NEW ORLEANS YOGA FESTIVAL 2025
Mark Berger, Jamie Harris and Caroline Chiesa of the New Orleans Yoga Festival 2025
AN INTERVIEW WITH Jamie Harris, Caroline Chiesa AND Mark Berger: FOUNDERS OF THE INAUGURAL NEW ORLEANS YOGA FESTIVAL
Talking to Paul Oswell
The inaugural New Orleans Yoga Festival take place later this month. It aims to create communities from yoga practitioners across the Gulf South. We caught up with founders Jamie Harris, Caroline Chiesa and Mark Berger to find out what's in store.
Out All Day: How are all the preparations going for the festival?
Jamie Harris: We’ve been putting in a lot of outreach hours but now we're within striking distance, it seems like everything's moving faster. All of our partners are jumping on board. There's lots to do, but there's a good buzz going around.
Great! So this is the inaugural one. How did it come about? Where were the seeds planted?
Mark Berger: Well, years ago, I got Wanderlust to come here, which is like the national big yoga festival. They came here, but they really didn't care about locals, and that was just sad, because it's a yoga event that’s supposed to be about community, and it really wasn't. I've been doing festival production for a long time, mostly health and music festivals. Me and Caroline were just talking and I said, how about we maybe do something like this? And she was on board.
Caroline Chiesa: Yeah! Say less. Let's do it.
Going straight in for four days is a big leap - y’all just wanted to jump in!
CC: Yes! The other part of it is that my partner owns (nightclub and concert venue) Republic, where the festival spaces will be. The club is not open during the daytime, so he essentially said as long as he can book things at night, we can use the space during the day. Four days might have been a little ambitious!
I don't think so. Go big! What’s the yoga scene like in New Orleans for someone who doesn't know about it? Could you give us an overview compared to other cities maybe?
MB: I've been here my whole life, and I've dedicated my life to health and wellness. Compared to other major metropolitan cities, like New York, we are semi-behind in everything, But we still have a really good community vibe here. In the last decade it has grown, so it’s not just studios. We have kind community classes at big churches and in outdoor spaces. During lockdown, people got creative, some people weren’t, say, drinking as much and they were finding an outlet to get those same endorphins. I think yoga has just been a crucial part of the local health scene and it's important to all three of our lives. People are starting to see more than just the physical stuff and getting into the mental and spiritual aspects that can help with their daily personal lives.
Tell me some of the highlights that people can look forward to over the four days.
CC: Well, having diversity in the schedule is very important to us. So for people that are not necessarily physically inclined, we have lectures, and different types of music too - I'll even be DJing! We have a little bit of everything up in that realm. Republic is a 1,000 capacity room. It's two floors. That's the main festival ground, where we'll have the vendors. We'll have performers and lectures on the stage and a huge video wall. Aurora is the second room and that's a 400 capacity space. That’s where all the yoga is taking place. We'll set up for the whole weekend, for all the classes. So there's going to be something happening at all times in both spaces.
That sounds like a full program.
CC: Our big hope in doing this is exposing the community to things in this world that maybe they haven't experienced before. Honestly, I'm mostly excited just for the festival community space that can be a glue to connect all these little yoga communities in the city. We want to get all of these people together and mingling. Everyone's going to leave with new friends!
Fantastic. And if you're yoga curious, is it going be approachable for complete beginners?
CC: Totally. In fact, right now, I'm working on all of our class lineups and it'll be noted on each day which classes are beginner friendly. All experience levels are absolutely welcome.
MB: In terms of our charity partners, Split Second Foundation helps people with accessible rehab and fitness. People who have had strokes, spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, and the like. Shuck Cancer is a local cancer research organization and EA Yoga helps kids that have been affected by their parents or themselves being incarcerated. One that is dear to me is sponsoring a kid in India. There’s this art school there that I've supported in Varanasi and it’s basically taking a kid and giving them a year's worth of school and food. Then we have some great sponsors, the Goldring Foundation, the Plant Gallery helping with decor, plus law firms, and engineering firms. But like Caroline said, that's the glue. We can't do anything without the help of each other, it really needs to be a community. In New Orleans, we really care about each other, and I think this is gonna be magical for this year and years to come.
I hope so too, it’s a good start!
JH: I've had my hands in the entertainment industry a lot of my life, and I've been a personal trainer and a yoga teacher for going on two decades. I think the two domains deserve each other. In the entertainment world, we're having fun, but oftentimes, forgetting to take care of ourselves. And in the wellness world, there are serious and disciplined people who forget to have fun. In New Orleans especially, oftentimes the wellness is the part that's forgotten. We want a robust community who can have all of that, the full spectrum of fun to wellness.
MB: We have a ton of festivals in the city. We love our food. We love our drinking. People will eat and drink unhealthy food for a fundraiser and there's nothing against that. But our goal is to live longer, so we can be there for our loved ones and our community. We can improve ourselves at the same time as raising awareness and money.
