Lisette Cheresson, Author at Sedona Yoga Festival

Embracing Ayurvedic Wisdom for Winter Wellness

Jan 14, 2026 | Sedona Yoga

Namaste, I’m Vaidya Jayarajan Kodikannath, Academy Director of Kerala Ayurveda USA and an Ayurvedic physician with a degree in Ayurvedic Medicine from Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala. With years of clinical practice and academic leadership, I’ve witnessed firsthand how ancient wisdom transforms modern lives. In our fast-paced world, we often find ourselves disconnected from nature’s rhythms, leading to imbalance and disease. Integrating Ayurveda into daily life isn’t just beneficial — it’s essential for maintaining harmony between body, mind, and spirit. Through simple, intentional practices aligned with the seasons, we can prevent illness, enhance vitality, and cultivate lasting wellness from within.

Ayurveda for the Winter Months

As we transition into the colder months, Ayurveda teaches us that winter is dominated by Vata dosha—bringing qualities of cold, dry, mobile, and subtle energy. This seasonal shift calls for specific practices to ground, warm, and nourish ourselves while maintaining balance and protecting our immune system. Here are three essential daily Ayurvedic rituals to embrace this winter:

Abhyanga (Self-Massage with Warm Oil)

Winter’s cold, dry air aggravates Vata dosha, leaving our skin parched and our nervous system frazzled. Daily abhyanga — self-massage with warm, herb-infused oil — is perhaps the most nurturing practice you can gift yourself during these months. This ancient ritual not only moisturizes and protects the skin but also calms the mind, improves circulation, and supports the lymphatic system’s natural detoxification process.

I recommend practicing abhyanga each morning before bathing, using our Calming Body Oil (Ksheerabala Thailam). This traditional formula features toasted sesame seed oil, valued for centuries for its natural analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties, which penetrates deeply to counteract winter’s drying effects while grounding scattered Vata energy. Its warming quality helps ease deep aches, rehydrate dry skin, and lull the body into a state of rest and restoration.

Warming Foods and Digestive Support

Our digestive fire, or Agni, naturally strengthens during winter as the body’s internal heat increases to counterbalance the external cold. This is an ideal time to support and optimize our digestive capacity. Proper digestion remains the cornerstone of health in Ayurveda, and winter’s robust Agni allows us to metabolize heartier, more nourishing foods such as root vegetables and heavier grains.

To support this natural digestive strength, favor nourishing stews and soups featuring grounding ingredients like sweet potatoes, carrots, beets, and parsnips. These substantial foods provide the stability that Vata craves during the mobile, erratic winter season. Enhance your meals with warming spices like ginger, cumin, cinnamon, black pepper, and turmeric, which kindle Agni while pacifying Vata’s cold, dry qualities. Starting your day with warm spiced water or ginger tea and choosing freshly cooked, warm meals throughout the day ensures your body can properly assimilate nutrients and maintain steady energy levels despite the season’s demands.

Nasya (Nasal Oil Application)

The nasal passages are our gateway to the head, mind, and consciousness. Winter’s dry air and indoor heating create the perfect environment for respiratory vulnerability. Nasya, the practice of applying medicated oil to the nasal passages, creates a protective barrier, lubricates delicate tissues, and supports clear breathing and mental clarity.

Our Nasya Oil (Anu Thailam) is a steroid-free, herbal formula crafted to gently flush and lubricate the nasal passages for healthy respiratory function. Applied each morning, this traditional blend helps relax tension, pressure, and stuffiness while moistening dry, scratchy noses. The tridoshic adaptogens and botanicals work to balance your dosha and open your flow of Prana for greater mental and sensory clarity. This simple two-minute practice during winter months can significantly reduce susceptibility to seasonal colds and congestion.

What I’ll Be Teaching at Sedona Yoga Festival

I’m thrilled to return to Sedona Yoga Festival this year to offer two transformative workshops inspired by this year’s theme, “Unrolling the Scroll.” The first explores Sleep and EMF (Electromagnetic Frequencies). Expect to be guided to examine how electromagnetic exposure from our devices and constant connectivity impacts the mind and subtle body, and consequently, our sleep quality. As we question our relationship with endless scrolling and screen time, understanding this connection becomes essential for protecting our well-being and cultivating restorative rest.

