YEG Fitness - July August 2017

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During May 26 – 28, I had

the opportunity to check

out the second annual Banff

Yoga Festival. I had never

done something like this

before and was pretty ex-

cited to learn that there was

a yoga festival in my own

backyard. Founder Kaeleigh

Doherty started the festival

by having an “a-ha” moment

after she was denied from

her Masters program she

had spent 2 years trying to

get into.

“I was tired of doing things

I didn't want to do- just for

money,” she says. “I started

thinking what I am great at,

what I love, and how I could

use my skills to facilitate

or bring something new

to Banff. After that "A-ha"

I thought what the worse

case scenario would be.

Where I was in my life and

the downfalls of bankrupt-

cy didn't feel too much dif-

ferent from how I lived so I

thought ‘I've got nothing to

lose.’”

I managed to attend 5 dif-

ferent classes. And I really

mean ‘different’. My biggest

worry about the festival was

what if these classes are all

the same and I get bored

doing the same poses over

and over? That, my friends,

is not an issue. Sure, you’re

going to be doing down-

ward facing dog until the

dogs come home but, you

should be doing it daily any-

ways.

The first class I went to

was Moon Cycles & Yoga,

taught by Mindy Johnstone

who owns the Rocky Moun-

tain Yoga Room in Banff.

The class centered around

how we are affected by

the moon phases and how

to approach your prac-

tice during the Full Moon

and New Moon, especial-

ly around that time of the

month, ladies. I learned a

lot from this class. Mindy

and the Rocky Mountain

Yoga Room is definitely

somewhere to check out if

you’re in Banff.

The second class was Learn-

ing to Fly with Terri McCol-

lum. It was a fantastic flow

class. The really fun part

was trying to do the many

versions of Crow Pose I can-

not do. The class did help

me learn how to do Crow

Pose a lot better than what I

was attempting before. This

class made you work up a

sweat, just in time for lunch.

There were a lot of differ-

ent vendors at the Banff

Yoga Festival, including my

friends company who I’m an

ambassador for, Herbolo-

gie. We were situated right

next to Yummi Yogis – a sus-

tainable food truck located

in Calgary (please come to

Edmonton, stat) where I ate

all of my meals other than

the energy balls I snuck

from Herbologie before my

classes. If you’re in Calgary

and haven’t tried the Pad

Thai, you’re a crazy person!

The last class I attended on

Saturday, I stole the owner

of Herbologie away from

her booth to help clear and

refresh her mind. We went

up to Mt Norquay and en-

joyed some Mountain Med-

itation with Stacey Irvine. It

was a great way to end the

day and set an intention for

Sunday.

Sunday morning, I attended

the Junction 9 Trifecta class

led by Kate Mak, Jilaine

Beddoe, and Randelle Lusk.

I had never attended a

yoga session with a DJ and

it’s all I want to do now. It

was a great, invigorating

way to start the day. An

awesome way to end the

day and festival was taking

the Closing Class: Flow to

iRest with Anne Douglas

and Lydia Zamorano. Lydia

took us through a flow class

and Anne ended it with an

amazing meditation.

There wasn’t a single class

I thought “meh, could have

done without” and I sure

wish I could have gone to

every single one of them.

Kaeleigh has an amazing

thing going on here and you

shouldn’t think twice about

attending next year’s event.

If you’re looking for a fes-

tival like this before 2018,

check out Banff Yoga Festi-

val’s sister festival, Okana-

gan Yoga Festival!

BANFF YOGA FESTIVAL

BY CAROLYN DICKSON