Read elephant’s coverage of last year’s Telluride Yoga Festival: here, here or here.

Exhale your final ommm, raise your thumbs to your third eye center and bow slowly, then sit up straight and open your eyes. Let yourself drift back to reality, smile, thank your instructor and slowly rise.  It sounds like the peaceful ending to most yoga classes on most days.

Only today, you leave the studio and step onto Colorado Avenue in Telluride. You gaze up at majestic 13,000 foot peaks that cut into the horizon like a spiking lifeline.  The young aspen leaves are the color of fresh lime, but the mountains are still capped with pure white snow. You look up and down the street to see carefree locals sipping coffee and chatting on the sidewalk, soaking up the late morning sun that was so missed in the winter months.

This could be your yoga summer’s dream, at the Telluride Yoga Festival this July 8-11, 2010.

Waylon is taking elephant to the festival this summer for a night of interviews with amazing yogis, to be broadcast via Walk the Talk Show with Waylon Lewis, a green-focused show that’s been named top 10 in the country by Mother Nature Network and is carried on dozens of web sites, including Intent.com, Care2 Huffington Post. The presenter lineup is an all-star cast of yogis from around the nation:

All are well-traveled teachers specializing in areas of expertise ranging from yoga to Ayurvedic Indian foods; dolphin studies or the sacred feminine, or musical arts. Waylon’s cut-to-the-chase style of interview will highlight the different personalities and gifts that each presenter brings to the mat.  Everyone participating in the festival is invited to attend.  Watching the interviews will be a great way to enhance your experience with each instructor while on the mat—you get a preview of their individual styles, and some understanding of where they’re coming from and what’s behind the asana practice.  More info on this TBA.

Along with Walk the Talk Show, the summer festival combines the beauty of a tiny mountain town tucked into the San Juans with intensive yoga courses for all levels.  You can customize a daily schedule, using “Aubrey’s picks” on the festival website, or just figure out what would float your boat that day.  There are guided hikes and a farmer’s market to attend during the day as well.  The wildflowers in the summer in Telluride will blow your mind, and individual hikes are easy to find right off of Main Street.

Just be sure to look for the vids on ele after the festival, even if you don’t make it to southwest Colorado.

A little on the green side of the festival (just one more reason to support it):

We hope you support our mission of virtuous dharma and help reduce the environmental impact of this event. Here is our plan:

25% of net proceeds will be donated to Sheep Mountain Alliance, a local non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of the natural environment in the Telluride region and southwest Colorado.

The Telluride Yoga Festival is partnering with The New Community Coalition (TNCC) to provide you the opportunity to offset the environmental impacts of your travel and participation in the festival. You will have an opportunity during registration and again at the festival to make a $25 donation to TNCC’s Green Fund. All Green Fund proceeds will go towards local renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, such as solar modules on area schools.

The Telluride Yoga Festival aspires to be a zero waste event. This means eliminating the generation of excess waste during the event and reusing, recycling and composting wherever possible. This is no small task and will require the cooperation of everyone involved (exhibitors, participants, sponsors and of course us, the event coordinators).

All participants will receive a gift bag full of ecologically friendly items. The bag itself is reusable, and you are encouraged to use the bag throughout the weekend for your shopping needs. Visit TNCC’s website for more information on the environmental hazard of plastic bags and TNCC/SMA’s collaborative efforts to phase out plastic bag use in San Miguel County.

Culligan Water Conditioning, a locally owned company, is sponsoring the festival and has graciously agreed to provide an unlimited supply of purified drinking water. Water dispensers will be available at every studio, so plan on bringing your own reusable water bottle to fill up throughout the weekend. We will also be selling reusable water bottles in the Yoga Marketplace if you would prefer not to travel with your own.