Yoshi Aono Shares a Love of Yoga Through Hanuman Festival
06 Jun 2019
The Heart of Yoga
By Matthew Wilburn King In the late 1980s, Yoshi Aono was living naked out of a tent and playing the guitar on the north shore of Kauai, Hawaii. He had never seen or heard of yoga until one day he rolled out of his tent and saw some women practicing it on the beach. Aono, a first-generation immigrant from Japan, is now responsible for the largest yoga festival in the mountain west, Hanuman Festival. The festival is named after the Hindu god of strength, knowledge and devotion—fitting, given Aono’s lifelong commitment to serving a greater cause. Aono is serious about bringing service, yoga and music to the wider world, and he did it right here in Boulder where he has resided for nearly 30 years. “Yoga gives us a safe space to look at ourselves in a loving way. To be able to walk this life in a much more grounded and uplifting way...allows us to accept ourselves as human beings so that we can be a better person for our children, spouse and local community,” says Aono. “That’s the story of Hanuman. The monkey god is all about devotion and finding the inner strength to make a difference, to be the ultimate humanitarian and to do it purely from the heart.” Nine years after its inception, Hanuman attracts 1,200 to 2,000 people from all over the world. About half the people attending the festival come to Boulder from outside the state. “I’m proud that the festival is now respected as a high-integrity event within the global yoga community…even in India, where yoga originated,” says Aono. Each year the festival has a different theme. This year’s theme is “Keeping It Real.” Classes and panel discussions will focus on a number of topics, including the spiritual ego, learning how to identify ‘spiritual bypassing,’ and how to avoid the pitfalls and blind spots of being a yogi, according to Aono.
(Photos Courtesy of Hanuman Festival 2019 media team: DJ Pierce, Bryan Lopez, Jeff Jones, Timothy D’Antonio and Chris Dodds)
