SANGHA FEST Lineup
Yoga Classes, Interactive Workshops & Live Music
The 2026 Line-up is officially here!

Seán Johnson & The Wild Lotus Band

Dave Stringer
Dave Stringer is a Grammy®-nominated producer, singer, and songwriter celebrated for his innovative fusion of traditional Indian mysticism with the vibrant rhythms of American Gospel and the soulful harmonies of Appalachia. Renowned worldwide for his modern approach to Kirtan, Stringer’s musical journey began after a transformative encounter with an ashram in India in 1990, redirecting his focus from visual arts and jazz to the spiritual realm of music.
Stringer’s profound experiences, including teaching meditation to prison inmates and delving into neuroscience, have deeply influenced his artistic expression and philosophy.
A captivating public speaker, he navigates the complexities of the human spirit with wit and insight, aiming to create inclusive and interactive experiences rooted in the ancient traditions of Kirtan and yoga. His contributions to the music world extend beyond performance, with Grammy nominations for his production and collaboration on albums like “Bhakti Without Borders” and “Mantra Americana.” Currently, Stringer continues to captivate audiences worldwide through his dynamic performances, workshops, and retreats, exemplifying the enduring power of music to transcend cultural boundaries and unite souls in collective harmony.

Sheela Bringi
Sheela Bringi is a sacred music artist, educator, and multi-instrumentalist who bridges the musical worlds of India and the West. Raised in a musical household in Colorado by South Indian immigrant parents, she was immersed in Kirtan, mantra, and Hindustani classical music from a young age.
- Bansuri: The Indian classical bamboo flute.
- Harp: Specifically a 36-string raga harp.
- Harmonium: Frequently used in her devotional and kirtan performances.
Bringi has released two solo albums, Incantations (2014) and Shakti Sutra (2016), which feature traditional mantras re-imagined with modern acoustic and electronic textures. Her work has reached a global audience through several notable achievements:
She has toured and recorded with world-renowned artists such as Jai Uttal, Karsh Kale, and Idan Raichel.
Her vocals and flute work contributed to the Grammy-nominated album Bhakti Without Borders.
Her music is featured in soundtracks for Disney Nature’s Monkey Kingdom and Disney Plus’s Mira, Royal Detective.
Bringi holds an MFA in World Music Performance from the California Institute of the Arts. She currently serves as adjunct faculty at Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, teaching courses in Indian devotional and raga singing. In 2020, she co-founded the Sacred Sound Lab with her partner Brent Kuecker, an online school dedicated to training students globally in harmonium, kirtan, and mantra.

Saul David Raye
Dave Stringer is a Grammy®-nominated producer, singer, and songwriter celebrated for his innovative fusion of traditional Indian mysticism with the vibrant rhythms of American Gospel and the soulful harmonies of Appalachia. Renowned worldwide for his modern approach to Kirtan, Stringer’s musical journey began after a transformative encounter with an ashram in India in 1990, redirecting his focus from visual arts and jazz to the spiritual realm of music.
Stringer’s profound experiences, including teaching meditation to prison inmates and delving into neuroscience, have deeply influenced his artistic expression and philosophy.
A captivating public speaker, he navigates the complexities of the human spirit with wit and insight, aiming to create inclusive and interactive experiences rooted in the ancient traditions of Kirtan and yoga. His contributions to the music world extend beyond performance, with Grammy nominations for his production and collaboration on albums like “Bhakti Without Borders” and “Mantra Americana.” Currently, Stringer continues to captivate audiences worldwide through his dynamic performances, workshops, and retreats, exemplifying the enduring power of music to transcend cultural boundaries and unite souls in collective harmony.

Ananda Das
Ananda Das is a revered figure in the realms of Kirtan, Sattva Himalayan Kundalini Yoga, and the teachings of singing, mantra, and Bhakti Yoga. With a heart deeply rooted in devotional practice, Ananda Das has dedicated his life to exploring the intersections of music, yoga, and spirituality, guiding countless souls on their journey towards inner peace and liberation. Ananda Das’s teachings are a reflection of his own journey—a testament to the power of music, movement, and mindfulness in achieving harmony and enlightenment. His compassionate approach and dedication to the path of love and service inspire all who cross his path, making him a beloved teacher and guide in the global spiritual community.