The New Orleans Yoga Festival runs from 25th-28th Sept. For tickets, click here - USE THIS LINK FOR a $25 DISCOUNT FOR OUT ALL DAY READERS! Or, at Checkout, us the discount code OUTALLDAY25
Follow @nolayogafest on Instagram for updates
The inaugural New Orleans Yoga Festival take place later this month. It aims to create communities from yoga practitioners across the Gulf South. We caught up with founders Jamie Harris, Caroline Chiesa and Mark Berger to find out what's in store.
Out All Day: How are all the preparations going for the festival?
Jamie Harris: We’ve been putting in a lot of outreach hours but now we're within striking distance, it seems like everything's moving faster. All of our partners are jumping on board. There's lots to do, but there's a good buzz going around.
Great! So this is the inaugural one. How did it come about? Where were the seeds planted?
Mark Berger: Well, years ago, I got Wanderlust to come here, which is like the national big yoga festival. They came here, but they really didn't care about locals, and that was just sad, because it's a yoga event that’s supposed to be about community, and it really wasn't. I've been doing festival production for a long time, mostly health and music festivals. Me and Caroline were just talking and I said, how about we maybe do something like this? And she was on board.
Caroline Chiesa: Yeah! Say less. Let's do it.
Going straight in for four days is a big leap - y’all just wanted to jump in!
CC: Yes! The other part of it is that my partner owns (nightclub and concert venue) Republic, where the festival spaces will be. The club is not open during the daytime, so he essentially said as long as he can book things at night, we can use the space during the day. Four days might have been a little ambitious!
I don't think so. Go big! What’s the yoga scene like in New Orleans for someone who doesn't know about it? Could you give us an overview compared to other cities maybe?
MB: I've been here my whole life, and I've dedicated my life to health and wellness. Compared to other major metropolitan cities, like New York, we are semi-behind in everything, But we still have a really good community vibe here. In the last decade it has grown, so it’s not just studios. We have kind community classes at big churches and in outdoor spaces. During lockdown, people got creative, some people weren’t, say, drinking as much and they were finding an outlet to get those same endorphins. I think yoga has just been a crucial part of the local health scene and it's important to all three of our lives. People are starting to see more than just the physical stuff and getting into the mental and spiritual aspects that can help with their daily personal lives.
Tell me some of the highlights that people can look forward to over the four days.
CC: Well, having diversity in the schedule is very important to us. So for people that are not necessarily physically inclined, we have lectures, and different types of music too - I'll even be DJing! We have a little bit of everything up in that realm. Republic is a 1,000 capacity room. It's two floors. That's the main festival ground, where we'll have the vendors. We'll have performers and lectures on the stage and a huge video wall. Aurora is the second room and that's a 400 capacity space. That’s where all the yoga is taking place. We'll set up for the whole weekend, for all the classes. So there's going to be something happening at all times in both spaces.
That sounds like a full program.
CC: Our big hope in doing this is exposing the community to things in this world that maybe they haven't experienced before. Honestly, I'm mostly excited just for the festival community space that can be a glue to connect all these little yoga communities in the city. We want to get all of these people together and mingling. Everyone's going to leave with new friends!
Fantastic. And if you're yoga curious, is it going be approachable for complete beginners?
CC: Totally. In fact, right now, I'm working on all of our class lineups and it'll be noted on each day which classes are beginner friendly. All experience levels are absolutely welcome.
MB: In terms of our charity partners, Split Second Foundation helps people with accessible rehab and fitness. People who have had strokes, spinal cord injuries, brain injuries, and the like. Shuck Cancer is a local cancer research organization and EA Yoga helps kids that have been affected by their parents or themselves being incarcerated. One that is dear to me is sponsoring a kid in India. There’s this art school there that I've supported in Varanasi and it’s basically taking a kid and giving them a year's worth of school and food. Then we have some great sponsors, the Goldring Foundation, the Plant Gallery helping with decor, plus law firms, and engineering firms. But like Caroline said, that's the glue. We can't do anything without the help of each other, it really needs to be a community. In New Orleans, we really care about each other, and I think this is gonna be magical for this year and years to come.
I hope so too, it’s a good start!
JH: I've had my hands in the entertainment industry a lot of my life, and I've been a personal trainer and a yoga teacher for going on two decades. I think the two domains deserve each other. In the entertainment world, we're having fun, but oftentimes, forgetting to take care of ourselves. And in the wellness world, there are serious and disciplined people who forget to have fun. In New Orleans especially, oftentimes the wellness is the part that's forgotten. We want a robust community who can have all of that, the full spectrum of fun to wellness.
MB: We have a ton of festivals in the city. We love our food. We love our drinking. People will eat and drink unhealthy food for a fundraiser and there's nothing against that. But our goal is to live longer, so we can be there for our loved ones and our community. We can improve ourselves at the same time as raising awareness and money.
The New Orleans Yoga Festival runs from 25th-28th Sept. For tickets, click here - USE THIS LINK FOR a $25 DISCOUNT FOR OUT ALL DAY READERS! Or, at Checkout, us the discount code OUTALLDAY25
Follow @nolayogafest on Instagram for updates