On April 27-29, the Iyengar Yoga Convention 2024 organized by the Iyengar Yoga Federation Austria took place in the beautiful town of Bregenz.
Bregenz is an Austrian city at the eastern end of Lake Constance. It is the capital of Vorarlberg. It is famous for the annual summer music festival Bregenzer Festspiele and the dance festival Bregenzer Spring, which takes place in the congress center. And that's exactly where we were both headed.
Our journey started a day earlier, as there were 560 km ahead of us. We set off with a van full of yoga accessories and butterflies in our stomachs. We used the first stop on our journey for our "chia pudding with mango topping" breakfast. It turned out to be a good choice, since shortly after that, we ended up at the tail end of a long line on the highway. We decided to turn off of the highway and found ourselves on a gravel road that led us to the colorful town of Landsberg. This German city in southwestern Bavaria is about 65 kilometers west of Munich. After driving for about another hour, we finally arrived at the parking lot of the congress center in Bregenz.
We set up our traveling shop full of yoga accessories; buckwheat hull bolsters, zafus, eye pads, shorts, cork yoga blocks, yoga strap candle support block, yoga mat cleaners, and water bottles. We were especially proud of the handmade mini backbender, the winning ticket price item of our raffle drawing at the convention.
Tired but full of expectations for the next day, we went for a well-deserved "matcha latte," then dinner, and in no time the next day was here.
Our main goal of visiting this year's yoga convention was to introduce RunToYoga and widen the reach of all the yoga accessories that can be found in our online store to as many people as possible. However, our secret wish was that we would get our place on the yoga mat among the 500 other participants. Until the end, we thought that it would not be possible because of the sold-out tickets. But luck was on our side, as one spot opened up and in the large hall next to it, there was also a place for our yoga mat, which we took just in case. The convention was chaired by Abhijata Iyengar, who comes from a long line of Iyengar yoga teachers. It's hard to put into words the overwhelming feelings and gratitude when we put the bracelet on our wrists that allowed us to practice with Guruji's granddaughter.
On Saturday morning, the large convention hall was flooded with the wonderful sounds of OM and the invocation to Patanjali. After that, Abhijata shared how nervous she was before her first international teaching trip. She described feeling nervous that she would be teaching people who have been practicing and studying yoga for much longer than she has been alive. She was afraid of what she could teach them all, since they had much more experience with exercise than she did. Her grandfather, Guruji, saw her doubt and fear and reassured her by saying: “Do you think people will come to your teachings? They will come for what I taught you.” With a smile, her nervousness instantly disappeared. The burden was gone. Her words and speaking gave me a tingling sensation several times, as if the Guru was speaking through her. This truly was a weekend I will never forget. We met wonderful people and Abhijata's practice was forever imprinted not only in our memory but also in our yoga practice.
