My experience at Exhale Festival

Going to Exhale festival was a last minute decision for me, but a good one.

This was the third year for Exhale but the first time I'd heard about it; no surprises there as I’m usually home with the kids leading my hermit life. But having launched Blisscloud yoga mats in June I have been making some awesome contacts and through them heard about Exhale.

It appealed to me as it's small, there’s a 300 person cap so it makes for a really intimate experience with lots of opportunities to get to know people.

It’s in the beautiful Sussex countryside.

I spoke with Carl, one of the organisers about giving a few mats to Exhale but in the end we decided it would be better if I just got a ticket and came and from there could make connections. I only went for the Saturday, the weather predicted thunderstorms, but lucky for us the forecast was notoriously wrong and it was gloriously hot and sunny.

Not sure where I was going

I pulled over by a farm to look up the address on my phone, I had pulled over to the farm where Exhale was being held. Only a few prayer flags gave nod to the fact. I drove into the event and immediately could feel the laid back vibe, people wandering around or lying on the grass in their yoga/ relaxed gear. Children were running about laughing, the overall scene was petty idyllic .

I met with my friend and we headed to the board to see what was on, first up, for us, was a talk / meditation by Gail Schock /G Love. This was held in a circle sitting on the lawn, I relaxed on my mat and let Gail’s words wash over me. The theme of the message was about letting your voice out and not being ‘voice thieved’ it was powerful stuff. We ended with a heart connection meditation.

So feeling all blissed out and relaxed we wandered over to the fruit stand to get a juice and I spied one of my Tribal Blisscloud mats being used in a little photo shoot for a new drink, Birch Sap. I introduced myself to Nick, @nomadic_yogi , who had the mat. It was so lovely to meet him face to face, such a gorgeous person, in all ways. He was with Dan, @dcmlifestyle. We wandered over to a field where I got a few shots of them on the mat.

Nicole and I then went to do Adam Husler’s class, ‘Kung-Fu Hips’ yoga. Man, that guy has crazy open hips, very impressive. We were in a barn and it was full. The class was 2 hours and for me was quite hard going, I took a couple of photo breaks ( well I had to get the images)

I was feeling a bit shaky after that and in need of some food, it was getting late and we missed out on the soup as they'd run out, so for lunch I had a gluten free crepe with banana and maple syrup, very yum.

Next up was Jambo Troung leading ‘Ending of Wars Yoga Ceremony’ with humour, love and grace. Loved this; stepping up to the fire and making a wish was a beautiful experience.

It was hard to fit in all the things I wanted to do, a lot of the classes overlapped, there really was a lot to choose from. I didn’t manage to make it to Bar Mob - Calistenics which I would liked to have done.

For dinner we were first in the queue; pearl barley, with salad and ratatouille, lovely and nourishing. A quick cup of chamomile and then we headed to Nick Elisseos' Acroyoga class. This is something I've wanted to try for a while , so it was a great to try it in a fun and friendly atmosphere. We paired up and did some exercises working together to build up trust. It was so much fun and reminded me of school sports days ( although this was way way better, none of that feeling crap for coming last in the hurdles) then we did a few simple poses, to be superman as an adult was amazing! I’d love to get good at this, such a great feeling to be off the ground. And it was really invigorating too, I had that buzzy feeling I get after doing handstands.

It was 8pm and I kind of thought we might be done for the day but we were recommended the black and light yoga so headed straight over to that. Think UV , sound system and mc yogi on the mic. It was all very cosmic but if I thought I was in for a calming chill experience I was wrong, this was full on power yoga flow, fast and with a full tempo sound track. I liked it, I was sweating and struggling at times to keep up but like any aerobic exercises that get your heart pumping I got that delicious euphoric feeling, yep I was feeling the love. I was also feeling completely knackered.

It was now dark and the DJ was playing in the main barn, we sat outside with Dan and Nick and I was introduced to Darren, @dancingdaza . Such a gorgeous, squidge ball of fun (not sure he’ll appreciate that) he was wearing a big fury hat, embroidered waistcoat and fairy lights. This man is on a super busy schedule but I got the feeling his energy can handle it.

Another person I connected with was Davin, who is co-director at Kanga Yoga, check out what he’s up to at http://www.kangaevents.com/

So feeling very rock and roll I had a ginger beer and headed onto the dance floor, it was an eclectic mix, grimy hip hop cross eighties wedding. After busting my grooves,for, if I’m honest not that long, I decided it was time to leave the ball. I was tired and achy and full of love.

As I drove away from Exhale, there was music playing and people chatting around a fire; I felt like I wanted to say for longer.

It was a fun day and next year I will definitely go for the whole weekend.