Autumn Wild Zen Yoga Fest
September 27, 2025 |
Smiling Acres, Trufant, MI
As the Autumn Equinox brings equal light and dark, we’re invited into a space of balance, reflection, and recalibration. This one-day gathering is your chance to honor the shift — moving from the outward energy of summer into the grounding rhythm of fall.
With the same heart-centered magic as our Summer Wild Zen Yoga Fest, this cozy celebration is aligned with the season of Libra — a time to seek beauty, harmony, and deeper connection — and the beginning of Vata season in Ayurveda, when airy, scattered energy invites us to slow down, root in, and restore.
Join us for a soul-nourishing day of yoga, meditation, sound, movement, and ritual — all surrounded by the earthy beauty of autumn and a warm, vibrant community.
Your ticket includes access to one-of-a-kind somatic experiences that support you.
A seasonal reset to let go, root down, and realign.
Come as you are. Leave more grounded, radiant, and whole.
Instructors, Experience Leaders and Healers
Carrie Labarge, creator of Wild Zen Yoga Fest. Carrie’s most important work in life is being a Mother to her two sweet babes; Louie and Betty
. She is co-facilitator of Mindful School of Yoga™ guiding future Yoga & Mindfulness leaders into the world. Carrie facilitates yoga teacher trainings and workshops, as well as, public and private yoga classes. Her goal in teaching and training is to guide others into an empowered and truly self-determined way of thinking, moving, and living. You can find Carrie teaching at a variety of venues and festivals, where she leads acoustic music & yoga classes.
Whitney Dawn Pyles is a Somatic (Body-Oriented) Coach and Facilitator. She is dedicated to guiding individuals and groups towards self-forgiveness, nervous system regulation, passion, purpose, and play. She believes the magic happens when we allow ourselves to show up authentically in all of our beautiful complexity, that dance is our BIRTHRIGHT, movement is medicine, and that our job, during our short time on this planet, is grounded in enJOYment and empathy. This will be her fourth year facilitating Mindful Movement and Ecstatic Dance at Wild Zen Yoga Festival. Connect with Whitney on Instagram or Facebook @whitneydawnpyles or at whitneydawn.com.
Rev. Trevor Chaitanya Eller is a dedicated leader and practitioner who has spent decades immersed in the transformative traditions of yoga and sound. He is the leader of Full Moon Kirtan Michigan and a passionate Kirtan wallah, having played guitar for renowned chant leaders such as Ajeet, Simrit, Gurunam, and Snatam Kaur.
As a practitioner, he integrates the healing arts by combining Massage and Yoga Therapy with a focus on both Western anatomical assessment and the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda.
Trevor's unique approach seamlessly blends the physical discipline of yoga, meditation, breath work, mantra, and sacred sound of Kirtan, and, as an ordained Interfaith Minister, a rich spiritual perspective. His work is dedicated to helping individuals find harmony, inner peace, and a profound sense of spiritual belonging.
Ryan DeLuca is a somatic therapist, SOMA Breath instructor, cacao crafter, and consciousness explorer.
He’s passionate about how our thoughts and emotions impact our physical health, healing generational trauma, the science of spirituality, and the heart-brain connection. He believes we all have the capacity to heal ourselves, and that starts by regulating our nervous system, developing awareness and tools for how our body responds to stress, and learning the language of our intuition.
Several years ago he discovered cacao used intentionally during a breathwork ceremony, and experienced one of the deepest sessions after consuming cacao beforehand. Since then, he’s been enjoying cacao in meditation several days per week, in addition to learning more about the history, culture, and medicinal background of this amazing fruit!
Ryan is honored to be purchasing cacao beans from Atucún Chocolatería, a chocolate company based out of Comayagua, Honduras.
Hilary Appleby is a certified Yoga Therapist specializing in bringing all 8 limbs of yoga into the lives of others in group yoga therapy workshops and one on one settings. The passion for sharing yoga stems from her own struggles of finding purpose and meaning in this human existence. Through contemplative movement she began to navigate her truth and create the deep connection of mind-body-spirit. What she loves about sharing yoga therapy is watching fellow humans find their own voice, stand in their truth, and create a life they love to live.
Follow Hilary @themindfullifellc
Kristin Swann is dedicated to helping you find your joy. Her Qigong classes are full of light and laughter. She brings years of self-healing and transformation into the present moment to create classes that help us know, love, and heal ourselves. She has been practicing Qigong since 2006 and was trained by Master Liu He of the Ling Gui International Qigong School in Portland Or. Currently she is a licensed acupuncturist and owner of Grand Rapids Wellness. Where her and her husband dedicate their lives to keeping GR well.
Peri Jill CNHP RYT is a Mother, Holistic Coach, Artist and Songstress, & joy Strategist based in the woods of northern michigan. Through Somatics, nervous system education, voice activation, emotional freedom and creative exploration Peri offers an integrative approach to wholeness reclamation.
Alicia Dawn has been leading organized singing experiences since 2009, sharing her voice and presence at yoga studios, temples, and festivals. With deep roots in Bhakti Yoga, Alicia has a gift for singing people out of their shells and guiding them into a joyful, heart-centered experience of sound and song.
She is a Certified Yoga Teacher and an Interfaith Minister, weaving together devotion, embodiment, and inclusivity in her offerings. Alicia’s circles are more than music — they are an invitation to connect with yourself, with others, and with the sacred vibration of the collective voice.
You can find Alicia leading kirtan, community song circles, and sacred sound experiences across the Midwest and beyond.
Sponsors WZYF