Hannah and I went off to Buddhafield this year for the first time together. We met there last year so it was something of an anniversary. It’s a really awesome festival and we had a great time! Joey who used to teach at Triyoga in London was there taking the morning led Ashtanga classes. He has a nice teaching style and I appreciate his sense of humour.

The morning classes had 20+ people of mixed level all practicing in a big tent on a slope, which made the standing postures fun! It was just the break I needed in my practice. A new group of people in a new environment was just the thing I needed to break me out of the difficult cycle I’ve been in recently.

The musical highlight for me was being introduced to the honey voiced Carrie Tree who has just recorded her debut album. Some of my other favs Bindu Babas (whom I can’t seem to find anywhere on the web) and Martha Tilston were also there playing live accoustic sets. Avalon Roots were also a band I’d not heard before which were pretty cool too.

I did some Soulful Singing with Mahasukha which was good fun and went to Jewls ecstatic dance and we did her couples Heart Tantra workshop too. I also caught Christopher Titmuss an excellent Dharma teacher giving a talk on love.

To read more about Buddhafield why not check out my blog posts from last year Buddhafield 2008 and Connecting with abundance.

I’ve just bought my ticket to Buddhafield Festival which is happening near Glastonbury 15th – 19th July.

I had a great time last year and blogged about my experiences. You can book tickets and find out more about the festival on the Buddhafield website.

There are daily Ashtanga yoga classes and other styles of yoga too if you’re feeling like mixing it up a bit. This is an awesome festival with a no drink or drugs policy, child friendly and definitely worth checking out!

G

Is anyone interested in joining me to go to a yoga festival in Glastonbury?!

I think it sounds really amazing and a true escape, but at a much cheaper price than a retreat, which would typically cost £500 for a week. Also you’re free to dip in and out of the classes there at your leisure, so it’s less of a strict regime. OK it’s not all astanga but there are astanga classes, and also loads of other styles of yoga to try (eg Iyengar, Satyananda, Vini, Kundalini, Tibetan yoga, Kashmir yoga, Acro-yoga, partner yoga, Yin Yoga) plus meditation, kirtan, bhajans.

The dates are Fri Aug 22 arrival, to start Sat 23 Aug till the following Sat 30th. You can just go for the bank hol weekend although I may go for longer! There are 2 veggie cafes, and you can pamper yourself with massage, reiki, shiatsu, relexology payable by donation… It is £25 per day (including all your classes) and you camp. See the website for more info:
www.sitaram.org/retreats/santosa.html
http://www.sitaram.org/retreats/santosa.html
PS A few people have expressed an interest, like Guy and Narinder, but I actually think we should book and organise lifts and the more people we get the more fun it’ll be!

PPS Don’t forget it is the Devil’s Dyke Beachdowner Festival that weekend too.

I returned from Buddhafield festival on Sunday evening and have spent the last couple of days just chilling out and acclimatising to life back in Brighton. It seemed like half of Brighton was at the festival so even though I went on my own I wasn’t alone by any means. In fact Laura and Mark were camped a few tents away from me.

For those who have never been – I can honestly say that I’ve had the time of my life! I’ve directly experienced so much healing, bliss, love and rejuvenation. Each day was an emotional roller coaster full of delights, insights and as many new activities as I wanted.

Some of the highlights for me:

• Contact Improvisation workshop – I attended this on my first full day and it really helped me to get into the flow. It involved safe and intimate contact within a group setting with a bunch of total strangers. There was group pair and group work. Kinda like twister!
• Christopher Titmuss dharma talk – Christopher delivered a really passionate and concise talk exploring the following two part question in small groups: Firstly what do I need to change or let go of so that I may travel more lightly through life? And, what do I need in place to support this change? Christopher encouraged us to name it directly and share within the groups and then we discussed it again in the larger group. It was such a simple but powerful exercise in considering one’s own path and direction in life.
• Reconnecting workshops – A series workshops led by an Engaged Buddhist group (can’t remember which one) This had me sobbing in tears at both sessions that I attended. The idea behind the workshops is to reconnect with the pain we feel particularly around the harm that we are causing the earth and then explore ways in which this pain can be used to instigate positive change.
• Ecstatic dance sessions – with Jewls Wingfield. I’d heard about ecstatic dance before but never experienced it. All I can say is WOW!! I’d forgotten that I love to dance! Jewls was also running Heart Tantra workshops which I checked out too.
• Skillful Flirting workshop – This was great fun and freaked people out quite a bit. The definition of flirting used was this: The beauty and love within me recognises and celebrates your great beauty. The homework was to flirt with 3 people that evening. I won’t tell you how it went ; )

Anyway, the list goes on and on: There was great food every day, fantastic live bands playing every evening, a couple of scorching saunas (that’s right, naked baby!), 35 different yoga classes a day, beautiful Pujas including a Dakini Puja that was more like an ecstatic dance session!

I shot 3 rolls of film so I should have some pics up on Flickr in a couple of days. I also did some practice while I was away but it’s been more of a holiday break so I’m really looking forward to getting back on the mat tomorrow morning.

I’ll definitely be going regularly and next time going to try encourage a bunch of friends and Ashtangis to come along and experience it too.

Namaste, may all beings be free from suffering.

Guy