The world of yoga is a great place for seekers, as evidenced by yesterday’s second annual Yogi Roots Festival.  Yogi Roots, our own Portland yoga nonprofit, worked hard to bring together teachers and students from very different traditions. Participants could choose from active ashtanga, quiet yin and lots in between.

 

There were a lot of highlights of this all-day event. But here are a few that stood out for me.

 

Julie Lawrence

Iyengar was the first style of yoga I ever fell in love with. And Julie Lawrence was one of my early teachers. I didn’t study with her for very long, but she made a big impression and I admired her a lot. Also, when I lived in Baton Rouge in the 1990s, there was no Iyengar teacher. I used to frequently practice to her yoga cassette tape. It was fun to take her class and hear her voice again.  She is a master of clear and precise direction.

 

Bossanova Ballroom

I’d never been to the ballroom before. It is gorgeous! Long red curtains separated the ballroom from the snack area. The organizers yogaed up the place with altars featuring Ganesh, Buddha and Nataraj. And the ceiling was one of the best yoga ceilings ever. I enjoy opening my eyes during savasana and contemplating ceilings. This one is painted dark red with gold metallic trim. During Karen Lerner’s Jivamukti class, East Forest played live music and a disco ball bounced light crazily over teacher and yogis. What a treat to watch the green and pink disco lights swirling around that ceiling during savasana.

 

Leigh Drake

Leigh Drake, who owns Unfold Studios, taught a fabulous yin class. It was crowded, but somehow it felt nice to all be in those quiet, relaxing poses so close together. Leigh is a lovely person who knows her stuff.

 

 

 

Debate on Gurus

What’s a multi-lineage yoga fest without some spiritual and philosophical debates? The topic of gurus came up in several different sessions. Presenters had a fascinating range of experiences with gurus. Swami Chetanandana, director of the Nityananda Institute,  said only about one person in two billion doesn’t need a guru to reach enlightenment. Some teachers focused on finding the inner guru. Nitai Deranja, the founder of Living Wisdom Schools and a devotee of Paramahansa Yogananda, addressed the situation of having a guru who left his body before Deranja was born. Which brought up the question, does a guru have to be alive? And does a guru need a body to be alive? Intriguing.

 

Bhakti

Matt Nelson gave an interesting and accessible presentation on bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion. Matt’s practice is Chaitanya Vaishnavism, which considers Krishna the supreme godhead. This is different than most sects of Hinduism, for which Krishna is an avatar of Vishnu. So what is the vast appeal of Krishna? Matt said that the blue-skinned, flute-playing, milkmaid-teasing Krishna plays so hard he forgets he’s god, and is thus more approachable for devotees. Matt’s not ashamed of being biased toward Krishna over the other Hindu gods. “Bhakti is about bias,” says Matt. “Love is about specificity. If something’s formless, it’s hard to love it.” And Krishna does have a beautiful form.

 

Food

 

I’m not someone who likes to skip meals. So I was thrilled to hear there would be an interesting line-up of local food purveyors, most of which I hadn’t sample. I considered it my writerly duty to try something from everybody.

Roshambo makes veg organic Indian food. I was disappointed they hadn’t brought any hot sauce with them, but I can highly recommend their pumpkin chutney to top a curry.

 

Pixie Retreat Raw’r Laboratorie & Makery offered raw pizza and raw tacos. These looked good but you can only eat so many entrees in the middle of a nonstop day of yoga. So I settled for trying a sample of their coconut-based caramel pudding, which is amazing. You can get their products at local co-ops and New Seasons.

 

 

I was especially excited about Kilikina’s Chocolat, a brand new local chocolatier. Owner Kristina Pescatore made her public chocolate-selling debut at the festival. She moved to Portland last year from Austin, where she studied chocolate making from ChocoSutra. She’s been selling to friends and preparing her website for online ordering. At yesterday’s festival, she brought three flavors of chocolates: spiced pecan, goji heart and peppermint “cream” patty. The base of the first two is Ecuadorian cacao, while the peppermint patty is coconut-based. She uses ingredients like spices, Himalayan pink sea salt, honey, maple syrup and essential oils. Since it’s my moral duty to support such a charming new business, I tried both the spiced pecan and the peppermint patty. Both were delicious and had that special feel of something handmade with love. While they looked professional, they weren’t entirely uniform. When I picked a particularl peppermint, Kristina said, “I like that one, too.” Ah ha! She does have a personal feeling for her individual chocolates. Just as I’d suspected.

 

To drink, participants could buy kombucha from SOMA Evolutionary Refreshment or a wide variety of juices from Portland Juice Press. SOMA features raw, organic, probiotic drinks in flavors like cherry chai. Portland Juice Press specializes in delivering juices to people for juice cleanses for people. They mix in surprising ingredients like romaine, cilantro, jalapeno and sweet potato. I tried way too many samples.

 

Here’s hoping there are many more years of Yogi Roots Festivals to come!