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by Arthur Guerin
Yoga Rocks The Park was conceived
in 2008 to give Denver’s thriving yoga community the opportunity to enhance
their practice by offering classes set to the resonance of live music, under Colorado’s
famously clear summer skies.

YOGIS OF ALL AGES AND ABILITIES can enjoy the fun and benefit of guided
practice in the great outdoors at
Sloan’s Lake, Sunken Gardens Park and Alamo Placita
Park every Sunday, 9:30a.m.-noon, June 3-Sept. 16. For a full schedule: yogarocksthepark.com. Photo: Rob Clement/RC Visual
By the end of the 2011 season, attendance topped
400 people at some events, leading organizers to seek out additional teachers,
dates, times and park locations. With this in mind, the 2012 season will give
Front Range yogis more opportunities than ever to “shake their asanas” in the great outdoors.
Erik Vienneau,
YRTP’s event director, explained that the program divides 50 percent of its
profits with a different local charity each week, as well as the Colorado-based
non-profit Yoga World Reach, which provides yoga and alternative therapy
programs to those in need, locally and around the globe.
The YRTP Denver 2012 season kicks off
9:30a.m.-noon, on Sun., June 3, at Sunken Gardens Park
(Speer Blvd. and W. 8th Ave.). Vital Yoga’s Micah and
Desi Springer will lead the practice, with
Philadelphia’s DJ HyFi – a Hanuman Festival
regular who accompanies yoga events across the company – spinning in
synch.
This year’s lineup includes some of the
area’s most respected instructors, including Pearl Street Yoga’s Heather
Lindemann & Tracey Lanham at Sloan’s Lake on June 17;
Kindness Yoga’s Patrick Harrington, Samadhi Yoga’s Buffy Barfoot,
Om Time’s Shannon Paige Schneider, and more. Thanks to a new partnership
with YogiTunes, the venue’s live music offers a heady blend of
national acts and popular local artists: Irene Solea,
Girish, Shaman’s Dream, DJ Solomoon,
DJ Mantra Matrix, Scott and Shanti Medina, DJ Mada
and others.
YRTP 2012 runs weekly through Sun.,
Sept. 16, with locations rotating between Sunken Gardens, Alamo Placita Park (Speer Blvd. and
Emerson St.) and Sloan’s Lake Park (17th Ave. and Federal Blvd.). Registration
opens at 9a.m., music and vending begin at 9:30a.m.,
and the 75-minute practice follows at 10a.m.
While the adults indulge their passion for
their practice, young yogis ages 5-10 are encouraged to join the fun with Camp
Yoga Rocks, a whimsical blend of kids yoga, crafts, face painting and play
developed in partnership with Yoga for Young Warriors and Kids Yoga Guide.
Before and after the practice sessions, an expanded vendor area will include
organic food and drink vendors, alternative health practitioners, yoga clothing
companies and even hula-hoopers.
Tickets ($10/advance; $15/day of) are
available at yogarocksthepark.com. For
additional information, including the complete Denver and Boulder schedules,
visit the website or call Erik Vienneau at
970-390-4318. |