The second session focuses on Self-Care Practices for Optimal Health, where we’ll explore the daily practices (Dinacharya) passed down through ancient Ayurvedic texts — literally unrolling the wisdom of the scrolls. I’ll share key rituals including abhyanga and other oil-based therapies, along with practical guidance on how to integrate these time-tested practices into your modern lifestyle. Whether you’re new to Ayurveda or a seasoned practitioner, you’ll leave both sessions with practical tools and personalized protocols you can begin applying immediately.
Sedona’s unique energy and the Festival’s inclusive, consciousness-focused community create the perfect environment for exploring these teachings. The commitment to holistic wellness and the integration of ancient wisdom with modern life aligns beautifully with Kerala Ayurveda’s mission. I’m honored to return and share these practices with fellow seekers who understand that true health encompasses body, mind, and spirit. I look forward to connecting with you in this sacred space.

But If You Can’t Wait—Join Us for a Virtual Event in February!

For those who want to begin their Ayurvedic journey sooner, I’m hosting a virtual webinar on February 18, 2026 5pm-6pm Pacific exploring “Ayurveda & Yoga: A Unified Path to Balance and Vitality.” In this one hour online gathering, we’ll discover how these sister sciences work together to create holistic wellness, from understanding the gunas of the mind, and the doshas of the body, to align your Yoga practice with your unique constitution, and cultivate the vital energies of Agni, Prana, and Ojas.

This intimate virtual format offers a wonderful opportunity to explore foundational Ayurvedic principles before we gather in Sedona to dive into more specific practices like sleep optimization and daily self-care rituals. I hope you’ll join me so we can begin this journey together. Whether you’re a Yoga practitioner curious about Ayurveda or seeking to deepen your existing practice, you’ll leave with practical tools to integrate both disciplines into your daily life. Registration opens soon. Let’s make this winter your healthiest season yet!

Passes on sale now, get yours before prices rise!

When Non-Attachment Cultivates Collective Creation and Transformation

Oct 8, 2025 | Yoga Festival Experience

by Lisette Cheresson

Aparigraha, the fifth yama in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras — one of the moral codes for living as reflected in relationship to other people and the world around us — is the instruction of non-attachment. The yama is translated as a practice in letting go, non-attachment to the material, but aparigraha can also be interpreted as a type of spiritual generosity. We are practicing aparigraha when we come together with pure-hearted intention and purpose, when we give of ourselves to our community in a meaningful and inspired way, and when we are generous with ourselves so that we may contribute to collective uplift and growth.

Yoga conferences are opportunities to practice this form of generosity. Something powerful happens when people gather to breathe or flow together with this intention. A handful of studies in the social sciences have backed up this feeling, with the claim of the so-called “Maharishi Effect” — that rates of violent crime and conflict drop concurrently with large groups of people meditating together. When we practice aparigraha as spiritual generosity, we create the conditions for a better world.

This spirit is integral to the time that we find ourselves in now. “We have the opportunity to move into an era of collective creation,” says Heather Shereé Sanders, Producer of the Sedona Yoga Festival. “As we all emerge from what has proven to be a time of deep introspection — shadow work, even — and increased self-awareness, I anticipate that ‘self care’ begins to take the shape of community care.”

According to Sanders, as we begin to integrate the effects — both grief and growth — of the last few years, this is also a time of amplified manifestation. The Sedona Yoga Festival is held in the powerful vortex landscape of Sedona, Arizona, a place, says Sanders, that “amplifies the effects of the peace and connection we cultivate when we practice together over a series of days. It is revealing in that way. Sedona helps us see that we are not in traffic, we make the traffic.” But the idea of amplified manifestation transcends the physical.

This is also a time, says Sanders, for all practitioners of yoga (and all people, really) to recognize that each breath we take is in relationship with the whole experience of the world, that in fact we are responsible for it. Happening April 23–26, 2026, SYF will be an opportunity to “imagine the beautiful, abundant, equitable, and just societies that we can co-create, and learn the tools and techniques to positively contribute to that shared intention,” says Sanders.

The practice of non-attachment asks us to let go of our limiting beliefs of what is possible, and to allow for expansiveness of expectation and experience. This kind of generosity asks us to trade our focus on the self for attention on the Self; to recognize our importance as a part of the spiritual whole. Sanders says that SYF will cultivate this by offering classes on relationship — “relationship with the breath, with the natural world, and with one another.”

