This year was the first year I finally attended Wanderlust – a 5 day gathering up in Whistler where the whole purpose is yoga and connection.

I have wanted to attend this festival for a few years now but it wasn’t until this year that I felt the NEED to go.

It’s that kind of thing where there’s a pull towards something that you can’t really understand.

That was it for me! Wanderlust was a MUST this year.

And I’m so glad I made the time to go!

Arriving on the first day, I got there in the evening. Meeting up with a good friend and another group of ladies, we gathered in the condo we had rented for the weekend – only about a 15 minute walk to the Village.

After a few introductions, we headed out to the outdoor concert at the main plaza. I was already buzzing with excitement prior to securing our little patch of grass.

Once there, you could tell who was there for Wanderlust and who was there on vacation – all the yogis were spread out on the grass, chatting, laughing, and doing acro yoga on the lawn! Right up front, was the stage and a place to dance to the music!

From the start, I was bopping around when all of a sudden, I just got up and joined the bunch of people dancing together – alone or in a group. I didn’t care!

The band was playing part DJ, part reggae. They joined everyone on the floor and created a circle. People were jumping in, doing their thing while everyone applauded and danced along.

Honza & Claudine Lafond from Yoga and Beyond were invited on the stage to demo acro yoga.

They are the sweetest couple. The love they have for each other is seen by the way they look into each other’s eyes before and after their practice – I’m a sap for that stuff so I tend to pick up on these things.

That was the start of Wanderlust for me!

Though classes and workshops began that morning, I only got my first taste the following day with a talk on the Spiritual Practice of Fitness by Clark Hamilton Depue.

With many different talks to choose from, you basically create your own schedule – being mindful of the leg work you have to do to get from one venue to the next.

I had scheduled everything within 30 minutes from each other, not realizing that one workshop was at a lake! Barely made it to my next class but I made it nonetheless.

I had the pleasure of taking a workshop with Kathryn Budig on Arm Balances and DJ Taz on Playlists in Yoga – such amazing content I’m forever grateful to have in my brain now.

Plus Stand Up Paddle Yoga – at a very cold lake! All fear gone the moment you’re forced to dip your head into it.

My last session was a grounding meditation practice with Rameen Peyrow – the deepest I think I’ve ever been grounded during a seated meditation practice.

Wanderlust is something I look forward to doing every year now. You meet people from different walks of life yet somehow find similarities in what they’re going through with what you’re experiencing in life. I think I’ve made great connections and a great friend from a far – who I would have never met hadn’t I made the trip up to Whistler.

The tickets ranged from a 4-day pass to a 1-day – with other extras should you want to attend them. Such as the Farm-to-Table dinner and the SUP Yoga class.

The Wanderlust Festival travels around North America, so if you’re not in Vancouver and want to attend an event, look at their schedule. They may be hosting one closer to you.

And as a side note: this festival was created by none other than Schuyler Grant aka Diana Berry – (Anne of Greengables fans, you know who I’m talking about).