Berkshire Yoga Festival 2024

As a former monk that became a yoga teacher, then the owner of 6 yoga studios, then a leader at Kripalu and Yoga Alliance as well as tech startups LiveEdit and Union.fit, Andrew has had to learn how to be effective in the world of business while maintaining his yogic lifestyle. Over the years he refined his daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly habits into a system that has served him very well and made him a success in all his endeavors.

Eligible for Yoga Alliance CE

In this workshop you will experience healing in all 5 senses. The room will be purified beginning the night before with air purification, sound and light purification. Sound and color are mixed to provide an immersive healing experience. Sound Immersive headphones are used to bring your mind into deep focus. Bharati Carla is an LPN, Master Healer, and Kundalini Yogini.

We are witnessing significantly higher incidence of physical and mental health decline, which can have minor to debilitating effects of quality of life. Anxiety is now the #1 actual diagnosis post-pandemic, meaning people may have sought medical help for something else then actually told their symptom is a result of anxiety.
Reconditioning the nervous system is key. Any time we improve the brain and nervous system function, we improve the biochemistry in the body, and our experience of ourselves and our lives.

Experience firsthand how Sensory-Based Immersive (SBI) practices enhance a wellness event with beneficial stimuli for all the senses! Sensory-Based Immersion spaces allow the user to find their way to a more regulated state- a combination of soothing to sensory pathways that were overstimulated, and awakening to pathways that were less receptive or underutilized.

SBI protocols help wellness experts create environments that are more friendly to a variety of neuro processing styles, and help shift a nervous system from tired and wired to calm and inspired! This heightened state of awareness, safety and receptivity allows guests of your classes and workshops to better engage in most any teaching, healing or creativity modality.

These protocols are transferable across different types of events, whether for community health, workplace wellness or incorporated into professional training and organizational gatherings.

Join Patrick Franco, co-director of YogaRenew, for a unique blend of intelligent sequencing, mindful movement, and a carefully curated musical journey that takes your practice to new depths while creating a space for introspection and self-discovery. Through skillful guidance, you'll find moments of stillness within the flow, allowing you to connect with your inner self and cultivate mindfulness on and off the mat. Prepare to be challenged, inspired, and moved in this unforgettable vinyasa experience that transcends the physical and taps into the profound connection between body, mind, and soul.

Are you a part-time yoga teacher whose scared to make the leap to full-time because you're worried about the money? You have a day job you're dying to leave but you can't understand how you could possibly make a living as a yoga teacher? Are you a full-time yoga teacher whose starting to experience burnout and looking for a long term sustainable career path? The good news is... there is a way...

In this workshop you will Explore:

• Your Relationship With Money
• The Problem(s) with the Current Yoga Teaching Model
• A Realistic Path to Passive Income
• The 4 Noble Truths of Growing a Yoga Business

You will Learn about and Workshop your Roadmap:

• How to choose a Niche in 5 mins.
• Your first digital download to grow an audience
• Your first passive income online product
• How to create Medium and High Ticket offers that Help People.

The hustle required for creating success as a yoga teacher is real, and so is the burnout that comes with it. With a combined 25+ years as entrepreneurs in the yoga and wellness space, Kate Lombardo and Patrick Franco, co-directors of YogaRenew— the largest online teacher training program in the world— have worn every “hat” there is a yoga teacher. In this session, they’ll teach you how to lay the foundation for a business that focuses on earning you more money and giving you back your most valuable currency— your time— so you can build a prosperous and sustainable career sharing the practice you love.

Brought BYF Platinum Sponsor, YogaRenew.

Join the YogaSlackers on an inspiring journey to discover the joy and empowerment of your very first handstand. This beginner-friendly class is your gateway to redefining limits and shifting perspectives. Whether the idea of standing on your hands has always been a dream or a curious challenge, this experience is the perfect starting point. Handstands, in the YogaSlackers' approach, are more than just physical feats; they are a playful invitation to adventure, a transformative shift in perspective, and a profound method to reconnect, refocus, and immerse in the present moment.
Tailored to beginners, this class gently introduces the essential elements of a handstand practice, laying the foundation for future exploration in acrobatics and partner acrobatics. The YogaSlackers' expertise in guiding students through this journey ensures a supportive, nurturing environment. You'll learn the key fundamentals to build a stable, confident handstand practice, suitable for complete novices and those seeking to refine their skills.
This class is open to all skill levels, from first-timers to those wishing to enhance their practice. The YogaSlackers emphasize a step-by-step approach, ensuring everyone progresses at a comfortable pace, fostering confidence and joy in the art of handstands.
Prerequisite: None. This class is designed for anyone willing to embark on a new adventure, regardless of previous experience.