What does that feel like, then, to practice aparigraha as spiritual generosity? In the microcosm of SYF, Sanders says that “we intend that each individual who attends feels deeply — truly experiences — their individual relationship to the whole.” This year, for the first time ever, the Sedona Yoga Festival will be programmed by an entire team of seekers and thinkers, from diverse backgrounds and lineages. This will allow SYF to continue its signature practice of programming teachers who are not always drawn to the festival circuit, creating an even more fertile space for participants to emerge and imagine. “We want them to release, to ground, to be inspired,” says Sanders, “and to feel joy and inspiration.”

The joy is an important aspect here, especially as heady discussions of yogic philosophy and interpretation of the Sutras can feel heavy and laden with significance. The Sedona Yoga Festival allows for transformation because it is also a space to relish in the joy of being in community, the joy of being a part of something more, and the joy of being in a body, of having a physical experience. Joy is crucial to the practice of spiritual generosity, because it then does not feel like a chore. In joy we can co-create the creative and loving space to Emerge to Imagine a better world, and be inspired by what we find when we do.

Join us for the Sedona Yoga Festival, and experience the transformation of spiritual generosity in action. April 23–26, 2026. Tickets on sale now: https://sedonayogafestival.com/purchase-tickets/

Lead image by Josh Gray

Connect with the Greater Yogic Family to Build Community

Oct 1, 2025 | Yoga Festival Experience

In this time of technological advancements that allow us to connect globally we find ourselves asking what does it really mean to be in community? The word (and the idea) may have been co-opted by brands and companies, but when it comes to yoga, the idea of community is circumscribed in the idea of sangha. Sangha carries a weightier definition than a loosely-bound group of people with common ideology. Being in sangha includes practicing in an honorable way, honoring sacred traditions. It is gathering in community that allows us to glimpse the fact that we contain multitudes… That’s what the Sedona Yoga Festival is all about.

SYF is more than a brand community. It’s a convergence of purposeful community leaders who dive into participation and creation so compassion, inspiration, and peace may spread on an unprecedented scale. Nearly 70 percent of our participants are yoga professionals, leaders who share the ethos of yoga into their local community in a wide variety of ways.

“SYF is an incredible opportunity to connect deeply with the greater yogic family,” says SYF2025 participant and presenter Niki Saccareccia, eRYT. “The carefully-curated offerings and concerts represent the multidimensionality and intersectionality of true yoga and supports professionals and students alike. As a professional, I enjoyed the panel discussions and deep dives on important topics as a leader in the field, the option for CEUs and the trauma-informed lens that many of the presenters spoke through. Movement classes are available as are land excursions, a book fair, longer workshops to go deeper into study and concerts at night make this festival a truly well rounded and enriching experience. Highly recommend you come, even if you’re new to yoga!”

SYF Producer Heather Sanders says it’s her calling in life to hold space for true community development and transformation. She believes that by participating in SYF, local leaders may be inspired, renewed, and refreshed to continue the work of spreading the principles of yoga through their individual worlds. She sees our studio partners, presenters, and other partners as the thread that carries SYF through the year and into people’s lives in a real, tangible way. ‘

“While we’re gathering for a meaningful and transformative experience, we’re converging community leaders,” says Heather. “Connecting with those leaders is what carries the thread of SYF, allows for the teachings and learnings of SYF to really take root and be carried through the local communities throughout the year.” It’s how SYF creates the ripple effect to spread the true teachings of yoga for the greater good.

We’re gathering in Sedona to create meaningful relationships and provide an authentic experience of yoga so that you may cultivate a peaceful and resilient foundation within yourself and shine it out in the world. We hope you’ll join us for this transformative gathering by participating in SYF2026 on April 23–26, 2026! Passes on sale now.

Words by Lisette Cheresson
Lead photo by Ty Dobbs

Community as a Practice: An Excerpt from Jivana Heyman’s Book

Sep 20, 2025 | Sedona Yoga

Community as a Practice

by Jivana Heyman

The below is an excerpt from Jivana Heyman’s book, The Teacher’s Guide to Accessible Yoga. Reprinted with permission.

Often when I teach about how collaboration supports accessibility, I’m usually referring to a collaboration between teacher and student, which can be incredibly powerful. But there is also the collaboration that happens within a group of students. They can support and encourage each other in essential ways. So it’s important to reflect on how you can help to build a positive yoga community that is supportive, welcoming, and safe for all your students.

