Celebrating its second year, the Maine Yoga Fest brings yogis and yoga enthusiasts to Portland. The two-day event began Saturday and organizers say they created the event to spotlight Maine's vibrant yoga community.

Five hundred participants, some coming as far as Portland, Oregon and Arkansas have signed up for the festival. Many of the workshops feature and spotlight several different types of yoga, from meditation to paddleboard yoga, even spa, power and spin yoga too. The festival also features music, classes for kids and a vendor fair.

Organizers say the festival is a good way to get introduced to yoga and have noticed more men practicing yoga, even older people and teens. Plus instructors hosting workshops can help people find poses that are comfortable for them despite past injuries.

The festival runs through Sunday afternoon at Portland's East End Community School on North Street.

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Maine Yoga Fest celebrates health and well-being

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) July 13, 2014

This documentary shows the importance of having an integrated yoga practice and it will clarify many misconceptions of yoga in America by addressing 4 subject areas: 1) Yoga versus Asanas (physical postures) 2) Yoga teaching standards 3) Yoga & Religion 4) Yoga versus Tantra and other spiritual faiths. Watch the movie online at: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/yogamaya. To find out more about Yoga Maya Movie, please visit http://www.yogamayamovie.com.

Cast of Yoga Maya: Jai Uttal, Annie Carpenter, Mark Whitwell, Felicia Tomasko, Tracee Stanley, Swami Sri Atmananda, Arun Deva, Daniel Stewart, Julie Carmen, Tej Khalsa, Lorin Roche, Chris Chapple.

More than 20 million people practice yoga in America. For most of these people, yoga means Asana, the physical postures. Only a small percentage of yoga practitioners incorporate other aspects of yoga into their practice and lifestyle, namely: meditation, breath-work, morals and disciplines. It is good that so many people have a physical asana practice, yoga asanas (postures) do offer many health benefits. However, if these people expand their practice even marginally by embracing other limbs of yoga, they would benefit exponentially in all walks of life. A comprehensive yoga practice that includes all limbs of yoga builds character, discipline, an appreciation for the eco-system and the resolve to face challenges more gracefully.

There is no better time than now to embrace the full promise of yoga. Most of the problems one faces in this country today are due to a lack of discipline, morals and holistic view of life. To name a few: spending beyond one's means, suffering from illnesses due to poor diet and lifestyle choices, spending money on wars instead of investing that money in social services and destroying the environment for short term benefits. The foundation of this country is crumbling and it is time for a fundamental change in the way we think and live.

An integrated yoga practice can solve these problems and offer the transformation that is needed today. It is time for everybody to operate in a higher state of consciousness. Yoga, if embraced in its entirety, can take one to that higher state. Yoga Maya Movie offers some thought provoking conversations about how one can achieve a higher state of consciousness and deepen one's spiritual practice.

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Yoga Maya Movie Unveils the Illusions of Yoga in America