Dirty South Yoga connects yoga communities and practitioners through festivals, storytelling, conversations, gatherings, workshops and events across the South.
Our commitment is for each DSYF experience to be as unique as the community itself. Dirty South Yoga will continually evolve as the community evolves. DSYF strives to support teachers, to encourage the spread of yoga and to inspire positive social change through yoga, service and awareness.
In 2013, a group of Atlanta yoga instructors got together to discuss what was happening in the yoga community, what it means to practice yoga in the South, and the direction we wanted to see our community grow.
There was a clear desire for realness, rawness, connection, community and more yoga.
That gathering planted an idea, a seed that slowly took root over a couple months, then breached the surface with an idea: to bring together the yoga community, to connect and celebrate yoga in a fun, approachable and authentic way: Dirty South Yoga Fest.
In June of 2014, Dirty South Yoga Fest hosted 18 teachers, 24 classes, local vendors, fresh food, local brew, music and festivities. We ommed, we practiced, we laughed and we connected.
We’re a little rough around the edges, we’ve never been described as prim and proper, we may sacrifice the easy route to pursue adventure, we choose bare-feet over dress shoes, we’ll get our hands dirty just to practice falling, our lifestyle calls us to live, to sweat, to be still, to get dirty, and to practice… above all to practice.
Through the lens of yoga, Dirty South Yoga, embraces the willingness to get your hands dirty: to do the work both for inner transformation and in community.
Zen Buddhist Monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, offers the concept “No mud; no lotus” to teach the practice of mindfulness in transformation. Not everything in yoga or life is pleasant and easy, often it is the times that challenge us and force us to get our hands dirty that lead us to transformation.
