It’s Saturday. And it’s early, painfully early, like not-long-after-dawn early. Rachel Muhlithaler of Denver is not complaining.
“You can't beat the views and the sunrise,” she said. “It's just like the most Colorado thing that you can be doing out here. It's great.”
It is Yoga on the Rocks. As in Red Rocks Amphitheater, tucked in the foothills near Morrison.
Hundreds of people climb hundreds of steps, iconic wind-crafted sandstone towering above, foam mats tucked under their arms.
“I think it's going to be fun,” said first-timer Arpita Ramachandra, who lives in Highlands Ranch and is from India, where the ancient practice began. She’s done yoga and been to Red Rocks, but never at the same time. “I'm with my friends, so I think it's going to be more fun.”
Just then, there’s something stirring in the brush just above the walkway. A deer calmly chews on leaves and watches people stream in.
“Oh wow!” Ramachandra jokes. “I think he’s here for yoga as well.”
For decades, Red Rocks has been known most prominently for its sublime mix of the natural with the musical. Legends like the Beatles, Bruce, Joni, Santana, Stevie (both Wonder and Nicks) and U2 have all played there. Colorado’s top local acts, like Nathaniel Rateliff and Pretty Lights, have headlined. Recent performers range from Ice Cube to the Avett Brothers to Brandi Carlile.
But every summer on Saturday mornings, for more than a decade now, the often raucous concert scene gives way to the stretching and breathing of yoga.
On a recent Saturday, about 2,000 people in workout gear filled the amphitheater’s nearly 70 rows.
“Press your hips towards the frontage of your space,” said an instructor, Haley Bowden, guiding from the stage, as things get underway for a session, which runs from 7 to 8 a.m.
“Breath in.”
The movements of a pair of other instructors are displayed on big screens to each side.
“Exhale,” said Bowden. “Open up your chest.”
No one said a word. A slight breeze flowed through, the sun beamed down. In unison, the mass class rolls through a variety of poses. Warrior. Five-pointed star. Mountain.
Muhlithaler found one session so moving, she got all verklempt in the car after, when John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” came up on the radio.
“It was just so serene, and I started crying. I was like, ‘It's so beautiful up here,’” she recalled, as her friends laughed. “It was a great day. Happy tears, of course.”
Others talked about it the same way.
“Driving up here we're like, ‘Wow, people really get up at six in the morning to get here to do this,’ which is crazy,” said Andrea Rivas. “But it's awesome because it's fun being able to be around people that are into it too and share the same energy.”
“I feel like there's a lot of mindfulness to it,” said her friend Aurora Lopez. “You know, it's better for my mental health at the end of the day.”
Another pair of friends rolled out their mats next to a pine tree near the top of the venue.
“The vibe, the energy, just how it feels, the peace,” are what keep bringing Diana Dahl back to Yoga on the Rocks.
“I've lived in Denver for 25 years and this is my first time,” said Jackson Washington. “I've heard about it for a decade, and this is my opportunity to experience the magic here.”
A lot of Americans practice yoga for better health
The community of participants continues to grow, as many attest to its health benefits, both physical and mental. Yoga on the Rocks has been selling out for years.
Roughly one in six American adults said they practice yoga, according to CDC data released this summer. Four out of five say they do it to “restore overall health”; nearly 60 percent practiced meditation as part of yoga; more than a quarter use it for pain management.
“There's obviously this mind-body connection,” said Cat Wetenkamp, general manager and yoga director at TruFusion, which is running four of this summer’s 10 sessions. “In a world where things are just chaotic all the time, taking time to slow down, taking time to take care of yourself, those things ultimately lead to a better quality of life.”
Two Red Rocks yoga sessions are bilingual. And they’re popular, said Shanti Rodrigues, an instructor with TruFusion who teaches classes in Spanish.
“There are a lot of people and there are also people that follow us after the class to just come join the community and expand,” said Rodrigues. “Some people don't speak Spanish, they just want to be a part of the community.”
She added that looking out at the crowd from the same stage where iconic performers have stood is “incredible.”
“It's truly just an honor being here. It's pretty wild,” Rodrigues said. “You feel that energy from those people.”
“It was fun,” said one of the youngest yogis in attendance, an 8-year-old named Whitaker, who noted he particularly liked the stretching.
Whitaker’s mom, Elizabeth Shaw, said she’s glad the two of them could enjoy, together, the exercise, peace of mind and the location.
“For yoga, are you kidding, easily the best venue that you're going to do yoga at,” said Shaw, from Englewood. “Anywhere at all! It's the best venue for doing yoga.”
The cost is reasonable as well, $19 a session, though more than that on the secondary market. A 5-pack costs $85 and a season pass is $160.
Yoga’s history at Red Rocks
Yoga on the Rocks started more than a decade ago, with a health care company’s sponsorship event.
“We took a chance on yoga and I think the first year did four or five sessions and they sold out immediately. And it was a nice surprise,” said Red Rocks spokesman Brian Kitts. “It's been a staple of what we've done ever since, and it has become a signature event for the venue.”
It allowed Red Rocks to get use out of the facility in the mornings because it now books nearly 200 concerts a year.
And based on the quiet and mostly mellow crowd, it’s not as labor-intensive for Red Rocks, which is owned by the city of Denver.
“It is a much lighter lift based on who's there. You're not going to get people who are drunk or stoned. Not that that ever happens at Red Rocks, but there's next to no security that's needed,” said Kitts.
Running the yoga event only requires a ticketing crew, summer staff and a couple of security people just in case.
“It's what you'd expect out of a yoga crowd. Very, very chill. And they're there for health and calm.”
It’s not unusual for people to attend from as far away as New York, Texas or California.
Wetenkamp said she’d talked to someone who came all the way from Japan.
Yoga on the Rocks was the first event at Red Rocks after COVID-19 had shut things down at the start of the pandemic. Colored markers were placed on seats to ensure social distancing,
“It was very emotional because your staff shows up, who you haven't really seen, and everybody has masks. And we were just psychotic about going to Home Depot and getting more hand sanitizer,” said Kitts. “And then everybody who was participating was required to wear a mask, but they showed up anyway.”
A couple of years ago, a deer walked right through the middle of the amphitheater, as early-morning yoga lovers moved through their poses.
“A deer's not going to walk through your yoga studio,” Kitts said.
A special moment in a one-of-a-kind space.
“It's a unique Colorado experience, and people have really taken to it,” he said.
