#6 International Yoga Festival

I booked my tickets while I was already in India.

Initially I didn't want to go, didn't want to tie myself to having a certain date where I needed to be at a certain place. But something called me and I signed up after all. (And it aligned quite well with my travel plans after all).

And how incredibly glad I am that I did.

For once, it provided me with a well needed stability and groundedness after visiting 5 cities within 4 weeks.

But it also allowed me to BE Yoga for 7 full days.

I immersed myself in the spiritual and energetic practice of Kundalini (most of the lessons I did ended up being Kundalini-inspired), took a variety of soundbaths and flowed under the instruction of amazing teachers. More than once did I record a yoga session, because I thought so often 'i need to remember that for my own class'.

What I passionate about as a yoga teacher is to spread awareness, that the physical part, the Asanas, are in itself not yoga, just gymnastics. It becomes yoga when we LIFE it. Yoga is not something you do for 1 hour every day, yoga is not something we do only in your mat. We LIFE yoga.

And if there was one message to be taken away from the festival it was exactly this.

I slept less than usual, drank way less coffee than normal, did a huge bunch of Pranayama and Krias throughout the day - and felt as energized and rejuvenated as I haven't felt in a long time.

And finally, meeting all these wonderful souls during the festival was equally I inspiring. Sitting in a yoga hall at 4:30 in the morning with 40 other people, who all prioritise their spiritual development made me think that maybe, just maybe, I'm not so weird after all.

The festival was located in the Parmath Nikethan Ashram. The program was embedded in their regular spiritual daily activities. The schedule of the festival was very tight but still I got the opportunity every now and then to join the regular Ashram activities, my favorite being their fire-ceremony.

Every morning at 7:30, the Sacred Morning Fire Ceremony (Yagna/ Havan) is taking place.

I didn't understand a word from what they where singing and I didn’t have to. There was something about the ancient sounds of the singing, the music and the rhythm that touched me deeply. The fire-ceremony symbolizes transition, letting go of the old, offering it into the flames (between the chanting you literally throw seeds into the flames that symbolize what you are ready to let go) and being reborn. I feel a deep resonance with the meaning of the fire-ceremony and my own personal journey through India. Aside from experiencing it's adventures, culture and cuisine, this journey is also so much an inner journey to face and confront my own shadows.

Being granted a fresh start every new morning after releasing the old, holds a powerful meaning to me.

Each ceremony is prepared and guided by a boy. These boys left their family to life in the ashram and serve it's actions. And they do it with such dedication! Sometimes I saw one of them yawning during the ceremony or quickly checking their phone, so all this devotion also has a wonderful human touch to it.

I came to India to find out how I can life yoga more. And these rituals, these daily devotional acts, seem to bring me one step closer to the answer.