Well this was a first time visit to the Mind, Body, Spirit London Festival, for Ruby and I, and it didn’t disappoint. We arrived and zipped up the escalator to find yurts to our left and right. The left one a ‘Mantra Lounge‘; a space to enjoy sound healing and meditation sessions throughout the day. The right, a ‘Love Dome‘; an area to ‘Take a health check on your relationships, delve into your feelings and just let go in an environment of openness, exploration, compassion and calm’. To the right of the Love Dome was a wishing tree, I love those things. write your wish on a red card and tie it to the tree. You can’t help but feel happy when you see the branches covered in all those lovely good wishes and positive vibes.
Straight ahead was the welcome desk to book into events and workshops and of course pick up a goody bag. We ditched our bags and coats and wandered into the main Exhibitor Marketplace, a plethora of holistic wondrousness with products, services and therapies to delight all tastes. Also in this space is the free stage, where you can watch a variety of acts, speakers etc throughout the day, and even join in with many, the Wellbeing studio, a place to try out yoga, dance, meditation and more. There’s also the Pop Up Temple, non-stop free mantra, meditation, kirtan, bhajans, traditional pooja demos, micro talks and more and the Chill Out Zone – a fab, uncovered geometric dome in the centre of the room with pillows and seating for some ‘chilling out’ during your visit. We also discovered a lovely meditation stand, The Meditator, where we spent 20 mins or so just relaxing at at the end of the day.
Now food is always pretty high on my agenda when attending events and normally you’re stuck with pretty beige choices. Thankfully the MBS Show provided a couple of cafe style vendors for coffee, sandwiches, salads, cakes etc and we were thrilled to wander into the centre of the Exhibitor Marketplace and stumble across the InSpiral stand, jam packed with an abundance of fabulous raw goodies. Needless to say, as avid raw foody folk ourselves, Ruby and I both enjoyed a wonderful raw cashew cheese tartlet with salad for lunch (see pic) and also bought some super tasty raw cheesecakes to take home (and I can confirm it wasn’t long before they had been devoured!).
So appetites sated we were ready for some more exploration of the festival. We’d already done a round before lunch, said hello to some lovely people (old and new friends) and spotted a few things we would like to learn more about or purchase. So we set off and had a lovely afternoon. We chatted to the Neal’s Yard Remedies Organic team (always enjoy the NYR products), Niki’s Balms (a range of moisturising and healing organic balms) Crystal Cups (a great idea to create womens tops with a special pocket for your crystal). We chatted to The lovely people at The Henna Den (henna candles, silk scarves and other mehndi inspired goodies), of course the guys and girls at Inspiral (a fab raw cafe and venue in Camden) and Conscious Ink (greeting cards and temporary tattoos with positive affirmations and inspiring words). I had a look at the shambala stand who had an amazing shambala healing pyramid to try out (see pic). Ruby bought an astrology report for the year ahead and I had a Jyorei healing taster which was lovely and relaxing (a new one on me – a form of energy healing). We spoke to lots of other great businesses and lovely people throughout the day too, made some more lovely purchases and enjoyed some of the performances on the free stage including; Carolyn Cowen, Jonny Cope, Cate Mackenzie, Ranchor Prime, Chloe Goodchild and we heard many other great things as we explored away from the stage.
We hadn’t booked into any of the workshops as time was on short supply, though I have no doubt that with the high calibre of speakers, some I’ve had the pleasure of seeing at other events, all of them were wonderful and offered great value and learning to those attending. Had we been at the festival for more than one day we would have certainly booked in to enjoy a handful of workshops too. Also visiting a second time we’d also know better how to fit the rest of the day around one or two workshops.
Our verdict:
It was a lovely event with a nice vibe about it and we will be attending again and would heartily recommend it to you, whether you’ve fallen right down the holistic rabbit hole or you’re just considering dipping your toe in the water. There was such a variety of businesses there that you would be hard pressed not to find something that interests you, whether it be for personal development or care or as a consideration for expanding your business offerings. Definitely pop it in your diary for 2014, you’ll be pleased you did.
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Top Tip – If you’re traveling then consider bringing a larger bag that you can put in the bag store – you can pop your coat and other things in there, leaving you with a lighter load for enjoying the day. You can of course also make purchases and pop them in the bag during the day to save you carrying hints round with you.
Find out more:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/mindbodyspiritfestival
Website: www.mindbodyspirit.co.uk
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Author: Sophie Jewry, The Holistic Directory
www.theholisticdirectory.co.uk
The Holistic Journal 