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Q&A with AGNI, a Co-Creative, Transformational Yoga Festival

yoga festival poster

From June 2nd to 5th, AGNI Festival will take place on the outskirts of Barcelona. The festival comprises four days and three nights of yoga practices, shamanic ceremonies, ecstatic dance, meditations, healing arts and a range of workshops. It will include an open space for anyone who wants to offer a class, workshop, talk or ceremony.

The Agni Festival is inspired by co-creative transformational festivals around the world, based on creativity and innovation to celebrate life together with a good vibe.

It is organized by NowHere Yoga, a project inspired by the teachings of yoga now coming into a new era of global awareness. We spoke to NowHere Yoga to find out more about this incredible festival.

Q: When did NowHere Yoga start?

A: NowHere Yoga was born in the Monegros desert in 2014 at a festival called Nowhere, the European Regional Burning Man event. Inspired by the participatory, radically inclusive, creatively liberating environment there, we envisioned a yoga project that could bring together our backgrounds in the performing and fine arts with music, yoga, an inclusive and conscious community, and our dedication to presenting powerfully transformative movement and meditation practices in an accessible way.

Based in Barcelona, we started running yoga retreats and events in this area, eventually also branching out to teaching and running retreats internationally. This culminated in our biggest project to date, last year’s inaugural Agni Festival!

Q: What’s the Agni Festival?

A: “Agni” is a Sanskrit word meaning “fire,” not only physical flame but the way we experience fire as a symbol of the power of transformation in the Universe. At Agni Festival we have potent shamanic ceremonies involving fire such as “temazcals” (sweat lodge ceremonies), alongside the nourishing practices of yoga, a range of healers and bodyworkers offering workshops and private sessions, fire dance and performances, live music and DJs, sound healing, talks on everything from Ayurveda and permaculture to making your own soaps and cosmetics, and activities for kids.

So there’s a huge range of experiences to engage with. We understand that everyone has different needs to support their own personal development, and by focusing our attentions collectively in the ways we are doing at Agni we can co-create inspiring and transformative experiences for everyone who comes, no matter age or background.

The feedback we’ve had from people who participated last year has been so amazing to hear – people having breakthroughs in their lives, letting go of old traumas, having wonderful healing treatments, starting new creative projects with people they met there. And if you’ve seen the video of last year, you’ll know we had some great parties too.

An important part of what makes this possible is our focus on collaboration and co-creativity. Inspired by Burning Man, Nowhere and other transformational events which are currently blossoming all over the world, we’ve seen the power of a community of people who share their art, wisdom, work and play together. There’s an amazing creative synergy that emerges out of that space, that can’t be found in a cultural model that is solely focused on the “consumption” of an experience – in the way that we’ve just become very used to in the modern world (and we see everywhere in cinema, concerts, music festivals, etc). There are other ways to come together and more consciously co-create our festival experiences, and we are happy to be able to explore that with the growth of Agni itself.

Q: Why should people attend the Agni Festival?

A: There’s so much on offer at Agni, whether you’re into the yoga or the DJs, whether you’re a kid or an elder, whether you want to camp or prefer the comfort of a room in the house. Last year we felt a wonderful shared sense of beauty, and we know if it calls you at all, there’s something here.

Without being a “Burning Man event” adhering to the 10 Principles these festivals espouse, we feel very inspired by the burn culture and feel that Agni also has a taste of that same flame that burns brightly people learning how to celebrate creatively as a community.

Agni is a celebration of life, of healing, of the power of loving presence. We see the power of conscious community and the growing movements of transformative festivals around the world. We’d love you to come and find your fire too.

Q: Future events from Nowhere Yoga?

A: We are regularly running yoga retreats and events in, around and beyond Barcelona. We then have an intensive in Masía Soronells, a Buddhist retreat centre in Montseny National Park, 28th April-1st May.

After Agni we will be involved in a big Sant Joan celebration (23rd June) fundraising party, for our camp Here & Now that we take to the Monegros in July for the Nowhere festival. At Nowhere we run classes, workshops, talks, and parties, which we’ve used to inspire and develop other projects outside the festival.

