More than 200 people sweated it out on yoga mats during the second annual Alameda Yoga & Wellness Festival at Radium Runway on Sunday. The event also raised an estimated $500 for the Alameda Food Bank.
The festival, known as Gather, is designed to celebrate and promote wellness, and to introduce lesser-known wellness practices to people. It included over 40 vendors and practitioners. Attendees could participate in group meditations, a sound bath, yoga, and Pilates. The event also featured DJ Sol Rising at live yoga sets and a dance party.
The event was designed to be non-alcoholic and family friendly, with a space specifically set up for children to play.
Gerri Ascuncion, co-owner of Yoga Amansala and one of the producers of Gather, said that the festival is part of an initiative to pursue an official proclamation for an Alameda Wellness Day.
City Councilmember Tracy Jensen was present at the festival and expressed that Alameda needs more wellness events similar to Gather. “It’s events like these where we demonstrate that we care about wellness, where we demonstrate that we care about supporting everyone in the community, and I think that’s what Alameda’s known for,” she said.
Carrie Agasid, a somatic coach from Davis, was a vendor at the festival. She came across Gather while browsing for events online and was interested when she saw DJ Sol Rising was featured.
“This was meant to be,” Agasid said. “It’s really beautiful what’s happening here. And I can feel it too, talking to other folks who live here on the island. Oh my gosh, there is community here. People want to connect.”
Asuncion created the event, then known as Alameda Yoga & Wellness Micro Festival, last year, following the death of her mother.
“It gave me an outlet to pour my heart out into something,” Asuncion said. Before the end of 2025, her father had also passed, and she had to undergo spine surgery. Despite the emotionally and physically demanding period — or perhaps because of it — Asuncion persisted in making sure the second festival happened, bigger and better than before.
“It was actually when I was laid up recovering from my surgery that I went full into planning mode for Gather,” she said. “It’s kind of like a blank canvas for me to kind of pour out all the stuff that I’ve been going through and to create something beautiful.”
Karen Beckles, a Reiki practitioner and founder of The Funky Truth Healing, also helped to produce the festival this year.
“We have so many wellness spaces and practitioners, but there haven’t been any wellness events primarily for that,” Beckles said. “Especially with the world being on fire, I think it’s important for us to be in community, for us to take care of ourselves.”
Vicky Nguyen is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact her via [email protected]. Her writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Vicky-Nguyen.