Expressing ourselves creativity is both relaxing and fun. During this session Amanda will first share what she learned on her journey of making art as spiritual practice with her 10,000 Buddhas project. Then you will be guided through a visual meditation to discover your own inspiration and mystical nature. Afterwards, we will take time to draw, color, and journal what we experienced. No experience necessary.

This 90-minute workshop will investigate the dynamics of hip and lower back movement. They should move in concert. But we're often unaware of problems in the deeper layers until it's too late. We'll use movements in specific ways to uncover hidden joint rigidity and the fascia surrounding them. We want to catch the hidden problems now, so they don't become problems down the road! We'll look at typical "rules of posture" that could work against your spine and hips' long-term health and mobility. Most of all, you'll learn how to use your muscles to develop and maintain bone strength and joint health for life. In Avita Yoga shapes, we use the muscles to reach the bones. Give it a try. You'll love the freedom and peace you'll feel!

It's especially good if:

You have Chronic low back pain - from sitting, cycling, running, or hiking.
Hip pain wakes you up at night.
You've been diagnosed with arthritis or degeneration.
You are a yoga therapist or teacher wanting new ways to reach your students.
You want a way to maintain healthy hips and spine…for life!

Join DJ Taz Rashid for a workshop on how to build a yoga music playlist. Learn how to breakdown your classes in a simple way, and easily build your favorite music into any practice whether it’s a high intensity vinyasa, or a mellow yin, restorative class or to your personalized yoga style.
DJ Taz will show you how to hone your instinctive listening and intuitive teaching skills to "mix beats" and make smooth transitions throughout your classes. Taking the time to focus on developing the role of music in your yoga classes allows you to feel more confident about how music is enhancing your teaching, while you can expand and use your music library more efficiently. Any teacher can build her unique sound with compelling music that enhances the practice, inevitably attracting a larger student following.  Highly recommended for teachers but anyone can attend.

Coming together in community to celebrate the act of ritual. Sitting with the plant medicine cacao, through meditation, card spread readings, journaling and voluntary sharing we call in energy to support us in letting go to better align with our most authentic selves.

We all know how difficult it can be to ease into the art of relaxation. We spend so much time in a state of chasing what is next, hustle culture and perceiving we must earn our right to be here. What if we are released into the awareness that we are perfect? What if there is no reason for “self-help” or “self-improvement”? What if we just shed the layers of stress that keep us confined in fear, false personality and identity? 
In this Trauma Informed Kundalini Yoga session, we will surrender to the universal truth that radiance, happiness, and divinity are a part of who we really are. Underneath the layers of false stories we find our True Identity, our Sat Nam, and there we recognize that we are both a work in progress AND a masterpiece. 
No kundalini experience required. This is suitable for all practitioners, and pregnant people are welcome. Wear comfortable clothes and bring water. 

For thousands of years the word “yoga” was synonymous with meditation.  Every step on the classical 8 limbed path of yoga is intended to help prepare the mind for meditation thru training in concentration.  Meditation is not contemplation, or “thinking about things,” or even stopping thought.  Thoughts are not the enemy.  Meditation is not a spooky or an empty or spaced out state of mind.  It is simply a place of clear, undistracted and non-judgmental attention to whatever it is that is going on in consciousness - in this moment - whether pleasant or unpleasant. Mindfulness meditation does not require that we adopt any cultural affectations or beliefs.  It simply asks us to pay attention to the flow of experience in each moment.  Join Beryl and the sangha for mindfulness practice and find support in developing a well formed habit of attention and daily practice.  

Coming together in community to celebrate the act of ritual. Sitting with the plant medicine cacao, through meditation, card spread readings, journaling and voluntary sharing we call in energy to support us in letting go to better align with our most authentic selves.

Brought to you by studio partner, Balance Studios.

Enlightenment (in the Vedanta tradition) is the journey of Knowing the Self, abiding in the Self and seeing the same Self in others with love and compassion. Manoj will guide you through the 3 practices of non dualistic Advaita Vedanta philosophy:  Shravanam (listening), Mananam (contemplation) and Nidhidhyasana (abiding in the Self).

The question then arises, what role do these deities such as Ganesh, Shiva, Lakshmi, Buddha,Tara play in this journey?. Manoj will bring in statues of these deities and relate their symbolisms to our journey to enlightenment. Through humorous archetypical story telling, discover your Isthadevata (personal archetype), uncover their secret symbolisms and learn the five ways to work with them as part of a practice towards spiritual awakening.

(This workshop is 80% lecture, 10% meditation, 5% Mantras and 5% light spiritual stretches.)