Karl Straub At Telluride Yoga Festival This Year!
Of all of our beloved & amazing presenters at the 7th annual Telluride Yoga Festival, the attendees` choice for Best Instructor went to Karl Straub. We are blessed to share Karl`s magnetic and positive energy, caring soul, wisdom and strength with so many people.
By Janice Brooks
The last two decades has seen expansive growth in the cross-cultural experience of Yoga. These experiences have followed the same evolutionary creation trajectory of people needing to gather together to celebrate as our ancestors have done over the ages. As such, Yoga festivals, have become our new (and improved) way of creating new life-altering public ritual experiences.
For the last 11 years, the Telluride Yoga Festival has led the way in creating a yearly ritual experience of bringing the gift of Yoga, in all of its many forms, to Telluride, Colorado for a weekend filled with world-class instructors, philosophers, scholars, artists and musicians.
Nestled at the edge of a lush canyon and surrounded by some of Colorado's most rugged peaks, Telluride is majestic, beautiful and removed from the usual.
The Telluride Yoga Festival is truly a unique and special gathering unlike any other. The festival is celebrated for its up-close-and-personal synergy between participants and presenters. This inspirational 4-day event features over 100 offerings including Yoga, meditation, music, hiking, dining, SUP (stand up paddle surfing) Yoga, social gatherings and more.
After arrival, you can ride the gondola between classes and leave your car behind. Stroll through the galleries and shops. Do visual Yoga while sipping coffee on a park bench and spend time in meditation as you watch the world go by. You might even consider treating yourself to a massage, wander and shop at the Vendor Village, and even participate in a guided journaling & mediation mini-retreat.
Some people say 11 is a magical number. If so, then the 11th annual ritual of the Telluride Yoga Festival, happening July 19 through July 22 2018, is destined to be the best ever.
Wishing to capture the essence of the Telluride Yoga Festival, I recently had the honor of being able to have a short chat with one of Telluride Yoga Festival’s celebrated yoga presenter's Karl Straub.
Karl, thank you so much for chatting with me. You have taught every year at the TYF since its inception, what new intentions are you preparing to bring and share with participants for the 2018 festival?
Hey Janice, nice to talk with you. Yes, that is correct I have been presenting at The Telluride Yoga Festival since the very beginning. My intention every year is the same, yet always fresh, which is to reconnect deeper and deeper with nature. With the purpose of life. Which is being and enjoying and appreciating. Being grateful for every breath. And in the mountains in Telluride it is a beautiful place to do that. So, even though my intention and my focus has a common theme since the beginning of my Yoga practice, I always focus on the connection of human consciousness, with its own source. Which of course is nature. We are nature. We are not separate from nature, we just kind of forget about it in our busy daily lives with technology in front of us. Which is also great— I mean our technology is great. It’s the way you and I are speaking together now and will connect with a lot of people around the world, it is beautiful. But, behind all of that, and encompassing all of that, and making all of that possible is our common thread of life. And to feel connected to that is healing, restoring, and balancing. So that is my continuing theme, and every year it has a new fresh pulse. A new breath.
How has your personal Yoga practice changed in the last year?
In the last year I have become more aware of the power of nature, trees, lakes, fresh air and how as a community of concerned citizens on the planet, you and I, fellow Yoga practitioners, our families we have such a treasure around us in nature. It’s our sacred duty to protect it. So in the last year I could say my Yoga practice has helped me to be sensitive and alert to the current realities, including the political climate. And our responsibilities as concerned citizens on this planet, to not only be responsible for our own personal behavior, but also, right now it is so evident and clear that we really must be active in selecting a training and becoming the leaders of our political and economic systems. So the powers that be, will be our powers. The powers that we honor and support are the powers of nature.
Your teaching assistant this year is Amber DeHerrera. What should participants know about Amber? And, why have you selected Amber to assist you with this year's class sessions
Amber DeHerrera, also assisted me last year. She’s amazing! What I would like our participants to know about her is she is so inspirational. Not only teaching Yoga where she lives in Durango Colorado at a studio called YogaDurango, but she is also a professional nurse taking care of people every day, with full power. She also volunteers for example in Haiti, to serve communities who are desperate for trained nursing professionals who are also compassionate. And on top of that, she's a really nice, very sweet person, friendly and humble. It is a joy and an honor to have some association with her, and somehow I'm lucky enough that she agreed to assist me at Telluride Yoga Festival.
Karl, where are you now and how can our readers find you?
I am speaking to you right now from Zurich, Switzerland. karlstraub.com is my website.
Hey, any last thoughts Karl?
I look forward to coming back to Colorado to share the practice of Yoga, meditation, and pranayama with my friends.
Remember, community gatherings and community rituals are truly important. Get your ticket now!
