A Moment of Reflection (World Yoga Festival)

Hi everyone, welcome back to my blog! I am writing this a bit earlier than normal since my family and I leave for Brighton pride on Thursday so things are super hectic right now. For the many of you that don't know, my Mum has a food business which means that I have grown up going to music festivals, food festivals and events which is not something that many people have the privilege of saying so I'm very grateful. That being said, I also work my butt off at festivals constantly serving for like 15 hours a day and then running off to late night music performances or early morning yoga classes so I get to have the best of both worlds when it comes to the festival life. Last weekend we went to the World Yoga Festival for the third time and there has not been a single year where we have gone and not enjoyed every moment of it. I actually got really inspired and despite lying in bed, very sick and on the verge of death because of my period, I decided to write a bit about it to reflect on my time there.

We went to set everything up on Tuesday and since it wasn't too far away from home, we went back home and came back on Wednesday to start the real preparation. We then camped there until Monday to pack away everything after the festival ended on Sunday. This festival is the largest yoga festival in the world where speakers, yoga teachers, philosophers, musicians and priests travel from all the way in India and people travel from all over the country just to be taught by them or to hear them talk/perform. Despite working on the stall, I did run off to many yoga classes, mainly the 7:30am ones but occasionally I also went to afternoon classes and abandoned my 'job'. 

Festivals really bring out a different side of me, I am able to talk to people with ease and if festival friends meet me outside of festivals, they'd be confused as to why I'm so awkwardly introverted and can barely start a casual conversation. Festival friends are also a really weird concept when you think about it. You're practically living with people for like a week and (especially if you're stallholders) you become really really close and then you never know if you'll ever see them again because everyone lives all over the place. A reason why I love this festival in particular is because everyone is really open minded to philosophy and metaphysical beliefs which I rarely find in my day to day life. It feels really comforting to find more people who also enjoy yoga and engage in lots of spiritual activity, it feels like I've found 'my people'. Everyone's also really lovely and people easily start conversations when they're next to you in a yoga class or standing in line for food somewhere which is just so nice.

I feel like this festival really came at the right time. Recently I've been struggling with lots of stress and breakdowns. Trying to get things done but overworking myself to the point where I could get nothing done. I know it's meant to be summer and the 'best time of the year' and whatever but there's genuinely nothing I find more stressful than summer. I have lots of free time and I feel as though I'm being unproductive or wasting all the opportunities I have if I am not doing something at every single minute of my life. Basically, I find it hard to chill out and just do nothing. Sometimes doing nothing is such a powerful act because it really allows you to face yourself and your feelings. To some extent, it can aid a lot in shadow work which really helps you find your place and strengthen your connection with the universe. Meditation is essentially 'doing nothing' yet it is such an influential action and can really change your life. I mean I can only speak from experience but I have found it such an emotionally and mentally healing practice, alongside yoga and other spiritual implementations. I have felt like I've also lost track of my usual routine which does include meditation, yoga, journaling and a bit more. It's the only real reason I can find behind my near deteriorating state. Going to the yoga festival has really motivated me to start practicing again just because yoga, meditation and mindfulness genuinely makes me feel so good.

I often feel as though I'm making a mistake by wanting to study philosophy and wanting to just keep learning more about the world because the society we have created has essentially taught us to think or do things for a higher purpose, in this case, getting a job or making money. I believe that sometimes thinking for thinking's sake is amazing, hence wanting to study philosophy. I had some really compelling conversations this weekend which really reassured me that I was on the right path. As humans I feel like we stray too far out and get distracted by worldly surroundings that we forget what's really important in life. What I think is important is to find what you enjoy and do as much of that as you can. We do have to stay practical because at the end of the day, we live in a society *ba dum tsss*, so sometimes that means having to do things we don't enjoy. So many of the people I met here really seemed in awe that from a young age I have an interest in delving deep into my culture and wanting to apply practices and philosophies into my life which really shocked me. Teachers in school have often told me that they don't really know how to help me with university applications and people have always questioned me as to what I want to do afterwards and it really leaves me wondering if I should just study something 'useful' but now more than ever I've realised that I haven't found myself but rather accepted myself. 

I always knew I wanted to study philosophy, even when I told myself I wanted to do economics, I always knew I wanted to use my spiritual gifts to try and help the people around me, I always knew that I wanted to do yoga and not only heal myself but heal as many people as I can. Even just the thought of me being happy with the person I am brings literal tears to my eyes because for the longest time I've felt so confused and worthless. I'm just so grateful that I've found the things I really love and even though I don't know exactly what's going to happen in the future, I know I'm happy with myself and that's all I really need right now.

This week's post wasn't really anything useful to anyone, nor was it anything particularly interesting but slowly I'm learning that sometimes it's ok to be a little bit selfish and do things just for yourself (as long as I'm not harming others which I'm not). Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed this week's post and see you next week!! Love you guys <33