Summer in Vermont…and California and Maine

I wonder what the late George Carlin would say about the life in the USA these days? I saw him perform years ago on a summer night in a large white tent at Vermont’s Stratton Mountain Resort and I’ll never forget how amazingly funny his accurate thoughts on politics and other subjects were.

I was just at Stratton once again. This time it was to work at Wanderlust, a four-day festival featuring a remarkable group of yoga and meditation instructors, musicians, speakers, chefs…and several thousand happy attendees. I work as a Traveling Section Manager. My two sections at Stratton included the “Mothership”  and “Lookout.” Here are a few photos I took:

The Mothership section accommodates 150 people. 16 classes, each lasting 90 minutes or more took place just in this venue over the four days of the festival.

These state-of-the-art classes were phenomenal. Instructors included Schuyler Grant, co-creator of Wanderlust presenting Kula Flow with DJ Seriousblack. At another packed event Schuyler led a relaxing Yin Class with music by Yotam Agam and Jeff Krasno (her husband). In this big room I also sat in on a Yoga Nidra and Self Knowledge presentation by the renowned Sri Dharma Mittra. An attendee told me Laura Imparato’s class here was “…on a scale of one to ten, a twenty!” And there were so many other great classes just here in the Mothership, including Liza Dousson’s wonderful “Gravity: A Thai/Yin Yoga Fusion Workshop for Teachers” where I got to be her partner as she demonstrated these relaxation techniques on me to the attendees (my pleasure to help :-)!).

The Lookout offered tremendous classes as well, often with participants spilling out into the carpeted hallway because they were so popular. My favorites here were many during the festival. Ashtanga Yoga with Peg Mulqueen was awesome.  Sam Chase, author of “Yoga & the Pursuit of Happiness” presented a talk and class with a wonderful compassion theme. I was honored to participate in a Meditative Yin / Gentle Flow class designed for breast cancer patients, survivors and their caregivers. The music was superb here, too with DJ Drez providing a cool track for Mary Beth LaRue’s “Yin & Yang Soul Revival,” and my good friend DJ Taz Rashid coming by here in addition to his many other venues. Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. I got a superb start to the day by rolling out my mat to participate in “Yoga for Runners, Bikers and Swimmers,” presented by Sally Sherman. All these magnificent events, and the Mothership and Lookout are just two sections out of almost 20 all over the mountain!

At night, my co-workers and I checked out some of the myriad of musical options at Wanderlust. Events I enjoyed ranged from relaxed open mic to big stage headliners and everything in between. I told members of Big Village Little City out of Brooklyn, NY I really liked their brass driven, hip-hop funk show, and they replied thanks can you tell others because they want to play more Wanderlust festivals. I hope they do, too.

St. Paul and the Broken Bones played Saturday night. They’re from Birmingham, AL and their front man Paul Janeway said this was their first visit to VT. They put on an excellent show, as any band picked to open for the Rolling Stones and also perform at Bonnaroo, Coachella, and Lollapalooza would no doubt have to be. I’m already looking to get their new release, “Sea of Noise.”

I have a new favorite “sport.” It’s Silent Disco! Here’s how it works: Picture a large crowd of people dancing outside on the grass. Everyone wears headphones with three channels, each connected to a different live DJ. Other people can see what DJ you’re listening to by the color – green, red or blue – of your headphones. If you’re smiling and dancing happily to, say, the green channel maybe I’ll check it out as well. After working all day I didn’t think I’d dance much, but then I put the headphones on :-). Instant energy and crazy fun!

The weather was ideal at Stratton, this magnificent sunset the fitting finale, but then the next Wanderlust festival is just a few weeks away in Squaw Valley, CA. Get all the details here. Squaw Valley Wanderlust will be big! I hope you’ll make it. I’ll be there, looking forward to seeing you!

And we’ll also be doing yoga this summer in northern Maine, just at the base of mighty Mount Katahdin. I’m looking forward to climbing Katahdin and will post pictures in this blog. Check out our Maine yoga retreats at http://www.sewallhouse.com.

Love and Peace,

Dave