Katie Wise & Bhakti Explosion
Join Katie and her band for an intimate set of heart-opening mantra-folk: yogic chants blended with emotionally crafted songs reminiscent of Sarah McLachlan and Alanis Morissette. Designed to calm the chaos inside and out, Katie’s newest songs are about healing, letting go, and transcending. The band incorporates acoustic and electric guitars, keyboard, bass, drum kit, and female+male harmonies including Katie’s own vocal looping.
Katie Wise & Bhakti Explosion is a kirtan band fusing heart-opening mantra with contemporary folk rock. Since forming in 2014, the band has appeared at some of the biggest international yoga and transformational festivals such as Bhakti Fest (CA), Rocky Mountain Folks Fest (CO), Hanuman Festival (CO), Holistic Manchester (UK), Arise (CO), Festival of Colors USA (UT), Mammoth Yoga Festival (CA), Shakti Fest (CA), Bhakti Love Reunion (CA), Lovelight (MD), Relaxspansion (OR), and Stonehenge Music Festival (UK). Bhakti Explosion has toured and recorded with David Newman, has been the backing band for Donna DeLory, Girish, Brenda McMorrow, Daphne Tse, and David Newman, and has shared the stage with Wah, Sean Johnson & the Wild Lotus Band, Guru Ganesha Singh, Deva Premal and Miten, and many others. Katie regularly leads or co-leads yoga and spiritual retreats in the US, India, and Mexico, alongside teachers like Kirsten Warner, R.R. Shakti, Chameli Arbaugh (Awakening Women Institute), and Saul David Raye. Australian Yoga Life writes “Wise’s soulful, earth voice embodies vulnerability in a way that turns emotion into art.”

Monica Mesa Dasi
Monica Mesa Dasi is a Tantrik yogini, intuitive, author of bestselling book WithYou Forever, mother of three sons, and devotee of beloved Gurus Neem Karoli Baba & Amma. She is a deeply trusted mentor, channeler, plant medicine woman, and an activist that leads the Soul on Fire movement. Monica has impacted the physical, mental, and spiritual lives of people around the globe with her message of self love, the power of daily practice, and the importance to claim your power, purpose, and passion, & be a beneficial presence on the planet. She is a presenter at festivals, retreats, global events, and is the creatress of Soul on Fire Mystery School for Women of Wisdom & Sacred Yoga Sadhana. Her message, “Love Yourself & You Love The World” is what she believes will give rise to personal and planetary healing for a more compassionate, healthy, and harmonious humanity.

Evie
Evie has been in southwest Colorado for 5 years now and teaching yoga for 4 years. She feels most alive in or near water and loves to help facilitate sup yoga. In her free time, Evie loves to be playing in the mountains and attempting to homestead with her two kids.

Jackie Just
Jackie Just is a Prana Vinyasa and SUP yoga instructor, Ayurveda Wellness coach and Ayurvedic chef who lives in Crested Butte, Colorado. Jackie is passionate about supporting her students’ wellness on and off the mat and her approach is rooted in the ancient life science of Ayurveda. She loves to remind herself and her students that Ayurveda, even when practiced imperfectly, provides us with a road map toward greater ease, vitality and happiness and fun in all areas of our lives through small, gradual lifestyle shifts.

Prem Vidu & The Band of Now
Prem Vidu is a sacred music artist whose journey began in a home filled with harmony, rhythm, and the magic of barbershop chords. Though he started singing at five, percussion soon became his heartbeat, leading him to explore global rhythms and earn a BFA in Percussion Performance & Jazz Studies. His music carried him across the world—from Broadway’s Blast! in London to the steel pan rhythms of Trinidad & Tobago and beyond. Yet, it was the deeper call of music as prayer that truly transformed him, guiding him into devotion, shamanism, and plant medicine. In a sacred vision, he received a message that changed everything: “There is no shorter umbilical to your soul than singing.” At 35, he returned to his voice, blending decades of musical experience with his spiritual path. Now, through The Band of Now, he leads kirtans with Nischala Bright, and other guests of the ‘Now’, to sing, heal and awaken together. Jai Ma!

Dr. Manoj Chalam
Manoj (people call him a spiritual standup comedian) uses an uniquely entertaining, interactive story telling style using Hindu/Buddhist deities in his workshops to illuminate Bhakti practices as well as deep non dual philosophy. He teaches at festivals, yoga events, his ashram and whoever wants to listen.
Manoj uses these deity archetypes to help people in their hero’s journey as elucidated by Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung. An Indian-born scientist with a PhD in Chemical engineering from Cornell University, Manoj helps individuals find their archetypes in Hindu/Buddhist Yogic deities and teaches the 5 practices to work with their archetype as a spiritual practice. He has also compiled a book on the symbolisms of these deity archetypes. For over 25 years Manoj has held workshops and teachings. He has been key note speaker at Telluride Yoga Festival, and regularly brings his gifts to the greater Sangha of the world.
Website www.MurtisAndVedanta.com

