Our Story
Founded by Monika Fauth in 2014, the Lamu Yoga Festival was established with a clear mission: to promote Lamu Island as the East Africa’s premier well-being destination and to raise awareness of yoga as a healthy lifestyle.
The journey of the Lamu Yoga & Wellbeing Festival reflects the practice of yoga itself.
It begins with effort, uncertainty, and resistance and through commitment, it becomes flow.
Long before the festival began, Monika had already been sharing yoga on Lamu Island since the late 1990s, inspired by both the transformative power of the practice and the unique rhythm of life on the island. In 2000, she founded Banana House & Wellness Centre, where yoga became a way to connect, to learn, and to grow within the local community.
The idea of a festival had been present since 2005. But Lamu was not ready yet.
Years later, during a time when tourism in Kenya and Lamu was deeply affected by insecurity and uncertainty, the decision was made to begin. In March 2014, in the midst of these challenges, the first Lamu Yoga Festival took place.
It welcomed 108 participants, a number often seen as a sign of alignment and universal support. What began as a service project quickly revealed itself as something much larger.
At its heart, LYFe is not only about yoga.
It is about connection.
Connection to oneself, a lifelong practice of knowing and understanding who we are. Connection to others, building relationships, community, and shared experience. And connection to something greater, a collective intention towards a more present, conscious, and less violent world.
In a time where both personal and global challenges are constant, the practice offers something essential: an anchor.
Through breath, movement, stillness, and awareness, we learn how to remain steady in the midst of change and, from that place, show up more fully for ourselves and for those around us.
As the festival evolved, so did its relationship with the local community.
What was once met with curiosity or skepticism has transformed into pride, participation, and shared ownership. The festival creates space for inclusion, offering opportunities for local involvement and fostering a sense of equality, where everyone has a place and a voice.
Through initiatives such as PADMAD, which provides reusable sanitary pads to schoolgirls, and through free yoga classes for the local community, the impact extends beyond the days of the festival itself.
For those arriving for the first time, the intention is simple:
To feel welcome. To feel at home. To feel safe enough to be fully yourself.
As the awareness of yoga continues to expand, so too does the vision of the festival.
The evolution into the Lamu Yoga & Wellbeing Festival (LYFe) reflects a broader, more holistic approach, one that includes not only physical practice, but also mental health, nutrition, conversation, and rest.
Wellbeing is not something separate from the place. It is already present in Lamu itself, in its slow rhythm, its car-free environment, its closeness to nature, and its grounding simplicity.
The festival simply creates a space where this can be experienced more consciously.
The journey continues, much like the practice.
Not towards perfection, but towards presence. Not away from life’s challenges, but deeper into the ability to meet them.
Because when everything feels uncertain, we return to what anchors us.
And from there, we learn not to abandon the ship — but rather learn to sail.
Lamu Yoga & Wellbeing Festival
Celebrate Diversity. We welcome you all.
— Monika and the LYFe team
The festival was built in a time when many would have stepped back. Instead, it became an act of trust — a reminder that it is often in difficult moments that we are called to invest more deeply in ourselves and in our communities.
Much like the practice of yoga, the beginning required effort, willpower, and consistency. There were challenges, uncertainty, and moments of strain. But over time, something shifted.
What once required force began to move with ease.
Year by year, the festival grew, not only in size, but in depth. What began with effort has matured into a flow. The organization became more grounded, the teachers and participants arrived with greater alignment, and what was once unfamiliar is now welcomed and supported by the local community.
Today, the festival hosts over 30 teachers from around the world and brings together participants from diverse backgrounds, cultures, and paths.