For many people, music festivals begin with clouding the senses. But for the first Wanderlust Festival, held July 24th-26th, our day of music had a decidedly different start: breathing, laughing, and stretching in one of dozens of expert-taught yoga classes. Instead of mind-altering substances, we were ingesting breath and 'shakti', working together to alter the collective conscious, before heading up the gondola to the top of the mountain for some great music.

The promoters of Wanderlust experimented with mixing a high-mountain music festival and an exclusive yoga retreat at Squaw Valley, USA, outside of Lake Tahoe, California. They brought together the best (boneless) yoga gurus, and some of the hottest musical acts on the road, for three days of fun and flexibility.

"If it's transformative for some people, great - If it's just good fun, that's wonderful," said Jeff Krasno, co-founder of the festival and also owner of Velour Music Group, which handled the music side of Wanderlust.

Up at the Gold Coast Stage, in the heart of Squaw Valley, a wonderfully diverse lineup played in the beauty of the high Sierra. Oakland's Rogue Wave mixed syncopated guitar lines with solid back beats and heavy bass. Multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird crafted and looped intricate layers including vocals, whistling, violin, cello, and guitar. Hip-hop stylist Common and folk/bluegrass extraordinaire Gillian Welch - two artists as different as you can get - were received with equal enthusiasm from the crowd of yogis and music seekers.

Festival promoters tried to minimize the event's footprint and create community with organized recycling systems; compostable water bottles; and by giving space to non-profits like the Yoga Africa Project, which brings yoga to the slums of Nairobi and helps send impoverished children to school. The non-profit Reverb was on hand to help concert-goers offset the carbon associated with traveling to the event. We bought a $3-dollar raffle ticket from Reverb, which we were told will support wind power via Native Energy.

"IT'S THE FIRST TIME I'VE EVER GOTTEN TO A GIG ON A GONDOLA" - Gillian Welch

In addition to Common and Spoon, Nature also headlined at Wanderlust, as Sierra wildflowers, Ponderosa Pines, and granite peaks combined to created a world-class venue.

"You get a source of power just looking up at the mountains," said Melissa, from Oakland, CA, still glowing from her experience in KK Ledford's Anusara class. "It was the best yoga class I've ever had in my life."

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