Fields music and film can be found at her site: Amberfieldmusic.com
- Michael Franti is up and roaming the halls of the ‘Caesar Salad hospital’ vlogging about his recovery
Related posts:
- The Wanderlust Music and Yoga festival at Squaw Valley is coming soon
- The Wanderlust Festival returns for 2010 to Squaw Valley in North Lake Tahoe
- Village Anusara at The Wanderlust Festival 2010
- Wanderlust Festival Photos, 2010
- The 11th Annual Power To The Peaceful Festival is coming to San Francisco
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