My First Yoga Festival - City of Om

Hello Dear Friends!! Its been a while. And I'm sorry - but I've thought of you often <3

I wanted to write a little summary post of my experience last weekend attending Ottawa's first yoga festival - CITY OF OM!

When I heard that Ottawa was going to have its first yoga festival I knew I had to be involved and support those people who had this vision so I decided to volunteer. I have to say that the Karma Yogi opportunity was just the most amazing thing to be a part of for a number of reasons:

1. I got to meet and mingle with other like-minded, open, interesting folks.

2. It made the festival accessible from a financial stand point because in exchange for our time we had access to the classes and festivities when we were off shift.

3. I received a super cool tank top. #freeswag

Here's just a little synopsis of how the day went:

- I decided to bike there thinking it would support the environmental initiative behind the festival (they were paperless, didn't sell plastic water bottles, and were powered by Bull Frog Power just to name a few)

- After a very zen early morning bike ride I arrived at Lansdowne and noticed all these little yogis marching towards the grounds carrying their yoga mats... then it hit me. I forgot my yoga mat. I went to an entire day of yoga with no mat. Awesome... (shout out to all the generous human beings who loaned me their mats!!!)

- I spent my 5 hour shift doing various activities such as assisting with the 5km run, passing out sunscreen to volunteers, cleaning the grounds, etc.

- My shift was done and I was able to take my first ever Ashtanga class with Mike Dynie. All I remember is something about leading with your selfie duck lips. I'm thinking there is more to this beautiful practice... Definitely out of my comfort zone and will be checking out more of this style of yoga for suresies.

- After this I was honoured to provide some hands on love for Kate Durie's Desire Map infused practice. Talk about good energy!! So powerful. I didn't stop smiling for the entire hour... I can't imagine how it must of looked - my face actually hurt after!

- The next adventure was an Inversion Workshop with Phil Landel. I've taken workshops with him on this subject before so I had some idea what to expect however I'm always blown away by his capacity to simplify complex anatomical direction for us average earthlings. Spent some time upset down - Always gives me a new perspective. Get it? Because I'm upside down?

- Lastly I got to participate in Jen Dalgleish's Slow Flow. I love this style of practice. It is my happy place. This was the only class I didn't have a mat for so I embraced rolling around in the grass.

This was only a fraction of what went on that day. There was Andrea Robertson's Yoga for Athlete's. Megan Campbell and Jessica Laporte teamed up like a super hero duo to combine yoga and a live DJ. There was Amber Stratton's always intense core class and Brittney Bryden had a Beginner Flow and .. Ciara Beaton's Partner Yoga... and...I CAN'T LIST EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED SO I'M STOPPING NOW!!

Em was pretty much my buddy for the day - this photo was taken before our last class. My eyes are red from sunscreen. My face is red from lack of sunscreen. I'm exhausted and on cloud very high.

Emma Sabourin and Ghislaine Miliu were the organizers of this EPIC event and they are perfect examples of talking the talk and walking the walk. Even at the moments of heightened stress they were calm, respectful, and friendly. It made volunteering with them easy and it infused the entire day with the initial intention they set out for the day which was put love out into the world, and you'll receive it back.

Lessons learned from my first yoga retreat:

- Stay hydrated. Even when you think you're hydrated you aren't

- Sunscreen. Sunscreen. Sunscreen. But not in your eyes because that kind of ruins things

- Take the opportunity to try class styles and instructors you wouldn't usually have access to or be inclined to attend. Branch out!

- Talk to the vendors you'll be surprised by how much you can learn.

- Um... bring a yoga mat.

See you next year!! <3