Yogacharya, a week-long festival dedicated to BKS Iyengar, did not rake in the numbers the management was expecting this past week. But for students that was a real blessing, as we got to take intimate classes with some of the country's best teachers.

I went down to Santa Clara for the festival on Sunday. My first class, in which I was one of 12 students, was Mystics on the Mat with Seane Corn. I found Seane to be a complete tour de force—both petite and powerful, spiritual, yet highly pragmatic. Well-known for the charitable work she does around the world, Seane spent the majority of class leading a discussion about spirit, service, empowerment, and what she calls the three levels of yoga: the physical/mental, the energetic/emotional, and the psychic/spiritual.

What I dig most about Seane, other than her hybrid of straight-talking New Yorker and soft yogi heart, are her views on spirituality. She doesn’t speak of intangible, spiritual goals. She says she is on a personal quest for empowerment, not enlightenment, and views ego as something to be dealt with, rather than destroyed. "In order to reach the light," she says, "you must understand the shadow."

My next class was with Glenn Black. In traditional Iyengar style, Glenn will hold you in a pose . . . forever. The asanas we practiced—like Baddha Konasana, Upavistha Konasana, or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana—didn’t seem difficult at first. But after a few minutes, agitation set in. People started to groan. Thankfully, Glenn calls upon a dry sense of humor to keep his students at it. "If you can stick your toe in your nose," he said, during one particularly difficult stretch, "you’ll find samadhi."

The last class of the day (and week) was with Viniyoga founder Gary Kraftsow, who focused on pranayama in the tradition of Krishnamacharya. Gary’s just a cool guy—he led a large class that felt more like an intimate family reunion. He talked about various techniques and ratios, and got me to personally connect with my breath more than I ever had before.

The conference was both inspiring and uplifting—good energy, great teachers, and lots of shoes abandoned in the halls by happy naked yoga feet.