Wanderlust Festival: Limitless

Posted by admin on 7/29/12 in Inspiration, Community

By Hannah Bechard

DAY 1: YOUR BODY IS A PAINTBRUSH, PAINT SOMETHING NEW

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Beautiful people,

My veins have been pumping with such ecstatic energy. The altitude may be partly responsible for this, but I would like to say the majority of this dynamic current has just been charged by you! Today has been a very observant day for me, as I am sure it has been for you as well. Day one has been fresh, new, and crazy exciting. My observations this gorgeous Thursday have been as refreshing as a cool drink of Squaw Valley tap.

Smiles. Gentle, warm smiles. Let's keep this up! This community that we are building is divine. Social inhibitions melt away as you pass by happy vendors, volunteers, amazing practitioners, speakers, musicians, and the like. And that is just it, these next four days are shared experiences that will wander through us and continue on like a bullheaded tumbleweed.

Rhythm. As I walked by the Lucy tent, I was lucky enough to catch the tail end of the practice. Janet Stone was leading the crowd in a soulful chant accompanied by DJ Drez. The mountain air carried the tune through the trees, crevices and through my heart. The connectivity that ignites us through rhythm and voice is stirring and magnetic.

LOVE! Lots of it. I was lucky enough to jump into Jason Nemer's "4 Aspects of True Love". By the end of class, I felt as if I was a walking valentine: I was oozing with love. We practiced giving and receiving love through the art of thai massage. For me, it was the ultimate leap into the festival. The act of being vulnerable is downright frightening. Though, it did not take long for me to realized how empowering it was to open myself up to human touch. I believe our souls act as vital organs that are all too often susceptible to fear, judgment, and criticism.

Luckily, all these emotions quickly molt as we spread our wings wide and take flight here at Wanderlust. Challenge fear with love.

As Jason puts it, "Imagine you are at one shore of a river, and your beloved is on the other side, and you are looking at this beloved...and finally you take the leap, and your start swimming through the river and the river is cold, and there are piranas in the river, there are all these gnarly things that are not comfortable, not easy, but you do it because you are swimming towards that connection, so the seperation is what creates the potential to be strong in your love...swimming through the river, that is what love is...it's the process of moving through your fear and moving closer and closer to someone else, or something else".

I encourage you all to swallow this backdrop we call Squaw, breathe deep, copious amounts of this balanced mountain air, and spread joy through this loving community that we can assure our neighbors, still exists. As Jason noted, now is the opportunity to use our bodies as a paintbrush and paint something new. Our canvases are forever expanding.

DAY 2: TANTRA: REACH OUT AND TOUCH THE NEW YOU

740 Jonny Kest and Anne Marie Kramer: two individuals who have a clear understanding surrounding anything tantra. Jonny invited everyone to simply discuss. All you brave yogis and yoginis spoke up and provided answers: “the path of acceptance”, “using joy, sorrow, and the mundane as a way of becoming aware”, “the union of opposites”. Along with this collective definition, Jonny explained the balance of the centralized word: “tan” meaning to expand, and “tra” beyond your old limitations.

The energy of the LifePower Yoga space immediately electrified. Johnny and Anne Marie took us through a free flowing vinyasa warm up. The Squaw pine became a beautiful focus point for our drishti while in spinal twists. The warm up lead us into a full out dance party igniting the power to expand beyond our old limitations. As the music silenced, we came back to a meditation. This moment of reflection allowed us to appreciate the steps we were making along each of our tantra paths. Expanding from fear to love: a truly direct experience.

741 As the class increased in intensity, we remained collective by connecting with our neighbors. As we held each other up into boat pose, mental and physical tensions rose, but so did the powerful ability to push through it. With so much focus on our inner experience, the Zuda Yoga assistants broke the tension with their powerful touch and careful assisting, meeting each student in their current asana.

DAY 3: RIGHT WHEN I WAS THINKING TOYOTA JUST MADE CARS...

743 Everyone here at Wanderlust California is getting seriously creative. Toyota set up camp at the base of Squaw with all the right ingredients for a retreat. From hair braiding, to the tranquil tea room, festival goers have been filing in and out all day!

744 The interactive “tweet for good” campaign includes both a physical intention, and one that goes viral. The combination of hash tags, and chalkboards really manifests the intention, and immediate good is shared by $2 going towards a chosen non-profit. Donations today were provided to Off The Mat Into The World. Founders Seane Corn (@jerseycorn1) and Suzanne Sterling (@ssterlingmusic) have sculpted a mission to use, “…the power of yoga to inspire conscious, sustainable activism and ignite grassroots social change”. And what a way to do so! Follow OTM on twitter at @OFFTHEMATYOGA. It’s been great to follow the #toyotagiving trend on twitter. Here were some of my favorite intentions set by you all: