THE BUZZ: Ocean, beach, sun, organic food and yoga. That was the recipe for good vibrations at the Nantucket Yoga Festival July 11th through 13th, 2014. I had the honor of accompanying my teacher and mentor 95-year-old yoga master Tao Porchon-Lynch. She taught three workshops and shared her light with all as usual. We stayed at a glorious house owned by a fellow Wellesley College alum. Another Wellesley alum and Kripalu yoga teacher, Sally Charpie, was gracious enough to get us settled in. It was an extreme blessing to simply sit and have tea with Tao and then stay up talking about life. We were like a couple of teenagers! With endless windows – bringing the outside in – it was also the perfect setting to continue work on Tao’s biography during downtime.

The festival itself was divine. The opening night celebration on Friday was at the exclusive Westmoor Club and featured motivational speaker Gabrielle Bernstein and hypnotic music by Hanumen. Both were energetically off the charts. After a day of yoga on Saturday, we dined under the stars by the light of the full moon. We were treated to a Farm to Table Dinner at Bartlett’s Farm – the oldest and largest family owned farm on the island. The Bartlett Family has been farming the same land since arriving on Nantucket in the early 1800′s. Fresh farm grown produce was the centerpiece of the menu prepared by Chef Neil Hudson. The beet salad was our favorite. Sunday was just as wonderful with a host of teachers with various offerings such as “Flexibility for Men”, “Joyful Backbends” and “Acro Yoga” which blends yoga with acrobatics. Instructors included Claire Hartley, David Vendetti, Julie Dohrman, Larisa Forman, Lindel Hart, Nicolai Bachman, Sara DiVello, Rebecca Pacheco, Todd Skoglund, Raquel Hernandez-Cruz, Raghunath, Ken Nelson and Lesli Lang.

Another treat was bumping into an old yoga friend, Robert Carris. A Kundalini yoga teacher I met through another early yoga mentor – the incredible Krishna Kaur – Robert is doing healing work in Sri Lanka, Nantucket and other places. Both Tao and I enjoyed his presence and our trip to the beach. Much thanks also to another Kundalini yoga teacher Joan Alison Stockman for serving as our ambassador and helping us get to where we needed to be – and showing us such hospitality. Most of all, extreme gratitude to yogis and spiritual lights Joann and Ted Burnham, and the Nantucket community, for creating and hosting this amazing event.

Find out more about Tao Porchon-Lynch and watch her in action. If you’re interested in Tao’s upcoming book, email tao@power-living.com.

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