Heyyy Guys! We are so honored to have Felicia Tomasko, the editor-in-chief of the esteemed magazine LA Yoga, liveblogging about her experience at the much-talked-about Wanderlust Yoga & Music Festival this weekend! Take it away, Felicia!
There was a lot of love for Michael Franti at Wanderlust this weekend. The social justice-minded, activist-oriented, jamming musician who can easily get a crowd on their feet, who is an active practitioner and proponent of yoga had to cancel his appearance at the last minute due to emergency surgery. According to festival co-producer Sean Hoess, COO of Velour Music Group, Franti was a natural choice to appear at the festival combining yoga and music.
It was only weeks of abdominal pain and tests that revealed Franti had been performing for that long with a ruptured appendix, which led to an abscess and infection and emergency surgery that kept him from participating. He wrote a heartfelt letter to all the festival-goers, which can be read on the website (http://www.wanderlustfestival.com) and was posted on walls around the venue. Also posted were large get-well cards, in progress, complete with markers, where people could write greeting and messages to the recovering musician.
Filling in for Franti at the final hour, hip-hop artist Common had the mountainside on their feet, dancing and singing with arms in the air. It was a fitting end to the sun-kissed day on the mountain, sitting on the slopes. Although darkness certainly didn’t bring an end to the day. Many people have been likening Wanderlust to a yogic version of Burning Man, and dark brought costumed troupes and fire dancers on stilts performing beneath the rising sliver of the crescent moon. Speaking of Burning Man, LA-based Anusara teachers Scott and Andrea Lewicki commented on Facebook at Wanderlust reminded them of Burning Man except for the dust on the playa, the presence of real bathrooms and the fact that they got to sleep in a real bed. Also differentiating Wanderlust from Burning Man: people wandering through the Squaw Valley Village commenting: What is Wanderlust? My guess is that not many people wander around the playa, asking “What is Burning Man?” A resort town in Lake Tahoe is likely to have a mix of people, those who live nearby, or just happen to be around and weren’t drawn by the magnetism of either yoga or indie rock. Judging by the people on the outskirts of John Friend’s free class this afternoon, more than a few curious newbies were either watching or trying their hand in a down dog.
