what style of yoga do you teach?

Vinyasa Flow, Hatha, Restorative, and Prenatal.

how did you get started with yoga?

While completing a BA in Cultural History and Eastern Philosophy I discovered BKS Iyengar's "Light on Yoga" in the library. Completely intrigued, I signed the book out and started a home practice. Two years later I found myself travelling in India and studying yoga - this was 16 years ago!

who/what are your biggest teachers?

Wow, this is a big question. Some of my most influential teachers to date are Mary-Jo Fetterly, Crystal Pite, Rhoda Pitcher, and Christine Selda. The deepening of my yoga, art, dance and ceremonial practice has been such a powerful teacher in my personal awakening and curiosity of body-mind-spirit integration. My greatest teacher to date has come with the birth of my amazing daughter, Desa Rose, who is 19 months old.

other than yoga, what are you passionate about?

Dancing, painting, ceremony, sailing, gardening, spending days with my family in nature, going on retreats, travelling.

what sort of classes are you planning for whistler?

I am really looking forward to teaching four very different classes that will draw upon my training and background in vinyasa flow, meditation, pranayama, and shamanic practice. I am so excited to be working with musicians such as Shaman's Dream, DJ Drez, DJ Urn, and Steve Gold. I am also leading a hike that includes meditation and shamanic ceremony at the top of the mountain.

whose classes are you excited to take at wanderlust?

Seane Corn, Sianna Sherman, Chris Chavez... I would love to practice with everyone if I could!

one thing people don't know about you?

I have sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.

Learn more about Mara on her website or go here to learn more about Wanderlust Whistler.

While my yoga teacher has been drilling the concept of non-attachment into my brain for the past few years, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have some pretty serious expectations for an awesome time. Is it even possible for 4 days of yoga, music, meditation, mountain hikes, farm-to-table dining, and organic wine tastings not to be incredible? I didn’t think so either.

what i'm excited about

Although I’m looking forward to almost every aspect of the experience, here are a few things that I’m especially excited about (in a non-attached kind of way):

1. The morning meditation hike I signed up for with Garth Stevenson (whose album I’ve been obsessed with for months).

2. My Saturday afternoon Love, Light & Flight: AcroYoga Therapeutics class. The description reads: “In this class we’ll teach you how to base and fly Therapeutic Flying postures that will elevate your massage experience to new heights.”. Amazing.

3. Winderlust! A local wine and beer tasting after a long day of bandha work? Sign me up.

4. Taking my practice outdoors—nothing beats the warmth of the sun in savasana.

5. Allowing yoga to be my #1 priority for 4 straight days. YES.

how to follow along

I’ll be posting about my journey here on the blog, but here are a few other ways you can follow our Wanderlust Vermont journey:

Daily updates on our Youtube channel.
Frequent tweets via @lululemonlive.

What are you doing on August 23-26, 2012? The first-ever Wanderlust Festival in Canada is taking place in Whistler, BC, and we couldn't be more stoked to be hosting this huge yoga and music experience in our own backyard.

what is wanderlust?

Yoga. Music. Dancing. Mountains. Put all those together and add amazing yoga instructors, top musical acts and DJs, inspiring speakers, and your friends, and you've got the basic ingredients for a Wanderlust weekend. Feel free to improvise on this recipe to create the weekend of your dreams!

There are four Wanderlusts in total:

Stratton Mountain, Vermont - June 21-24, 2012
Copper Mountain, Colorado - July 5-8, 2012
Squaw Valley, California - July 26-29, 2012
Whistler, British Columbia - August 23-26, 2012

Yoga. Mountains. Need we say more? (photo from Wanderlust 2011 c/o Tom O'Neil)

yoga teachers at wanderlust whistler!

Here are the teachers that will be moving you through four days of downdogs and sun salutations at Wanderlust Whistler, including many from our ambassador family!

Baron Baptiste
Eoin Finn
Janet Stone
Lisa Black
Tina James
Anne Marie Kramer
Danielle Mika Nagel
Reno Muenz
Maria Filippone
Rameen Peyrow
Tiffany Cruikshank
Clara Roberts-Oss
Meghan Currie
Julia McCabe
Mike Nichols
Nico Luce
Cameron Gilley
Sjanie McInnis
Jeff Mah
JP Tamblyn
Ichih Wang
Mara Branscombe
Kevin and Hali Mcquillan
Chris Chavez
Carina Raisman
Ryan Leier

view a timelapse of the wanderlust experience

what you need to know (in a nutshell)

1. Wanderlust Whistler is taking place Aug. 23-26, 2012
2. Tickets will be available February 21 here: www.wanderlustfestival.com
3. All other details about who, what, where and when can be found here.

'memba last year?

Squaw Valley Wanderlust 2011: A Summary
Exploration at Wanderlust Vermont

Mark your calendars, grab your friends and see you in Whistler!

My first class of Wanderlust was lead by the wonderful Amy Ippoliti. The Tahoe air was still Vinyasa-scarf chilly when we started class at 8 a.m., but by 8:30 the heat was building both on and off the mat, and by 10 I realized a) I did not pack enough sunscreen and b) I need to up my water intake.

Amy lead us through a light-hearted Anusara class that had us laughing with her instruction to "pretend you're laying an egg" and that slowly and steadily opened different sections of our body towards Sun Dial, the peak pose. She did it so skillfully that before I knew it, my right foot was in my left hand over my head and I was doing it for the first time ever! #yogabreakthrough

Amy and a row of Sun Dial demos

then things got deep

In the afternoon I took Deep Hip Openers with Stephanie Snyder. The first thing she did was explain that our hips are like junk drawers -- where people store experiences they're not sure what to do with. We worked our hips in all directions, starting with gentle hip circles (where we channeled our inner pole dancer) to Double Pigeon and Hanumanasna (aka the splits). I left this class feeling new space in my hip joints and also completely zen.

the people i met today

Natasha works in the design department at lululemon. She's been doing yoga (mostly Vinyasa Flow) for about 3 years and recently became a certified teacher.

mat neighbours

One thing that I think doesn't happen often enough is getting to know your mat neighbour. After all -- these people are right next to you during the intense and vulnerable moments that inevitably happen in a yoga class, and sometimes they even support you during poses like handstand. You might as well introduce yourself, right?

