This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Sucharita Mukherjee

If yoga were a type of music, what would it be?

Anne Harrison, co-founder of a yoga festival taking place this weekend, thinks the rastafarian and yogi lifestyles go hand-in-hand. So, she started the Yoga and Reggae Fest, which starts this Saturday at St. Elizabeth’s East Gateway DC pavilion in Southeast D.C.

“Bob Marley said, ‘Emancipate yourself from mental slavery.’ That’s really what we do in yoga,” Harrison said. “Yoga is more than just a pose. It’s a lifestyle.”

Harrison got the idea for the festival from her work with her business partner Wally Kings, who is a rastafarian, while the two were at a Bob Marley tribute concert for the band Third World.

With the help of Kings’s work as a promoter and the support of Yoga District — the yoga studio at which Harrison works — the festival came together.

There are seven yoga instructors and five disc jockeys lined up for the event – but it’s more than just music and yoga. There will also be vegan food vendors, an arts center, spoken word performances and a wellness tent where participants can get acupuncture and breathing analysis.

Third World, a group that rose to fame in the 1970s, will also be performing at the festival, fusing elements of reggae, R&B, funk and disco music.

The movement to hold yoga classes on the other side of the Anacostia river was started by 2009 alumna Sarian Leigh, a self-described yoga “renegade.”

Leigh said she often teaches yoga in parks and libraries East of the river. She said the festival has a “‘one love’ feel to it” and is suitable for children or adults.

“I’m helping galvanize people to go East of the river to attend events like these,” Leigh said. “It’s really cool that there are more health-related things going on in Southeast and we want people to know that this event is for them.”

The festival runs from 12 to 9 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets cost $15 for students and $40 for adults.