EVENTS – Festivals and Large Gatherings
DORSET
Queen of the
Bhakti Gatherings
Four Day Kirtan Festival
2022 Theme: Humility
2 – 5 June 2022
at Osho Leela Retreat Centre in Dorset
Kirtan, community, connection, fire ceremonies, spiritual discussion good food and celebration.
Four days of dawn to dusk chanting, dancing, prayer and connection. Camping and indoor options available. Limited concession tickets available. Book early to get the best prices.
More often than not, shit happens. Tensions between friends, sickness of a loved one, a global disaster, war and injustice. The path of Bhakti Yoga is not about escaping from these challenges but instead about meeting them with courage.
There are many real world examples of spiritual leaders who meet injustice, exploitation and oppression with courage and humility - holding powerful people accountable for their actions whilst building bridges with them. Desmond Tutu and Tich Nath Hanh walked this walk working with the 'enemy' in compassionate and life changing ways.
In a small way, these gatherings help us to embody the skills that are needed to face the inevitable ups and downs of life . By bowing down in reverence to a deity, we practice humility. Humility is liberation. It's admitting to ourselves and others that we don't have all the answers, that we are willing to learn and to listen, willing to be wrong, willing to tolerate difference, willing to challenge each other to be better and humble enough to look in our own hearts.
This gathering, we will invoke the qualities of goddess Maa Saraswati, who is known to bring order out of chaos and has a calming and centring personality. The name Saraswati stems from the Sanskrit root "saras," which means "that which is fluid." Saraswati helps us to channel the qualities of curiosity, creativity and openness.
See video below of one of the last Beltane Bhakti Gatherings
More information:
Online Bookings with the venue at www.osholeela.uk
SOMERSET
BUDDHAFIELD FESTIVAL
2022 Theme: Seeds of the Heart
13 – 17 July 2022
at Blackdown Hills, Taunton BS7 9BN
Buddhafield Festival is a joyful gathering of people, celebrating community and connection with the land. Song, dance, arts and crafts, yoga, meditation, and play blend together, without alcoholic drinks or recreational drugs, to create a loving and life-affirming space. There will be Buddhist teaching, workshops and ritual, under sun and stars. The festival is family-friendly and open to everyone, however you practice.
Sivani Mata will once again be sharing Kirtan in The Beloved’s Arms beautiful tipi space
More information:
WASING PARK
MEDICINE FESTIVAL
A Festival for People & Planet
2022 Theme: Emerge
18 – 21 August 2022
at Wasing Park,
Aldermaston, nr. Reading, RG7 4NB
Medicine is a gathering to inspire authentic connection and regeneration for people and planet. Our World is changing and we find ourselves in a time that holds both great peril and great promise.
Now more than ever is the time to seek new narratives, connections, skills and understanding to rekindle the fabric of community, redefine culture, celebrate the beauty and wonder of life and help us to restore our home, this sacred Earth.
Medicine invites you to come together to share the power of music and ceremony, the coherence and insights of ancestral wisdom, alongside solutions of modern technology and culture; the nourishment of food; the joy of laughter and celebration; and the inspiration of visionary thought – asking a simple question:
HOW CAN WE BE THE MEDICINE?
It is the vision of Medicine Festival to:
REMEMBER
Our authentic selves and innate wisdom
RESTORE
Our place in nature
REIMAGINE
The healthy and diverse societies we need
REGENERATE
The planet to assure a flourishing future for all life
More information and tickets:
WORCESTERSHIRE
JOURNEY 2 THE 1 FESTIVAL
1 – 4 September 2022
at Clay Farm, Cloys Top,
Kidderminster, DY14 9NN
Journey 2 The 1 is a uniquely intimate festival that creates deep and soulful connections within a consciously held space.
We invite you to a beautiful piece of land in Worcestershire surrounded by trees, lakes and rolling hills for a weekend of connection, magic and healing. Our eclectic collection of artists and musicians will provide you with soul nourishing entertainment, whilst our passionate facilitators have a diverse selection of workshops for you to engage with. There will also be therapeutic practitioners on hand to support you both emotionally and physically throughout. This is a family friendly, alcohol free, inclusive and trauma-informed space. Our intention is that each one of us becomes fully present as an active participant in this dynamic weaving of creative expression. Somewhere vast enough for you to get lost in adventure, but small enough for you to feel part of an intimate gathering. So come along and become a member of the tribe!
More information:
WORCHESTERSHIRE
Sound Healing Conference
Hosted by The College of Sound Healing
11 – 13 November 2022
at Abbey Hotel, Great Malvern,
Worcestershire, WR14 3ET
Fully residential conference, with three meals a day and two nights accommodation. The conference offers you a chance to learn new skills, network, have fun and chill out in a beautiful setting. Bring your drum and rattle with you! There is also a market area at the conference where you can buy sound healing instruments.
Main Speaker – Lucy Crisfield
Lucy Crisfield is a speaker at the World Yoga Festival, a plenary speaker at the British Wheel of Yoga Festival and the founder of 'Original Wisdom'. Original Wisdom is a pathway for those wanting to experience the inner teachings of mantra and yoga philosophy for themselves through an immersion into sound, meditation and scholarly precision. It is the labour of love of a Sanskrit journeyer, of someone who was 'got' by a need to know the inner teachings of yoga, 'the word' and sound.
Having left the world of classical music and inspired by her own desire for awakening and intellectual illumination, Lucy travelled solo around the globe for four years and found herself at the feet of revered teachers of the tradition. She now shares the sounds of Sanskrit with the intent of it opening spiritual doors and insights; weaving the teachings and sounds of the tradition to illumine our intellect, connect us to our original being and open us to our creative wisdom. www.originalwisdom.co.uk
Lucy will be giving the Keynote Presentation: The Sounds of Sanskrit ~ The Language of Yoga and a Conference Workshop: Sanskrit Sound and Yoga Immersion
Saturday Night Kirtan - Sivani Mata
Kirtan is a deep dive into the heart through co-created song. It is a conversation with that inner place in each one of us that is ever unified with everything in creation. Each Kirtan repeats simple mantras which invoke a trance-like state within, as well as evoking the spirit of Bhakti (the mood of love). Everyone is invited to add their voice. All are invited to express the truth of themselves, through these songs of freedom.
Sivani Mata is an artist who is moved by a sensory and elemental exploration of life through practice that evokes the liminal experience of trance-like states of consciousness (such as Kirtan) as a way to cultivate a harmonic relationship with the Earth, and to build the relationship of self love and acceptance.
Other Workshops
Dru Yoga - Trixi Field; Gong Bath - Malcolm Gough; Group Biofield Tune - Steph Healy; The Harmony of Mantra - Trixi Field; Introduction to Harp Therapy - Tammy Yick; Love Your Voice - Andrea Jackson; Sacred Drumming - Drumming Tutors; Sanskrit Sound and Yoga Immersion - Lucy Crisfield; Sound Co-Creation - Sarah Stephenson; Trauma Awareness - Masha Bennett; Yoga Nidra - Sadie Hawson; Your Signature Sound - Simone Niles
More information:
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु
LOKĀḤ SAMASTĀḤ SUKHINO BHAVANTU
"May All The Beings In All The Worlds Be Happy and at PEACE"
© Sivani Mata Francis – Natural Mystic Bhajans