The lovely woman beside me in the first class is named Michael, and it turns out she's an ambassador at our Carmel Showroom and her daughter also works for lululemon. Michael teaches Vinyasa Flow and is currently taking Anusara teacher training.

Nestor is originally from Costa Rica, but now lives in Folsom. He's an electrical engineer at Intel, has been doing yoga for two years, and came to Wanderlust to share with like-minded people and get back into yoga.

in a line-up together

This is Mike. He was next to me in the line up for the 1 pm class. The only thing I know about him is that he runs an online yoga publication called Flow Yoga Magazine and he's from California.

vancouverites

Amanda's from Vancouver! She works at a local company called Mara Gottler Designs, is in her last semester at SFU, and is a new Power Vinyasa yoga teacher.

I also ran into our ambassador Carolyn Ann, who gave me some pre-Wanderlust tips.

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wanderlust quick facts*

Ratio of women to men = 7:3
Current % population with feathers in hair = 18
Projected feather density % by Sunday night = 62
Number of people with tails = at least 2

*totally unscientific

Tomorrow's yoga menu includes Seane Corn, John Friend, and a meditation class. See you in the morning!

♥ Alana

Are you in the first few years of a yoga practice like I am? Do you live your life in a whirlwind of work, friendships, family and everything else in between…and sometimes feel tired and overextended when your head hits the pillow? If this sounds like you, I highly recommend heading with a few close friends to a weekend festival like Wanderlust.

Primarily focused on yoga + music, Wanderlust Festival (held in a locations across the U.S. each year) is a wonderful blend of all things designed to nourish to your body, mind and spirit. I was lucky enough to attend this year’s Wanderlust in Stratton, Vermont, and I have a couple of key learnings I’d love to share with you.

1. variety of classes & quality of instructors

Can you say Rodney Yee-Colleen Saidman-John Friend-Seane Corn-Elena Brower ten times fast?! If you are a beginner yogi trying to take your practice to the next level, this is the PERECT forum. Not only are you practicing with some of the top instructors in the world, the variety of classes is staggering. In our all too fast-paced daily routines, sometimes we count on what is tried & true instead of venturing into, for example, a deep-breathing Kundalini class. At a weekend like this, you have so many opportunities to try new styles of yoga and you might surprise yourself with what you like. Anusara and I are now BFF forever!

2. go with friends

After opening your heart, hips, and well, everything over the course of four days, I guarantee you will have some of the most authentic, powerful conversations of your life. The girls and I talked about goals, health, relationships and more – and they were some of the most honest, warm and impactful conversations I’ve had in years. We also laughed & danced our butts off – my face was as sore as my hamstrings when I got home!

3. trust your body

As always, who we are on the mat is usually who we are off it, too. I came into my weekend in Vermont thinking I couldn’t do certain poses. A few classes in, I discovered that if I just tried to perform them, I could do them. Were my poses textbook? Or the deepest stretch in the room? No – but they were still the poses, and it was me doing them. I took this realization back to my home studio in Vancouver and my shifted perspective has me doing things now I wouldn’t have dreamed of three months ago – both in & outside of class.

4. go with an open mind & heart

There is literally something for everyone at a festival like this. From getting feathers woven into your hair to palm-reading to music of all kinds, there is a lot to do if you need to take a break from asanas. I had never heard Krishna Das sing and, to be honest, I probably would have said “he’s very talented but it isn’t my cup of tea” had I heard him before. However, after seeing him perform live at Wanderlust, I listen to him at home all the time when I’m relaxing & making dinner. An added bonus: when you come home and find a red feather tickling your shoulder during a day at work two weeks later, it’ll stop you dead in your tracks and make you giggle!

If you are looking for a retreat from your daily routine, want to deepen your daily practice and love exploring, check out a weekend yoga festival. You’ll leave lighter, more centered and ready to return to your life with a spring in your step and a renewed intention.

want more?

• top 10 wanderlust must-haves
• be sure to check back for Alana's daily recaps from Wanderlust Tahoe.

upcoming wanderlust yoga festivals

• Wanderlust Tahoe – Inspired Gathering
• Wanderlust Santa Monica – Yoga In The City
• Wanderlust Tahoe – Wanderlust CA
• Wanderlust Seattle – Yoga In The City

What is the Wanderlust Festival?

It's a yoga / nature / music summer getaway. The yoga and music experience will emerge this summer in Squaw Valley Lake Tahoe, California. From July 24-26 this innovative festival will bring together rock star yoga teachers and current top performers in rock and roll. What could be a more invigorating than waking up to Janet Stone and Rusty Wells and topping the bliss off listening to Spoon?

There are different passes to purchase depending on your preferred flavor. The Seeker ticket gets you into key yoga classes and the Troubadour ticket is for those interested in the full music experience. All passes get you into the Kula Village which will feature vendors, the farmers market and restaurants. During the evening hours the village will become an entertainment hub of burlesque, fire-dance, acrobatics and DJs.

lululemon athletica will be at Wanderlust providing amazing fit experience, education and laughter. Andrea Hehr, Megan Gathers and Meghan McCrea will be attending from the SF Grant Store. There will be team members from a handful of other Bay Area locations participating in activities as well. Look forward to seeing you there!

Want to learn more? Check out their website!