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