Move over BRB, LOL and JK. Regine Flimlin wants teens to embrace a new abbreviation: LOHAS. LOHAS, which stands for “lifestyle of health and sustainability,” is the name of a nationwide movement that encourages people to consider nutrition and fitness, the environment, sustainable living and social justice when making decisions about what to eat, purchase and support.
It’s important to teach people about LOHAS while they’re young, Flimlin says. “If you wait too long to introduce that lifestyle to someone, the bad impressions and habits they already have are much deeper,” says Flimlin, a co-owner of Yoga Basin and Basin Bar in Asbury Park. “If you introduce these concepts to people who are young, they start making those choices right away.”
That’s why Flimlin and her husband, Yoga Basin and Basin Bar co-owner Enrique Wegel, have organized the Yoga Festival by the Sea, a two-day celebration of LOHAS, yoga and environmentalism taking place Sept. 24 and 25 in Asbury Park. In its second year, the event is open to everyone, but Flimlin says this year’s focus is on attracting young people.
Yoga Basin has been actively involved with young people in the past, working with the Asbury Park Board of Education on holistic health and yoga initiatives in the schools. Flimlin hopes to entice them to attend the Yoga Festival by the Sea by setting up skate ramps and offering several activities for children, including a scavenger hunt at downtown stores, restaurants and other businesses.
“We are trying to get the children of Asbury to buy into their downtown and have ownership of it and want to protect it,” Flimlin says. “This scavenger hunt lets them know that they are welcome.”
A food feast
But kids aren’t the only ones who will enjoy the festival. The first day of the event features food and music for people of all ages. Participants can chow down without guilt on healthy and environmentally sustainable food offered from vegan and vegetarian restaurants from throughout the state. Food vendors include Basin Bar, Dean’s Natural Food Market of Ocean, Good Karma Café of Red Bank, Kaya’s Kitchen of Belmar, Live Jolly Foods of Ocean, Sunshine Kate’s of Point Pleasant, Rawbundant of Linden and the Thai Elephant Truck of Montclair. The Saint of Asbury Park will provide organic wine and beer.