Berkshire Yoga Festival 2026: Full Schedule

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8:00am EDT

✴️ Healing Breath, Revealing Mind: An Introduction to Vishoka Meditation

Sunday June 14, 2026 8:00am - 9:30am EDT

Limited Capacity seats available

Vishoka Meditation is a classical yogic approach to meditation that uses the subtle dimension of breath as a doorway into the mind’s natural state of clarity, joy, and inner radiance. Rooted in the Himalayan Tradition and drawing source wisdom from the YogaSutra and the Lotus Sutra, this practice offers a comprehensive yet accessible pathway toward a sorrow less state of awareness—one that does not bypass life’s challenges, but transforms our relationship to them.

In this workshop-style session, Ishan Tigunait will introduce the foundations of Vishoka Meditation, weaving together guided practice and philosophical context. Participants will learn essential techniques that unite the subtle aspect of the breath with the mind’s power of awareness, revealing a deeper and more luminous dimension of consciousness already present within us.

This session is well-suited for both newer meditators and experienced practitioners seeking a clear, grounded, and systematic approach to meditation.

In this experiential session, we will explore:
● The purpose and essential experience of meditation in relation to yoga practice
● How breath awareness reveals our healing potential, and helps us bridge body and mind
● How an embodied experience of prana is the self-revealing dimension of mind
● Key principles that make meditation accessible, sustainable, and joyful
● How Vishoka Meditation practice supports emotional resilience and inner stability

Participants will leave with a felt sense of the practice and a deeper understanding of how meditation can become a source of clarity, healing, and inner nourishment.

Presenters

Ishan Tigunait

Himalayan Institute

Growing up at the Himalayan Institute, Ishan Tigunait received his first spiritual lessons from Swami Rama of the Himalayas, and has continued his spiritual education for the past 30 years under the guidance of his father, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait. Ishan serves as Executive Director... Read More →

Sponsors

Himalayan Institute

Sunday June 14, 2026 8:00am - 9:30am EDT
Crane East 37 Corey Rd, Hancock, MA 01237, USA

Community Event

Schedule Spotlights Personal Growth & Transformation, Yoga Philosophy & Wisdom Traditions

8:00am EDT

The Ache In Your Heart Is Holy

Sunday June 14, 2026 8:00am - 9:30am EDT

Fisher Room, Country Inn

Limited Capacity seats available

Coby invites participants to shift perspective and explore their ache as something that can awaken us, rather than something to push away. Through the principles of Instinctive Meditation®, reflection, conversation, and inquiry, this interactive lecture creates space to stay with longing, pain, desire, and grief—and to consider how our ache may also guide us to remembering who we are, to beauty, to truth, and ultimately… joy.

Presenters

Coby Kozlowski

Senior Faculty Member, Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health

Coby Kozlowski, M.A., is a senior faculty member and presenter at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health and a presenter at Esalen Institute and Omega Institute. She is the author of One Degree Revolution: How the Wisdom of Yoga Inspires Small Shifts That Lead to Big Changes and has been... Read More →

Sunday June 14, 2026 8:00am - 9:30am EDT
Fisher Room, Country Inn 37 Corey Rd, Hancock, MA, USA

Lecture/Talk

Schedule Spotlights Personal Growth & Transformation

8:30am EDT

The Inner Axis: Qigong, Meditation, and Embodied Spiritual Integration

Sunday June 14, 2026 8:30am - 9:30am EDT

Doc Maynard Pavillion

Limited Capacity seats available

This integrative practice weaves grounding Qigong with subtle meditation to explore the meeting point of matter and spirit. We begin with slow, accessible Qigong forms that cultivate the water and earth elements, building stability, rootedness, and energetic containment. From this grounded foundation, we transition into silent meditation, inviting a felt ascent into ether and spirit without leaving the body behind. Expect integrated calm focus and the quiet lift of embodied spirit. Suitable for all levels.

Presenters

Kevin Courtney

Kevin Courtney is a meditation guide, INSIGHT facilitator, and teacher working at the intersection of ancient contemplative traditions, modern neuroscience, and embodied transformation. With decades of experience in yoga, meditation, breathwork, and subtle energy systems, his work... Read More →

Sunday June 14, 2026 8:30am - 9:30am EDT
Doc Maynard Pavillion

Yoga

Schedule Spotlights Personal Growth & Transformation, Yoga Philosophy & Wisdom Traditions

10:30am EDT

Embodied Confidence: Teaching From the Inside Out

FILLING

Sunday June 14, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am EDT

Clark Room, Country Inn

Limited Capacity filling up

This workshop is for festival-goers who feel the spark of teaching—or who want to deepen the way they show up in any room they enter. Abby blends nervous system awareness, self-trust, voice, and presence to help participants step out of their heads and into their bodies. You’ll explore teaching as leadership: how to hold space with confidence, speak from authenticity, and embody who you are rather than imitate someone else.
Rooted in the philosophy behind Radiance Yoga’s signature classes—known for being packed week after week—this session offers a behind-the-scenes look at what truly creates magnetic, impactful experiences. It’s not about choreography or cues alone; it’s about energy, clarity, and connection.
Designed for both aspiring and current teachers, this workshop is experiential and transformational. Participants will move, reflect, and reconnect with their own inner authority. You’ll leave feeling grounded, capable, and inspired, thinking: “I want to be in rooms like this more often. I’m ready to grow into my voice and share this energy.”

Presenters

Abby Guerds

Lead Teacher + Director of Education, Radiance Yoga

I started yoga as a freshman in high school with my coach having us run to a local gym every week for an hour long yoga class. Not only did it help me focus on race day, it also brought me to my roots of dance. I earned my 200 hour certification through Radiance Yoga in Pittsfield... Read More →

Sunday June 14, 2026 10:30am - 11:30am EDT
Clark Room, Country Inn 37 Corey Rd, Hancock, MA 01237, USA

Lecture/Talk

Style Yoga & Lecture
Schedule Spotlights Teacher's Path, Personal Growth & Transformation

2:00pm EDT

Bhakti + Breath: Transformational Breathwork + Chanting with Girish

Sunday June 14, 2026 2:00pm - 3:30pm EDT

The Sanctuary

Limited Capacity seats available

Join musician, former Hindu monk, and author, Girish, for a deep dive into the healing practices of Bhakti Yoga in this transformational 90 minute journey through Breathwork, Chanting, and a Mantra-infused Restorative Savasana practice.
We'll share an entirely new Breathwork experience in this upcoming session with Girish, diving into the powerful BREATH OF LIFE practice from the monasteries of Tibet, followed by a deeply healing Vocal Yoga session, preparing us for some sweet call-and-response Kirtan before transitioning into a restorative Savasana practice, serenaded with live music and chanting.
Girish is an internationally touring world music artist, teacher, and author. He began his music career as a jazz drummer, spent five years as a monk in a Hindu monastery, returned to music as a session tabla player on more than a hundred world music albums, and for the past twelve years has written, recorded, and performed his own original music and taught Sanskrit mantras and chanting in music festivals and yoga studios all over the world. His seven albums have received critical acclaim from O, The Oprah Magazine, Yoga Journal, and The Guardian, among others. Girish's book, Music and Mantras, continues Girish's mission to share the art of meditation through music and mantra with the world.

Presenters

Girish

Girish is an internationally touring world music artist, teacher, and author. He began his music career as a jazz drummer, spent five years as a monk in a Hindu monastery, returned to music as a session tabla player on more than a hundred world music albums, and for the past twelve... Read More →

Sunday June 14, 2026 2:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
The Sanctuary

Meditation & Pranayama