that, my friends, is what they call wanderlust, and the only way to describe this crazy magical festival is life-changing. i documented the entire trip with photos and notes so that i could share it with you guys, but my advice is to just do yourself a favor and go next year.
here is my attempt at the first in a 3-part recap series. i'm separating these parts by the days that we attended, starting with numero uno.
Day 1:
Class Schedule
Ganesh, Remover of Obstacles
Performed by MC Yogi
Vinyasa Forever
Taught by Schuyler Grant
(co-creator of wanderlust)
Air: Arm Balances that Defy Gravity
Taught by Desiree Rumbaugh
with live music by Todd Boston
my mom and i arrived at stratton mountain in vermont at 9:00 am on friday morning with way too many bags. we weren't exactly sure what to expect, so we brought snacks, a different outfit for every class (just in case), and 4 yoga mats. we went straight into the little village at the base of the mountain to register for the classes that we had already signed up for weeks prior to our arrival. we had each purchased the 'seeker package', which meant, for $500 (not including our room and food) we had unlimited access to all of the entertainment, live concerts and were able to attend up to 3 classes a day (the most that's allowed). we chose 2 classes a day to take together and then 1 that we would do on our own.
our first class that morning was located on top of a small mountain, in a massive tent known as saddlespan. the front stage and first few rows were covered by the tent, but the back of the class was wide open to the sun. over 150 people were signed up for the class, so we squeezed our mats together in order to make room. mc yogi introduced himself and his wife, amanda giocomini, and they began by telling us the story of ganesh, the lord of success and destroyer of evils and obstacles. he is also worshipped as the god of education, knowledge, wisdom and wealth. mc yogi began rapping while his wife instructed us through a fast paced vinyasa series, which peaked in several 'group positions'. bending forward in warrior 3, we were told to reach our arms to the left and to the right and link arms with our neighbors. you would think that we would only be as strong as our weakest link and go down like human dominos, but for some reason, it gave us an incredibly strong base and we maintained the pose for a few minutes.
and then it continued throughout the day...
we spent our afternoon with the amazing schuyler grant. holy cow, what a difference from our morning class.
over a hundred of us gathered in a large room inside the lodge and we listened to her as she discussed correct posture and common mistakes that yogis make. then we stepped onto our mats and went through a blur of a vinyasa as schuyler chanted poses to us in a poetic rhythm, "updogdowndoginhalexhalechattarungaagain". she flowed between our mats, adjusting us, literally and figuratively, as she passed. if i felt her looking at my right thigh, i would move it, just in case she was thinking, 'why the hell is that girl's right thigh like that?'. there was something about her that made me feel like i needed to do better. she taught us how to protect our shoulders by loosening our trap muscles when we are holding our hands above our heads. there is this belief that we need to be rigid and pull our arms out of the sockets to reach perfection, but that's not the case. from the shoulder to the elbow, our arms should be relaxed and in their sockets, but from the elbow up through the hands is where we really lengthen. she taught us how to protect our knees and watch for hyper-extending, which is very common for yogis. when we are standing in balance poses, we shouldn't lock our knees- there should be a slight micro-bend. the strength and the base comes from tightening your quads up and into place. try it. it's genius.
we also spent a serious amount of time on alignment- she taught us how hips need to be tucked under and slightly forward for both warrior 1 and 2. this prepped us for our saturday class with natasha rizopoulos, who would take these instructions even further (but ill get to that later). overall, i really learned a lot from schuyler, and that one class with her has definitely improved my form.
my third and final class of the day was arm balances. at this point, i was already exhausted and completely running on excitement because, as you already know, i love me some arm balances. my mom opted out of this class, so i headed back to the saddlespan tent, where i had had my yoga break through earlier that morning. again, over a hundred people attended, but looking around the room this time, i noticed more men scattered about. for the first time that day, i started to get a little nervous- maybe i shouldnt have signed up for an intermediate/advanced class like this. maybe everyone here can do handstands. maybe they are all looking at me and can tell that i cant. paranoid much? it was strange to be so uncomfortable, because yoga is usually the one place where i feel like i can be myself. but our teacher, desiree rumbaugh, immediately put me at ease with her bubbly personality and sweet sense of humor. she climbed on stage, explaining how arm balances should technically be easy because, in actuality, our divine selves want to fight the gravitational pull and float away, so if we can just let that happen, then boom, crow pose will follow. she made everything sound so simple, as she twisted her body into crazy shapes and let her legs float up into the air- then she would pause, challenge all the boys by shouting "you're not gonna let a girl show you up, are ya?", come back down and say "now you try". so we did.
we tried crow and crane, side crane and dragonfly, 8 limbs, firefly... every arm balance pose you can think of... i was able to successfully hold all of them with her helpful cues and techniques, but i was most psyched about dragonfly. i wanted to do it again and again, but she interrupted our class and asked "how many of you are perfectionists?". i looked around the room and noticed almost every single person had their hand raised (mind, included)... she continued, telling us that most yogi's are. we strive for perfection and thats the driving force behind arm balance poses. wanting to get it just right, but the truth is, we never will. desiree said thats the beauty and curse of yoga- perfection doesn't exist. poses are different for everyone and technically there is no right or wrong way. i found that really interesting because over the next 3 days, i would be told to tuck my hips under, then no, point them out, straighten my back, but with a slight curve, turn 45 degrees to the front while staying parallel to the side...each instructor had their own cues for how to "correctly" find my way into a pose. of course, there are better ways to prevent injuries, to get the most out of your practice, and to cater to your own body, but it was a real 'ah ha' moment for me. and the best part about this class? i learned a bunch of new party tricks, like this one... :)
