Photo by Rich Young courtesy Peace Love RVA
Maybe you’ve heard of Floyd Yoga Jam in Floyd? Or the Wanderlust Festival at Snowshoe, West Virginia? Yoga practitioners flock to these jamborees that pair classes and workshops with music, mindfulness, food and vendors. Since 2017, Richmond has boasted its own yoga festival: Peace Love RVA. The third edition of the festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 4, at Maymont.
The event co-founders, Sue Agee and Stephanie Quinby, yoga instructors who each have practiced yoga for more than two decades, met 15 years ago while volunteering with Project Yoga Richmond. After noticing that Richmond residents frequently traveled to attend expensive yoga festivals, Agee and Quinby decided that they wanted to highlight Richmond’s vibrant yoga community by offering a local event. “It just kind of grew out of a desire to support the great stuff we have in Richmond,” Agee says.
Festival co-founders Stephanie Quinby and Sue Agee (Photo by Rich Young courtesy Peace Love RVA)
A former NICU nurse, Agee was in her 40s when she became a yoga teacher. “[Yoga is] very empowering,” she says. “No matter where you are, you don’t need any special equipment. You don’t need somebody telling you even what to do. Wherever you are, you can pause, take a few deep breaths, calm your nervous system … it gives you a little [clearer] approach to how to handle the ups and downs of life.”
The festival is a rain-or-shine event staged under three tents and features adult and family yoga classes for all skill levels, vegetarian and vegan food trucks, musical performances, mindfulness workshops, and a merchant village with wellness lifestyle wares. A new event begins each hour.
“If [people] just want to watch and observe, they’ve never practiced yoga before, they can just come out and enjoy the day,” Agee says. “Every single class, no matter what type of class it is, we make sure the instructors realize that for some people it will be their first taste of yoga.”
Advance registration is requested. Admission is $15, but there is no charge to ages 17 and younger. A pass includes unlimited workshops and classes.