We have some international guest teachers coming to Barcelona in April (Simon John Rowe, Prana Vinyasa Yoga) and July (Simon Borg-Olivier, Yoga Synergy), including hosting Simon Borg-Olivier on an immersion yoga retreat for the first time in Spain.

We always keep our future events and activities up on our website. We also send out monthly newsletters.

AGNI will be shining again this year to bring more consciousness to the world. Get tickets here. Or find more info.

Versión en español.

Arts >

AGNI: Una celebración co-creativa de yoga, música, terapias y comunidad consciente.

YogaFestivalBarcelonaRead English version.

Del 2 al 5 de junio se estará celebrando el AGNI Festival en las afueras de Barcelona. Con 4 días y 3 noches de prácticas de yoga, ceremonias shamánicas, ecstatic dance, meditaciones, arte terapéutico y un gran rango de talleres, el festival contará con espacios abiertos para el que quiera ofrecer una clase, taller o ceremonia.

El Agni Festival está inspirado en festivales co-creativos y transformativos de todo el mundo, basados en la creatividad e innovación para celebrar la vida juntos con una buena vibración.

El mismo es organizado por NowHere Yoga, un proyecto inspirado en las enseñanzas del Yoga que ahora llegan a una nueva era de consciencia global.

 

¿Cuándo empezó NowHere Yoga?

NowHere Yoga fue concebido en el desierto de Monegros en 2014, en el marco del festival “Nowhere”, el cual forma parte de los eventos regionales de Burning Man.

Nos inspiramos en un ambiente participativo, inclusivo y creativamente liberador, en el que imaginamos un proyecto de yoga que reuniera nuestros antecedentes en el desempeño de las bellas artes con música con el yoga, y todo esto en el marco de una comunidad inclusiva y consciente. A esto le sumamos nuestra dedicación por presentar un movimiento poderosamente transformador y prácticas de meditación de una manera accesible.

Con sede en Barcelona, empezamos a realizar retiros de yoga y eventos en esta área, lo que eventualmente nos llevó a empezar a hacer retiros a nivel internacional. Todo esto ha culminado en nuestro mayor proyecto hasta la fecha, ¡el Agni Festival inaugural del año pasado!

¿Qué es el Agni Festival?

“Agni” es una palabra en sánscrito que significa “fuego”, y no se refiere solamente al fuego en sí, sino la forma en la que lo experimentamos como símbolo de poder de transformación en el universo. En el Agni Festival ofrecemos potentes ceremonias chamánicas, actuaciones y bailes con fuego, “temazcals” (ceremonias de sudación), practicas nutritivas de yoga, talleres y sesiones privadas con curanderos y bodyworkers, música y djs en vivo, sanación musical, actividades para niños y charlas que van desde el Ayurveda y permacultura hasta como hacer tus propios jabones y cosméticos.

Contamos con un gran rango de experiencias con las cuales involucrarse. Entendemos que cada uno tiene necesidades diferentes en su desarrollo personal, y al centrar nuestra atención en lo colectivo (como lo hacemos en Agni) podemos crear juntos una experiencia inspiradora y transformadora para todos los que vengan, sin importar su edad o procedencia. El feedback que nos ha dado la gente que participó el año pasado ha sido increíble. Hay personas que han tenido  avances significativos en sus vidas dejando atrás traumas de su pasado tras participar en tratamientos curativos maravillosos, y además mucho han comenzando nuevos proyectos creativos con personas que han conocido aquí. ¡Y si has visto el video del año pasado podrás ver también hicimos grandes fiestas!

Una parte importante de lo que hace esto posible es nuestro enfoque en la colaboración y creatividad conjunta. Inspirados en el Burning Man, en Nowhere y otros eventos transformacionales que están floreciendo en todo el mundo, hemos sido testigos del poder de una comunidad de personas que comparten su arte, sabiduría, trabajo, y que lo realizan juntos.

