Festival is for beginners, practitioners at all levels
Published in the June 10-23, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Marty Cheek
Yoga aficionados practice the art of stretching at a recent event.
Photo courtesy Sunanda Gadagottu
About 20 million people in America practice some form of yoga, achieving both physical and mental benefits from this Hindu spiritual tradition. And to encourage more South Valley residents to explore yoga and meditation as a lifestyle, The Art of Life Foundation will hold its inaugural YogaFest ‘15 event Sunday June 21 at Morgan Hill’s Community Park.
Yoga is a way to rejuvenate the body and mind through a discipline of physical exercise and breathing techniques. The Art of Life Foundation is a nonprofit humanitarian and educational organization that will be hosting the YogaFest event as an observance of the United Nations’ first International Day of Yoga.
“The idea is to really bring awareness to people about the lifestyle of yoga, living the life of yoga,” said Sunanda Gadagottu, an organizer of YogaFest ‘15. “The reason for the festival is to bring the yoga to everyone in the community — from beginners to people who (already) practice yoga and who want to look into the deeper side of it.”
Gadagottu has been practicing yoga for about 20 years and said the discipline is based on ancient Vedic traditions from India. Although yoga is often associated with the Hindu religion, the practice is nondenominational. People of Islamic, Jewish and Christian faith often do yoga to rejuvenate and enhance their spiritual nature, she said.
“It just means living well, living true to oneself, really experiencing one’s true potential, and that happens in many ways, there are many aspects to it,” she said.
YogaFest will open at 7:45 a.m. and go to 2 p.m. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn various yoga techniques through informal instruction from experts. Among the techniques that will be taught is “sukshma yoga.” Sukshma means “subtle” and this form of yoga helps practitioners penetrate subtle levels of themselves to relax and rejuvenate the whole body. Another form of yoga that will be taught is “asanas” which is a simple process of integrating the mind and body through breath and a guided sequence of yoga postures and stretching.
“It’s very natural to us. We wanted to make sure that yoga became accessible to every part of the community,” Gadagottu said. “The festival will also bring the wellness aspects of yoga together and give a platform for practitioners, people who are bringing holistic living to the common platform.”
The Art of Living Foundation was founded in 1981 by Hindu spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Shankar discovered meditation as a young child of four or five. As a man, he went into a deep mediation for 10 days and discovered a powerful breathing technique to release tensions and stress from the mind and body. He started teaching the technique to others with the purpose of encourage the growth of peace through relaxation and joy.
“He’s different things to different people,” Gadagottu said. “He has touched millions of lives mainly because he has taken on this responsibility of sharing this message of peace, and not just speaking about peace but bringing tools, practical wisdom, to people of all ages and cultural backgrounds across the globe.”
Photo courtesy Sunanda Gadagottu
A group practices yoga at an outdoor location. Morgan Hill’s YogaFest ‘15 will be held June 21 at the city’s Community Park.
Over the decades, The Art of Living Foundation has spread across the world to 152 countries. A group of the foundation’s volunteers in Silicon Valley have been teaching the yoga and meditation techniques in Morgan Hill and Gilroy for the past five years at locations such as public libraries and private homes.
“It really was a grassroots movement with one person telling their loved ones, ‘This really helps, this really works,’ and so it sort of grew,” Gadagottu said. “We came across many people who tell us that they wish they had discovered yoga earlier in their lives, people looking for mediation, special ways of living, living with joy. So we thought, how about doing something that brings the public together and we came up with YogaFest.”
Children and families are encouraged to come and discover yoga techniques that will help build physical and mental well-being for a lifetime, she said.
“Yoga is very natural to kids and babies,” she said. “A lot of the yoga postures and ideas come by watching babies. They know naturally how to relieve stress by how they turn their bodies, so a lot of things that we do is natural for kids and kids love it. We have these wonderful programs where all the families can participate. It’s suppose to be very celebrative and at the same time offering many ways to lead that holistic life.”
Yoga programs have gone mainstream in the Silicon Valley and many corporations in the region have offered classes for their employees. The physical and mental exercise from yoga and meditation helps workplace morale.
Recently, telecommunications electronics firm Anritsu in Morgan Hill offered an introductory class in yoga taught by Gadagottu. Michelle Aitkin, human resources representative at Anritsu, said the special class generated interest in bringing a permanent yoga program to the company on a regular basis.
“Five people went through it and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It was awesome,” she said. “The instructor was fabulous. She did a little bit of yoga and some meditation and everyone got a kick out of it. We’ve been wanting to bring yoga to campus.”
DETAILS:
The webpage for the festival is www.mhyogafest.com
Tickets can be bought at www.tinyurl.com/mhyogafest
Tickets are $10 for adults and free for 18 and under.
