Ten Things To Get You Excited About Lightning In A Bottle
By Autumn Feldmeier
I'm a seasoned festival goer, a 10 time Burner, I attended the very first Wanderlust in Tahoe and I have traveled around the world to festivals like Bali Spirit Festival, Envision Festival and others. In the past I avoided Lightning In A Bottle (LIB) because I assumed it was too LA. Covering LIB for SF Yoga Mag last year changed that perspective for me and I absolutely loved it!
LIB was started by DoLaB. DoLab builds and promotes music festivals, interactive environments, and unique structures that exhibit and celebrate our ethos of human connection, art as transformative experience, and environmental sustainability. Sustainability is super important to me, and to see a festival that embodied sustainability so beautifully, was magical.
LIB is the only United States festival to win the "Outstanding Award" from A Greener Festival, five years in a row!
It attracts performers and an artsy crowd, which I love. It is super-engaging and immersive. It is far different from other festivals I have attended, who are focused mostly on the music. LIB brings in excellent speakers and performers so you can learn all day and dance all night.
Below is a list of my Top 10 favorite things at LIB. It was hard to list just 10 things, as there is so much I love about LIB.
The Life Force Formula Immersion with Jai Dev Singh. Jai Dev Singh is a Yogi and teacher. His innovative Yoga and Ayurveda courses are inspirational and life changing! He will be offering two Kundaling workshops, and we could not be more excited to attend them. His first workshop is Opening the 10th Gate: Kundalini Pineal Gland Activation. The second workshop is The Master Gland: A Kundalini Activation: Energy can not be created, nor can it be destroyed. It can only be transformed. You can learn about all of the Yoga offerings here.
The ArtClave. Want to get down and dirty? LIB will be offering many creative art workshops and classes. I am most excited to see Jim McKenzie, he is an American artist and director based in New York City. His sculptures and paintings often depict surrealist wonderlands occupied by highly saturated characters. He works as a commercial director, designer and animator at Aardman Nathan Love as well as a professor at School of Visual Arts. Another artist I am looking forward to taking a class from is Suzy Khrom. Her message: "Art should inspire and motivate people to do better in life, thus stimulating the society as a whole." You can find out more about the ArtClave and the artists teaching here.
Hoopalicious. As a hooper I love his form of movement. So, I'm thrilled to see hoop classes with Aaah AKA Hoopalicious on the schedule. She will be teaching two workshops, one for beginners and one for intermediate hoopers. I had the opportunity to ask Aah about her workshops and she said, "my workshops focus on hoop dance as an access to the flow state. I love to guide people into connection with themselves. See you in the flow!!"
Healing Arts and Haven Spa. If you want to stay healthy during the festival, this is the place to be! LIB has a dedicated area for health and healing. We are super excited about the workshop on deepening our understanding of our inner Male and Female aspects and how they play out in our lives. There are several workshops and classes being taught in this area. Everything from mystical Persian dance and whirling, to cooking classes, to astral projection, to learning about permaculture. Check out the full line up of workshops here.
Ecuadorean Medicine Woman, Carmen Vicente. Carmen Vicente is a keynote speaker at LIB. She will share profound perspectives on the ways that Ancient Shamanism & religious beliefs are woven into modern culture and why understanding these topics are important for strengthening our relationship to our past, present, and future. I love the way she connects ancient wisdom into our current culture. This will be an incredible chance to learn from an elder.
Zoe Jakes. Zoe Jakes is a renowned belly dancer and overall badass. We will definitely be attending her workshop called Moving Through Molasses. Last year, as her workshop was going on, it drew in several passersby's who just couldn't resist. I can't wait to see what happens this year!
DJ Dragonfly. I LOVE Ecstatic Dance and especially DJ Dragonfly. He mixes all genres to weave many tempos and cultures to help you breathe deeply to go deep. Don't miss his show!
Myth, Mantra and Mudra. No time to attend several workshops? No worries. Sianna Sherman and Masood Ali Khan will be offering a workshop called Ignite Magic. This will be Rasa Yoga backbends, pranayama & vision. It will be a dynamic flow of asana, mantra, mudra and heart fire vision. The best of yoga, dance and spirituality. One stop shopping!
The Hilarious Activities. From the Soap Box Derby to the Must-Dash 5K Run and everything in between, be sure to participate in one of the hilarious activities, unique only to LIB.
LIB is committed to sustainability. They offer free water, renewable energy and they have an amazing Green Team. The Green Team offers education on recycling and composting!!
Get your tickets to Lightning In A Bottle here! And to learn more visit: lightninginabottle.org.
