Maspalomas and San Bartolomé de Tirajana aim to be a benchmark for coexistence and responsible tourism. The event has already registered over a thousand participants from 49 nationalities, with an average age of 44, and 83% are women.
The South Urban Park will host the celebration of the 1st International Yoga and Mindfulness Festival Maspalomas 2026 this Sunday, April 26, between 10:00 and 15:00, organized by the WIP (Walk in the Park) Cultural and Sports Association with the collaboration of the San Bartolomé de Tirajana City Council and the economic and logistical support of some thirty companies.
The event, which is completely free, has already attracted over a thousand participants from 49 nationalities and 16 countries of residence, with an average age of around 44. 83% of those registered are women. After analyzing the pace of the (mandatory) registrations being processed at www.wip.events, the organizers estimate that more than 1.500 people could ultimately participate in the Festival.
The Festival's director and driving force, Lilly Rikhter, a yogini of the Siddha tradition, social psychologist, actress, and producer, emphasizes that the organization is being handled by nearly fifty volunteers of various nationalities, including those from war-torn countries like Russia, Ukraine, Israel, and Iran. “They have been working together for over 10 years without barriers. They reflect the spirit of the Festival. They are people who, in a world where stress, disconnection, and exhaustion have become the norm, have decided not to talk about well-being but to create it, not to talk about altruism but to practice it,” she says.
At the Festival's presentation, Mayor Marco Aurelio Pérez Sánchez, who announced the imminent awarding of the contract for the expansion of the South Urban Park towards the Sonnenland hillside, congratulated the organizers, calling it "a project that contributes to the growth of Maspalomas and the entire municipality, transforming it into a meeting place for people of different nationalities who want to grow spiritually and as individuals. Any support this project can receive is invaluable because it was conceived with both intelligence and heartfelt dedication for the benefit of the whole community," he said. He also praised "the involvement of so many people in the organization and development of the project, as an example of those who have chosen to settle in our land, love it, and work for it," he affirmed.
The Councillor for Culture, Esther Delgado Sánchez, confirmed the City Council's support for this initiative "for its contribution to the enrichment of our citizens culturally and as individuals," and thanked the Festival's organizers and volunteers "for the work they have been doing altruistically for years with the aim of improving physical and mental health, reducing stress and improving the quality of life, towards a fuller and more conscious life," she stated.
A sign
The presentation of the Festival also included remarks from Angelina Carmen Sander, CEO of Gran Canaria Olé, representing the German community, and Giuseppe Bucceri, president of the Apicec Association, which represents the Italian community in Gran Canaria. Sander emphasized that “for Gran Canaria, as one of the favorite tourist destinations for Germans, events like this festival are essential for attracting a more conscious, human, and connected type of tourism. This Festival, which is just the beginning of something big, is a sign of where we want to go,” she noted, while thanking the City Council “for its collaboration and for creating spaces that inspire and raise awareness, because things happen when people truly come together.” For his part, the Italian representative reaffirmed his support for the Maspalomas International Yoga Festival, describing it as “a project with which we fully identify, because it essentially represents that health and well-being should not be a privilege for the few, but rather an accessible common good, shared and experienced in community,” he said. “This festival demonstrates that it is possible to create value through collaboration and volunteering, with the spirit of contributing something positive to society. For the Italian community, participating in this project is a real commitment to the community and to our way of understanding coexistence,” he said.
The celebration of the 1st International Yoga and Mindfulness Festival of Maspalomas was born without commercial intention, being an altruistic initiative of social and community interest that has been in development for more than 10 years, the same amount of time that its director Lilly Rihter has been offering yoga sessions on Sundays in the Parque del Sur, in which nearly 10.000 people have already participated.
It is a unique festival in Europe because it is free, has an international focus, a completely voluntary structure, and features yogini masters who participate without charging any fees and who even pay for their own flights.
The Festival will become a space for holistic well-being where participants can practice for five hours different disciplines of traditional yoga, contemporary mindfulness, guided group meditations, conscious breathing exercises and deep relaxation practices of the nervous system, guided by the monks Ashram Shiva Sagar and Javier Villaescusa, from the traditional and modern paths, respectively.
The WIP Association is already working on organizing a second edition of the Festival in 2027, with the intention of making the event three days long. Sponsors such as Kalise are joining the effort. “The goal is for Maspalomas to become a European benchmark for conscious tourism,” says Lilly Rikhter.