Lily Russo M.S.
I feel very fortunate to have been practicing yoga for over 20 years years. It has been a path of health, joy, transformation and empowerment since my teen years. Initially, it was the physical practice that captured my attention, but over the years this led me to study all the other facets including pranayama, meditation, tantra, and yoga’s sister science, Ayurveda, as well as other influential disciplines, primarily Buddhism, the Tao te Ching, and plant medicines. I have participated in over 1000 hours of yoga trainings, and am an affiliate of Shiva Rea’s Samudra Global School of Living Yoga, leading 200 Hour Prana Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Trainings.
As a Sacred Sensuality Guide, Yoga Teacher, Retreat Organizer, Podcaster (Your Inner Radiance) and Ayurvedic Practitioner, my goal is to guide others to embody a path of connection to their higher selves and to all other beings, and be empowered to access the great cosmic source of radiance, creativity, and healing. My deepest passion is connecting with women and guiding them to fully cultivate their natural feminine powers of sensuality, intuition, compassion, radiance and pleasure! www.lilyrussoyoga.com

Molly Nixon
Molly is a multi-passionate mom with a humanitarian heart, fuzing together her various projects with love and a heart-felt desire to make the world a better place.
Molly spent over a decade abroad weaving together humanitarian service, yogic exploration and international travel as a way to support those impacted by war, marginalization and violence as well as the service providers working within these communities. Molly runs a grassroots charity, The Yoga Mandala Project, as a way to send ripples of care out into the world. YMP offers healing-centered Yoga programs with refugees, Caring for the Carers programs for aid workers and Trauma-Informed Training.
Molly completed 500 hour Yoga teacher training programs with both Hridaya Hatha Yoga and Sattva Yoga Academy. She has studied Total Yoga Nidra with Uma Dinsmore Tuli, accessible yoga with Jivana Haymen and a variety of embodied social justice trainings with Off the Mat into the World. She has also completed a variety of training programs in trauma-informed yoga and leadership, children’s yoga and mindfulness around the world.
Molly has created a nature based retreat center in Northern Arizona where she hosts yoga retreats, nature immersions and women’s gatherings @mystic.arizona.escapes.

Bandar
Bandar is Bhakta who’s music is a portal through which he transmits the medicines of love and devotion to share in splendor with others for planetary awakening. Alongside stewarding his Sedona conscious farming eco village, he offers his Weekly Kirtan’s which are a one-of-a-kind Ecstatic journey through the heart, invoking an intimate experience of the Dancing Cosmos within. Through his grounded, clear, and passionately embodied presence – a rainbow bridge is cast between the Ancient Soul of India’s divine celestial beings and the Sacred Sedona Red Rocks calling a vibrant community in to praise and celebrate the God in all.

Sarah Klein
Since 2008, Sarah has considered herself privileged to share and serve by spreading the spark of yoga. She sees sharing yoga as a true honor, one that she takes seriously. Her intention is to convey the teachings of yoga from the heart, igniting a fire of self-curiosity in her students and inspiring them to pursue a lifelong practice. Sarah believes that through the potent teachings of yoga, we can shift humanity’s current trajectory. Let’s awaken together through yoga and spread the light.
Sarah Klein is the founder and director of Anu Yoga School. She initially found her yoga home in the Ashtanga lineage, deeply moved by the devotion required by this practice and its ability to create a moving, breathing meditation through its direct and clear nature.
As the founder and director of a Yoga Alliance-certified, Ashtanga-inspired 200-hour and 300-hour yoga school that began in 2007, Sarah emphasizes the idea of teaching to learn. She takes great pride in continuing her formal studies annually with her primary teachers, Bhavani Maki and Annie Pace.
Sarah has two B.S. degrees from the University of Vermont in Health Psychology and Human Development and Family System studies. She is an E-RYT-500 with well over 500 hours of training. She is a certified Health and Wellness coach through the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, with continuing education in hormonal health and Ayurvedic studies. She is a lifelong learner who thrives in exploring the mystery of life.
In her asana classes, Sarah effortlessly weaves in teachings from The Yoga Sutras and mythic storytelling, inviting students to delve deeper into themselves through the wisdom of the practice. As an Ashtangi at heart, she guides her students with precision rooted in tradition while embracing creativity, playful sequencing, and open exploration to meet them where they are. Sarah’s love and devotion for yoga shine through her charismatic and effervescent personality.

Elizabeth Lava
Elisabeth is the owner of Bee True You Wellness & Creative Studio in Ridgway, Colorado. She began practicing yoga in 1998. Teaching since 2008, Elisabeth blends vinyasa yoga in alignment with Shiva Rea (Samudra Global School of Living Yoga with Shiva Rea hatha yoga and pranayama through studying with Mas Vidal, and deep, general meditation that gives a taste of Kriya Yoga by evoking the Masters of that lineage. Elisabeth is a National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach, Certified Life Purpose and Spiritual Emergence Coach®. She offers custom Ayurveda-informed sadhana and wellness consults, workshops on meditation and retreats combining yoga, meditation, wilderness therapy, and in-person holistic coaching for her clients. For more information on retreats, coaching, and the Bee True You Wellness studio visit: https://www.elisabethlava.com/