Berkshire Yoga Festival 2026

This guided class offers a direct, embodied experience of Vishoka Meditation through an integrated sequence of movement, breath training, relaxation, and seated meditation practice. Designed to meet practitioners where they are, the class gently guides the mind away from fragmentation and toward a felt sense of inner steadiness, clarity, and ease.

Through breath-aligned asana and systematic relaxation, participants will prepare both the body and nervous system for meditation. The practice culminates in a guided introduction to Vishoka Meditation, a classical yogic approach that uses the subtle dimension of the breath to reveal the mind’s natural luminosity and joy.

This session is appropriate for all levels and especially supportive for those seeking a meditative experience that feels grounded, nourishing, and sustainable.

In this class, you can expect:
● Breath-aligned asana to cultivate ease and inner awareness
● Systematic relaxation to calm the nervous system and experience inner space
● Meditative pranayama to refine attention and prepare the mind to turn inward
● A guided experience of Vishoka Meditation

Participants will leave feeling centered, replenished, and more at home within themselves—equipped with practices that can be carried into daily life.

Vinyasa Flow is the practice of synchronizing movement with breath, creating a continuous rhythm that links effort and awareness. Rooted in the Iyengar and Ashtanga traditions, vinyasa also allows space for creative interpretation, psychological insight, and spiritual inquiry, making it a living, evolving practice rather than a fixed form.
Because of its fluid nature, vinyasa requires thoughtful sequencing and precise cueing to support stability, integrity, and safety. When done well, it builds strength without strain, mobility without collapse, and focus without rigidity. This class explores both the physical architecture and the subtle intelligence of vinyasa practice, emphasizing how alignment, breath, and transitions work together to support the nervous system and prepare the body for meditation.
We will move through the traditional arc of a vinyasa class, including Sun Salutations, standing poses, hip openers, backbends, forward bends, inversions, yin, and restorative postures. Along the way, we will examine breathwork, the relationship between effort and ease, as well as the benefits and potential risks of common postures.
This class is designed for students who want a deeper understanding of asana, and for teachers interested in how I organize, pace, and instruct vinyasa as both a technical and devotional practice.

Step into a moving meditation where breath, rhythm, and embodiment meet. Guided by Jess
Bridge and Dave Curry on live percussion, this workshop fuses grounding asana, primal flow,
and somatic release to awaken the body’s natural intelligence. Through rhythmic movement and
sound, you’ll explore how vibration can unlock tension, awaken presence, and create a deeper
sense of connection within. Expect to move with intention, sweat with purpose, and soften into
stillness—emerging centered, liberated, and fully alive.

In ancient Egyptian cosmology, the Neteru (Gods and Goddesses) were understood as living forces of intelligence that move through nature, the body, and consciousness. Rather than distant deities, they represent aspects of life we already experience: illumination and shadow, grief and renewal, courage, desire, truth, and transformation.
In this class, we approach the Neteru as energies to be felt and embodied, as opposed to ideas to be studied. Through movement, breath, reflection, and meditation, we explore how these forces live in the nervous system, the emotional body, and the choices we make. The practice becomes a way of recognizing and engaging the sacred movements already shaping our inner and outer lives.
This class offers a grounded, embodied entry into working with the Neteru as guides for awareness, balance, and integration, inviting a deeper relationship with the intelligence of life itself.

At the heart of the tantric tradition stands Saraswati, the radiant embodiment of knowledge, intuition, and the hidden currents of wisdom that guide every seeker. In the esoteric teachings of the Durga Saptashati, she is revealed as the gatekeeper to the vast treasury of tantra vidya, and the one who holds the key to unveiling the deeper nature of reality. Known as maha maya and yoga nidra, Saraswati illuminates the many layers of human experience, from the most ordinary to the most sublime, and shows us how to move skillfully between them.

In this transformative session, you will explore this multifaceted divinity not as a symbol, but as a living force that unlocks access to the true heart of tantra. You will also learn the meaning and practice of a rare and sacred Saraswati mantra, preserved in both the Vedic and tantric traditions, and discover how this mantra opens the doors to clarity, creativity, and inner awakening.

From this vantage point, this session expands into the wider world of tantra itself—a tradition that, for millennia, has offered a priceless trove of techniques to support and accelerate our spiritual growth. Yet today it is often overshadowed by confusion and sensationalism. Some encounter rituals, mantras, kundalini, and chakras; others become absorbed in deities and mystical practices.

Pandit Tigunait, drawing on a thousand-year lineage of tantric masters, will cut through this modern jungle of misunderstanding to reveal the rich and sublime essence of tantra. You will learn how to discern which aspects of the tantric tradition resonate most deeply with you, how to navigate common pitfalls with confidence, and how to follow a path that leads directly to inner fulfillment and true freedom.

This is a unique experience developed by Mara Lee Gilbert for the purpose of learning the structure of ceremony itself as its own medicine; and how our greatest teacher in this lifetime is our own energy. The structure you will experience here is based on South American style plant medicine ceremonies, where Mara received her training. However, part of her work is bringing back the memory that every human on the planet has an ancestor that practiced ceremony in their own way, their own right, that connected our lineages to the Earth, and our spirits, no matter what culture or tribe it is related to. This is the art of learning the ceremony of being Human, and walking the on-going ceremony that is our lives. We remain sober for this ceremony - no plants are consumed. 
Mara says: Come to Ceremony to connect more completely with the medicine that is You by deepening your relationship with your prayers and intentions, and recognizing the role you are playing in how they get answered. This is a space to take greater responsibility for how we are experiencing our lives. Bring your prayers. Bring Yourself, exactly as you are in this moment.
Mara sings, chants and shares prayers, in her unique style, which she channels from our collective ancestors and the Earth, to enhance and deepen the experience for all participants in profound ways