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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 2015)
4C THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015 PARTING SHOTS A weekly snapshot from The Daily Astorian and Chinook Observer photographers A player on Gladstone’s softball team stands in the on deck circle during a softball game against Astoria High School in Astoria March 16. JOSHUA BESSEX — The Daily Astorian Yoga: Festival typically brings between 150 and 200 enthusiasts Continued from Page 1C Sara “Senna” Scott, of Redmond, sat near the front. The Saturday class wasn’t just Scott’s first yoga class at the festival; it was her first yoga class ever. “I had self-doubts about singing,” she said. “It was interesting how negativi- ty kind of just came about while I was practicing. And just being able to actual- ly practice it, and have the support and love of every- one else in the room — it was really incredible.” Life drawing At moments, Marsh asked her listeners — the unsure beginners and the seasoned yogis — to park their thinking mind some- where in their body. And, when their mind wandered, to coax it back to the here and now, even if it was only to pay attention to the sen- sations on their fingertips, or of their bare skin against the cool air. Though mindfulness meditation lies at the heart of yoga practice, one need not necessarily assume the lotus position while om-ing in order to have a medita- tive experience. Making art, for example, can be just as rich and rewarding, and can produce a similar effect. Before Marsh’s work- shop, the community hall served as a temporary art studio, where Cannon Beach artist and teacher Da- vid Kinhan taught a yoga figure drawing class. Using charcoal sticks and a canvas, five amateur artists sketched the lithe, flexible frame of Julie “Fig” Yanko, a professional mod- el and yoga practitioner from Manzanita. Yanko, wearing skin- ERICK BENGEL — EO Media Group Julie “Fig” Yanko, of Manzanita, models the Lord of the Fishes pose for a figure drawing class. Background from left: Rebecca Bliefernich, St. Helens; Linda Kinhan, Cannon Beach; and Sara Rieber, Portland. tight gym wear, rotated her angular body through dif- ferent yoga poses on two layers of yoga mat, some- times holding a pose for 10 minutes or more. Mean- while, Kinhan circled the room, moving from student to student, pointing out the shapes, contours, propor- tions and musculature of Yanko’s body, and the neg- ative space around it. The human form is “one of the hardest things that there is to draw,” even in a state of natural repose, Kin- han said. Drawing it in com- plicated yoga poses requires even greater concentration. “This particular type of drawing is like a yoga practice,” said Kinhan, the ERICK BENGEL — EO Media Group Julie “Fig” Yanko, of Manzanita, models for David Kin- han’s yoga figure drawing class. Background from left: Lila Wickham,Cannon Beach; Kinhan, Cannon Beach; and Jennifer Wyman, Tacoma, Wash. younger brother of yoga festival founder and direc- tor Christen Allsop. “I tell people that the whole point of this class is not neces- sarily to make beautiful drawings that you’re going to put in a frame and give to your mother. It’s for you. It’s for you to learn how to draw.” While drawing, “you’re focusing on one thing for a certain period of time,” said Sara Rieber, a festival volunteer from Portland who took Kinhan’s class. “You get into a whole oth- er world. You forget about your surroundings, which is exactly what yoga’s sup- posed to be like.” ‘Trueness of line’ Now in its fifth consecu- tive year, the yoga festival, held March 6 through 8 this year, typically brings be- tween 150 and 200 yoga en- thusiasts to Cannon Beach. These include world-re- nowned yoga instructors, like Marsh, who give class- es, workshops, presenta- tions and lectures at dif- ferent locations throughout town. The 2015 festival had just under 200 participants, according to an early tally by Allsop, owner of Cannon Beach Yoga Arts. The festival receives money from the city’s Tour- ism and Arts Commission, which collects a portion of the city’s overnight lodging taxes. To get funding, event organizers have to show that their event attracts visitors from more than 50 miles away and contributes to the city’s arts scene. This year’s yoga festival grant was for $36,000. Rebecca Bliefernich, a St. Helens resident and friend of Allsop, has attend- ed the festival every year, and this year marked the second time she has taken Kinhan’s class. As Kinhan called it a day, and Yanko prepared for Marsh’s work- shop, Bliefernich, a painter, shared why yoga appeals to her. “Everybody does yoga for a different reason,” she said. “For some people, it’s internal; other people, ex- ternal. For me, it’s visual.” Watching Yanko — whose yoga posture rep- resents “the ideal,” and whose “trueness of line” embodies what many yoga practitioners hope to achieve — “It makes me appreciate what yoga’s sup- posed to be,” Bliefernich said. “I will never have a yoga body. I will never have that trueness of line. But I can certainly appreciate it in other ways.” W hile other n ew spa pers give you less, The D a ily Astoria n GIVES YOU M ORE O u r n ew C APITAL B UREAU covers the sta te for you From left: Peter W on g, H illa ry Borru d , M a teu sz Perk ow sk i