Hay una increíble sinergía emergiendo en este espacio, y esto no puede ser encontrado en modelos culturales basados solamente en el “consumo” de la experiencia. De alguna manera nos hemos acostumbrado al mundo moderno y vemos todo en cines, conciertos, festivales de música, etc. Hay otras maneras de reunirnos y crear juntos experiencias festivas, y estamos más que contentos en explorar esto a medida que el Agni vaya creciendo.

¿Por qué tenemos que ir al Agni Festival?

Ya seas joven o viejo, te interese el yoga o los djs, te guste acampar o prefieras el confort de una habitación en una casa, hay muchísimas opciones para ti en el Agni. El año pasado nos quedamos con la sensación de haber compartido mucha belleza, por lo que si tienes ganas… hay algo aquí para ti.

A pesar de no estar adheridos a los 10 principios del Burning Man, sentimos inspiración en su cultura, y creemos que el Agni también tiene algo de esa misma llama que quema brillantemente y le muestra a la gente cómo celebrar creativamente como comunidad.

El Agni es una celebración de la vida, de la sanación, del poder de la presencia amorosa. Vemos diariamente el poder de la comunidad consciente, y cómo está creciendo alrededor del mundo a través de los movimientos de festivales transformadores. ¡Nos encantaría que vinieras y encontraras tu fuego también!

¿Qué le depara el futuro a Nowhere Yoga?

Realizamos regularmente retiros de yoga y eventos en Barcelona y sus alrededores.

Del 28 de abril al 1 de mayo vamos a estar haciendo un retiro intensivo en Masía Soronells, un centro de retiro budista en el Parque Nacional de Montseny.

Más tarde, estaremos participando de una gran celebración de recaudación de fondos por Sant Joan (23 de junio) para nuestro campamento “Here & Now”, el cual llevaremos a Monegros en julio en el marco del festival Nowhere. En Nowhere hacemos talleres, charlas, clases y fiestas, y a su vez buscamos que esto inspire y ayude a desarrollar otros proyectos fuera del festival.

Contaremos con profesores invitados internacionales que vendrán a Barcelona en abril (Simon John Rowe, Prana Vinyasa Yoga) y en julio (Simon Borg-Olivier, Yoga Synergy), cuando las Clases magistrales de Simon Borg-Olivier tengan lugar por primera vez en España.

Siempre publicamos nuestros eventos y actividades en www.nowhere.yoga y enviamos mensualmente boletines de noticias a los cuales te puedes suscribir desde nuestra página.

AGNI volverá a brillar este año para traer más consciencia al mundo.

Puedes adquirir entradas aquí.

Mas información.

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Discover Walks: Discover Paris with a Parisian!

217158_202404519799441_2223672_nWith its office tucked in a charming courtyard nearby Place de la Bastille in Paris, Discover Walks, a small company offering guided tours is successfully spreading its wings throughout Europe and the United States. It was founded, almost by accident, in 2010 by Jim Jorgensen and Alexandre Gourevitch, who had met when working together in the Bay area. Jorgensen had travelled to Paris to visit Gourevitch after the latter had relocated to his homeland. While Gourevitch was giving him his own personalized informal tour of the City of Lights, a stranger, eager to hear the information, joined both of them and at the end of the “tour” handed Gourevitch a huge bill to thank him for his time.

From that moment, the seed was planted into both men’s heads to start a company that would offer tours that would not necessarily be historically savvy or academic but that would make participants feel like they were touring the city with an old friend, native from that city. The first offering included only free visits, where the participants could tip their guide at the end of the tour. Getting the word out in the early days was rather tough. But once Discover Walks was able to distribute flyers in different hotels, the number of participants increased dramatically. Along the way, the team noticed that the same people would come back for 2 or 3 visits. At the end of the first year, tours were also starting in San Francisco and are now also present in a half a dozen European cities (Barcelona, Prague, London, Lisbon, Rome, Saint Petersburg).


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