For anyone who has attended the Big Bear Yoga Festival, you know what a wonderful collective family it is. Over the past 10+ years, this festival has grown from a tiny seed in Annalisa Berns’s heart to the beautiful gathering it is today.

Let me tell you a little about how it evolved for me.

In 2012, I was attending the annual Bhaktifest gathering in Joshua Tree. Each year I attended this festival, I often ran into Annalisa and her friend, Renee Fulkerson. This year, Annalisa called me ahead of Bhaktifest and asked if we could have a little informal meeting at the festival. She had something she wanted to share with me.

When we met, I learned that she had a dream of creating a yoga festival in Big Bear. She shared with me her desire to bring the many yoga teachers and practitioners, who lived and practiced in the Inland Empire area, together. Not competing with one another, but embracing and supporting one another.

I loved this idea and she asked if I would be one of her teachers and musicians. I gave her a hearty yes and, in the Fall of 2013 the festival would premiere and I would teach a yoga class and lead kirtan with my band. The venue that was home to the festival began at YMCA Camp Oakes. It was a lovely venue, offering an outdoorsy feel under the pines. There was a little hiatus during covid – one year completely off and one year on-line. But the spirit of the festival stayed strong.

As the festival grew, there was a need for more indoor and outdoor space to hold sessions. In 2017, Annalisa moved the festival to Big Bear Performing Arts Center. This has been home to the festival every year since.

During those first three years Annalisa and Renee were a team, partnering to create and sustain the festival. After that third year Renee stepped back and Annalisa became the sole face of BBYF. But there was a small team of assistants who have been there since the beginning – Patrice Carlisle, Lisa Ann Gold, and Elizabeth Peregrina to name a few.

With the exception of last year, I have had the privilege of teaching and sharing my music each and every year. It has always been a delight to circle back each year to the friends who gather from all corners of the state, and some who come from the borders well beyond California. Seeing everyone each year feels a little like coming home, to friendship, to enjoying our crafts, to celebration.

After the second or third year, I felt so inspired by this gathering that I wrote a song for the festival. Those who gathered felt like family. They felt like my tribe. Here are the words:

“This is my tribe, these are my people.

We gather close, we’re being real.

We reach out to one another, sister and brother.

This is my tribe, these are my people.

The mountain calls us back together.

This sacred calling is forever.

We reach out to one another, sister and brother.

This is my tribe, these are my people.

We stand like trees, we fly like eagles.

The Sacred Spirit comes to heal.

Our hearts embrace this liberation,

freedom and celebration.

This is my tribe, these are my people.

This is my tribe, these are my people.

We gather close, we’re being real.

We reach out to one another, sister and brother.

This is my tribe, these are my people.”

If you want to listen to this song on Spotify, here is the link: https://open.spotify.com/track/2sL0kHYvUiEdXWqNSPQb6u

You can also find it on all your streaming services.

Hope to see you at the festival in 2026.