Our Experience at NYS Yoga Festival Letchworth State Park

NYS Yoga Festival Letchworth State Park

This past weekend Shane and I attended the NYS Yoga Festival Letchworth State Park. It was a day full of yoga classes, live music, healthy eats, and unique shopping. Letchworth State Park in Castile, New York is also known as The Grand Canyon of the East and gave this festival fantastic scenery. It was a beautiful day to spend outdoors and do yoga with 1400 other festival goers.

This year was the first year for this amazing festival. The event was hosted by none other than HikYoga founder herself, Nicole Kazimer. It was a very successful event seeing as how 1400 people were registered. About 4 food vendors and various other beverage, clothing, and fitness vendors sponsored the event giving everyone an opportunity to try free samples and shop their unique products. Live music was played by a solo artist from California (forgot to catch his name – tbd) during a few of the yoga classes as well as during the breaks. The atmosphere was peaceful and turned out to be a very relaxing day with beautiful weather.

As we entered the park (and payed the $10 entrance fee for the park) we followed the signs to HikYoga. As we were driving we could hear the faint music and people in the distance. We found parking and walked up to the check in counter and then proceeded to walk down a nature trail. This nature trail was a nice touch to get you into a zen mood before arriving at the festival.

As we walked out of the woods and into the field where the festival was being held, crowds of people were already doing yoga and shopping the vendors. It was quite the site especially for us who didn’t quite know what to expect. For me, it was my happy place. Yoga makes me happy and to make a whole day and festival out of it, was amazing.

However, no matter where we go, there is always a hiccup. Today’s hiccup was me forgetting both of our yoga mats. So, needless to say we shopped the vendors first and found a pair of yoga mats at the HikYoga tent for $30. Once we finally found our new mats, we felt more prepared to jump into the first class session which was already almost through.

We walked to the back of the crowd and joined in. As I looked around, there was every type of person imaginable at this festival. We had the beginner yogi’s, the intermediate yogi’s, and the advanced yogi’s. No matter what type of yogi you call yourself, there was no judgement. Everyone was just doing their own thing and having a blast.

Throughout the classes, you could get up and leave or sit or grab some food or snap some photos – it didn’t matter. That was something I really enjoyed. There was no pressure, just tons of fun and bliss.

After the 1st class ended, we walked around to sample some of the juices and bucha at the vendors. When we heard the call for the 2nd class, we quickly jumped to our spot and settled in again. Each class was different and instructed by a different teacher. This was a fast paced flow that really put Shane to the challenge (he’s only done yoga once before with me). At the end of that class, it was the hour lunch break.

We walked around before grabbing food to take in some of the scenic views. No matter what time of year it is, Letchworth always provides spectacular scenery. By the time we jumped in line for the food trucks, the lines were so long that the food trucks were running out of food! Apparently they hadn’t really planned for this many people. I stood in line for about 45 minutes for my favorite New York State food truck, Effortlessly Healthy. They have “healthy” garbage plates – a Rochester staple.

When we finally grabbed lunch, we ate on our yoga mats and waited for the next class. This next class was Hip Hop Yoga. I used to take Hip Hop dance classes when I was younger, so I was so ready for this! This yoga class provided a fast flow and some breaks for dance moves. It was light and fun.

Once the Hip Hop Yoga class was over, we decided it was time to head out. There was still one class as we were leaving, but we were getting tired. We had been at the festival at this point for 5 hours and it was an hour drive home. 2 1/2 classes of yoga in one day was pretty good for me!

We certainly could have done more classes. The festival offered pre-registration for some classes like Hike-Yoga and meditation. However, I pre-registered too late and missed out on my chance of grabbing another class. They went quickly! I’ll know better for next year.

In conclusion, this was a great event to have a chance to spend the day outside while getting great exercise. We were surrounded by beautiful scenery and wonderful people all working towards the same thing – to find peace through yoga.

Til next time,