Individuals don’t have to travel to Omega or Kripalu to participate in an upscale yoga event set among beautiful tranquil surroundings. Yogis and like-minded people will have the opportunity to connect with master instructors from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., June 29 and 30 at the historic Rutherfurd Hall mansion in Allamuchy, New Jersey, for the third annual North Jersey Transformational Yoga Conference (NJTYC). 

This year’s conference will feature a wide variety of workshops with classes on techniques of yoga practice, innovative contemporary yoga styles, self-healing, nutrition advice, massage and meditation. Lectures and special events will be held throughout each day including ecstatic dance, live drumming, a singing bowl concert and more. A multitude of vendors will be on site, as well. For those interested in partaking in some evening outdoor activity, the area is great for hiking or kayaking after classes. The weekend is designed to benefit everyone—from seasoned yogis to beginners jut learning about yoga.

The two full days of 18 workshops are taught by some of the finest master yoga instructors in the tri-state area, such as Raji Thron, Nina Priya Ma, Jo Ann Staugaard-Johnes, Gail Maheshwari, Delia Quigley, Denise Kay and others.

The weekend will kick off with the first two-hour session beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 29. Participants may choose between three different classes: Yoga for the Brain, Awakening Your Chakras with Asana or the dual topic workshop Yoga for Transformation & Healing – Pranayama & Yoga Nidra.

The second session takes place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and attendees again select one of three workshops: Meditation and Hypnosis for Accomplishing Your Goals, Are You Hip Enough or Inversions and the Art of Spotting. The third session of the day will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. and choices include Neck and Shoulders, Dialogue with Death: The Katha Upanishad and The Anatomy of Backbends. To finish off the day, all yoga conference participants are invited to join in to celebrate the joy of movement and community with Ecstatic Drums, a group dance to the sound of Chuck Woods’ traditional African and Indian rhythms, from 4:15 to 5 p.m.

Participants gets started with the fourth session of the weekend on Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. with Feeding Your Yoga Practice with Energy and Nutrition, Inspire and Empower Your Truth or The Psoas Connection: Physically, Emotionally, Spiritually. That is followed by Inner Breath with Vinyasa, Likhet Japa and Sacred Geometry; Writing and Drawing Prayer, Affirmation and Mantra or Yoga and Neuroscience from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The sixth session of the weekend offers a choice between Center Yourself with Kundalini Yoga, Healing Gong and Meditation, Yoga Therapy: Healing Mind, Body and Spirit and Fluid Yoga with Live Drum. The afternoon will finish off with A Spa for your Soul, a quartz crystal singing bowl concert allowing attendees to feel the vibrations deep inside their body and experience the healing effects of the bowls for themselves.

Event founders Delia Quigley and Denise Kay created the NJTYC to bring the yoga community of North Jersey together, foster education and give back to the community. In fact, 10 percent of the profits will be donated to the Foodshed Alliance, a grassroots nonprofit devoted to promoting locally grown food and farming.

Cost: Passes are affordable, with two day, one day and split weekend or half a day starting at $90. Rutherford Hall is located at 1686 Route 517, in Allamuchy. For more information, call 908-902-4082 or visit njtyc.com or Facebook.com/njtyc.