Rosemary Miller (left), Mandy Shaver, Emma Dickinson and Simone Grant (front) celebrating the conclusion of the highly successful Whanganui Yoga Festival. Photo / Liz Wylie
Rosemary Miller (left), Mandy Shaver, Emma Dickinson and Simone Grant (front) celebrating the conclusion of the highly successful Whanganui Yoga Festival. Photo / Liz Wylie
Whanganui’s second Mid-Winter Yoga Festival attracted more than 120 participants who enjoyed three days of workshops and well-being sessions.
Tutor and co-ordinator Rosemary Miller said 15 local yoga teachers had put together 21 sessions spread over three days of the Matariki holiday weekend.
For the $60 price of a weekend pass, or $15 a class, participants got to choose which sessions they wanted to join.
“Not all of them were well-attended and that’s fine because it is only the second time we’ve held the festival and we’re still finding out what people want most,” Miller said.
“I have enjoyed the workshop I have tutored and I attended a Chi Gong workshop for the first time and loved it. It has just been so nice for the Whanganui yoga community to come together and enjoy mind, body and breathing well-being practices together.”
Miller said the festival aimed to provide a transformative and soul-nurturing experience and the values aligned with the customs of celebrating Puanga and Matariki.
“One of the goals of Matariki is to cultivate peace and unity and that’s what we’re all about,” Miller said.
“We thought about how we could align our values with Matariki while being mindful of misappropriation and respecting the significance of the timing.”
The festival began with a cosy and soothing restorative yoga session on Friday night. Photo / Rosemary Miller
The festival began on Friday night with a relaxing, restorative yoga session co-tutored by Miller and Yee Ley Lau.
Miller said the session included vibrational therapy, which is Lau’s speciality, and a series of relaxing yoga poses to help people leave their week behind and ease into the weekend.
All sessions were held at either Yogabee on the second floor of the Brickhouse in St Hill St or at the Whanganui Ballet & Dance Academy.
“Almost all the attendees were local, I believe, although I did meet a woman from Lincoln in Canterbury who was visiting for the weekend,” Miller said.
“She was delighted to find out the festival was on and came to a few sessions.”
Miller said Whanganui could feel proud, as a small city, to have a range of tutors able to provide classes to suit everyone and enough dedicated practitioners to support them.
“The festival has been everything we wished for and more so it’s very likely that it will be even better next year,” she said.
Liz Wylie is a multimedia journalist for the Whanganui Chronicle. She joined the editorial team in 2014 and regularly covers stories from Whanganui and the wider region. She also writes features and profile stories.