When I spoke to Michelle Cassandra Johnson, she explained how community building is an outcome of humility because it shifts power from the individual teacher to the group. It’s an acknowledgment of the healing power of the community. I love the idea that a yoga community is more than its lead teacher or teachers. It is the community itself that is key. It reminds me of Thich Nhat Hanh’s famous saying, “The next Buddha will be a sangha.”

Personally, I find group classes to be a very different experience from my home practice. The group offers support and encouragement and a sense of camaraderie that inspires and motivates me. Cultivating a healthy community is one of the truly special opportunities of teaching yoga.

The stereotype of a lone yogi sitting in meditation in a cave is more mythology than reality. Community is itself a yoga practice because it’s about learning to see yourself in others—which can be hard to do. This idea of transcending our individualism is a thread woven throughout the history of yoga. You can even see it in the wisdom of the Bhagavad Gita:

As your mind becomes harmonized through yoga practices, you begin to see the Atman in all beings and all beings in your Self; you see the same Self everywhere and in everything.

Ironically, to facilitate the inward journey of the yoga path, we need outer support. Support in the form of a loving community. Sangha, spiritual community, is helpful in inspiring practice as well as keeping us on the path when we’re struggling. This can be a lot simpler than it sounds. It can simply be a group of students who become yoga friends, bound together by a welcoming teacher.

While we all benefit from community, Accessible Yoga classes may include students who are particularly isolated. Isolation can be unhealthy mentally and physically, so creating opportunities for community-building is not only a nice idea, but a very effective technique for supporting students in general. As a teacher, consider ways to support connection and community. This could include:

Having students introduce themselves at the beginning of class or doing a quick icebreaker.
Learning your regular students’ names.
Creating space before or after class for conversation.
Encouraging students to support each other. They can connect and form friendships outside of class in a way that may not be appropriate for you as the teacher.
Thinking of activities for the students to do together, such as form a book group, or create a fundraiser for a cause they are interested in supporting.

Learn more on Jivana’s website, and then practice with him in-person at the Sedona Yoga Festival in March! Tickets on sale now.

Lead image by Danielle Holman.

Plant Power Is Having a Moment — and Botanic Tonics Is Leading the Way

Apr 28, 2025 | Sedona Yoga

From local kava lounges to retail stores nationwide, botanical supplements are making their way into the mainstream. Not all plant-based products are created equal, though. Botanic Tonics, with manufacturing in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, is setting high standards in the botanical supplement space with their commitment to quality sourcing and responsible production.

What Makes Botanic Tonics Different?

Botanic Tonics has vertically integrated their supply chain by purchasing a kava farm in Vanuatu, while continuing to support small, individual farmers who grow and harvest kava the same way they’ve done for centuries. The company’s products are manufactured in an FDA-registered, cGMP-certified production plant in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where every batch undergoes rigorous testing for quality and consistency.

What Does feel free CLASSIC Offer?

feel free CLASSIC is thoughtfully crafted to provide mood lift, energy, and focus. The experience varies from person to person, which is why Botanic Tonics emphasizes education and responsible consumption.

What’s Inside?

Botanic Tonics offers two main product lines, both available in tonic (2 oz bottles) and capsule form. Both formulations are designed to provide benefits within 15–30 minutes of consumption, with effects typically lasting 2–4 hours.

feel free CLASSIC: Contains kava root and leaf kratom. Each bottle provides two servings, with clear instructions to consume only one serving (half a bottle) at a time and no more than two servings in a 24-hour period.

Important: feel free CLASSIC is only for adults 21+. This product contains leaf kratom which, like caffeine and alcohol, can become habit-forming if consumed irresponsibly. Consider avoiding potentially habit-forming substances if you have a history of substance abuse.

feel free: Contains kava root, naturally-caffeinated kola nut (100mg per serving), lion’s mane, and rhodiola. This formula does not contain kratom.

Commitment to Quality

Botanic Tonics takes product safety seriously. Their facility has high quality standards, which includes testing for pesticides, aflatoxins, and heavy metals. A certified third-party lab, along with their in-house laboratory, conduct tests on every batch to ensure product integrity.For those interested in learning more about the ingredients, their effects, and how to consume them responsibly, Botanic Tonics provides comprehensive educational resources on their website at botanictonics.com.

This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or illness. Be sure to visit Botanic Tonics at the their booth at SYF2025, May 1–4! Passes, including 1- and 2-Day passes are still available. Register here.