FORESTBURGH, NY — A place for women to gather to practice the arts of yoga, Pilates and dance under the instruction of specialized teachers is taking place in the woods of Forestburgh from August 25 to 28. The movement festival is called Taru, and it will be a spiritual event that connects participants to body and nature.

Bianca Velez, the founder of Taru Festival, said, “I have been privileged to witness the deeply healing and transformative affects of merging the mind with the body. It is a process that deeply connects us to spirit.” Velez is a long-time fitness advocate, student of spirituality (with a BA in World Religions and Culture), and Pilates instructor for the past 10 years; she has plans to open a studio in Pond Eddy. She gathered top level professionals to guide participants in workshops.

This is the first year the festival will be held. Velez wanted to give something back to her Pilates students and anyone else who needs a little extra mindfulness. “During the winter, I try to get quiet and think about what my clients need, and I try to serve them,” she said. Thus the idea for the Taru Festival was born.

In addition to living and working in Sullivan County, she still has a Pilates studio in Long Island and works with a pediatric wellness center there. She sees firsthand the stress that mothers go through on a daily basis. “There are a lot of intense things on people’s plates,” she said, also noting there’s a lot on our collective plates. “This [the festival] is good medicine for the world right now.”

Taru (Akkadian for “to know,” as well as “to return”) is a four-day festival celebrating the transformational power of women’s bodies. Under the guidance of leaders in Pilates, yoga and dance, participants will gather in the pristine woods of the Upper Delaware River Valley to explore the connection between mind, body and spirit. They will “learn from teachers renowned in their fields, move our bodies in celebration, nourish ourselves with delicious meals created from the earth, relax during guided meditations and sacred forest journeys, commune in the beauty of nature, support each other wholeheartedly and laugh to our heart’s content.”

The festival will include locally sourced meals from Early Bird Cookery and a vendor village where local artisans, businesses, artists and more will sell their wares. Taru will be held at the Forestburgh Scout Reserve, where attendees are welcome to stay in cabins or camp out under the stars. Over the course of four days, guests will partake in activities including Pilates, yoga, dance, meditation, breath work, and exploring the beautiful woods of the Western Catskills.

Velez said, “I’ve learned to find harmony with the world around me, make deeper connections with nature, and have better access to my intuition.”

For more information, to see a sample schedule and to purchase tickets to the festival visit www.findthemidline.com/taru.