Berkshire Yoga Festival 2026

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.

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.

We all have the recurring experience of frustration and suffering - from different causes, and at different levels of intensity - throughout our daily lives. In response to this recurring experience, we seek to release suffering and find fulfillment outwardly and, as a result, become entangled in what the Ancients called the ‘world of name and form’. This misguided seeking perpetuates the recurrence of unresolved issues, frustrations, tension, and suffering that we all experience throughout our lives.

Deep methods of Inner Practice evolved in the tradition of Tantric Laya Yoga through which we can break this recurring cycle, realize our true nature, actualize our innate potentials and, ultimately, become free. These methods of practice relied on complex symbol systems.

This workshop works off Gary's previous two sessions, but is also open to any participant.

In this 60-minutes session we will explore through lecture, discussion and Q&A how to authentically integrate these symbols and methods into personal practice and daily life.

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.