September 2023

What does a “normal” day at the festival look like? The first thing is that a day feels as if it is as long as a year. It is so packed with events, that the concept of the passage of time and what-happened-when is completely confusing. The day starts at 7am with some activity, such as Osho Dynamic Meditation, Kundalini Roots, Breath of Life, Lion’s Heart Meditation, Chakra Meditation, Partner Yoga, etc. I will not go into the details of every morning activity here, but I would definitely single out Breath of Life, where for the first 10 minutes you are a train rushing around and hooting, then you are a dog on all fours barking around and biting other four-legged creatures. Then you remain on all fours and for the next 10 minutes you become a cat that cuddles, curls, purrs and meows. Following this you then become a pillow-throwing brat, then you are laughter, and finally you are tears and peace, shavasana. In Lion’s Heart Meditation you are a lion, the king of the jungle with all its virtues, you roar, defend, attack, then you are a playful lion cub and so on.

So, at eight in the morning, after the morning activity that is usually aimed at starting the Kundalini (Wikipedia: a form of divine feminine energy [or Shakti] believed to be located at the base of the spine), you are already connected to electricity. Next is breakfast, OK, that’s a “normal” activity. Then a gathering at the Shiva Shakti Temple. This comprises of dancing and a family gathering. A family is a group of four people who happened to meet at one time, in one place, the previous evening. These four people, or the family, will gather every morning at the same place in the temple, to share how they feel, what hurts whom, what frustrations surfaced, what “amazing” thing happened the previous day, with each person having 4 minutes to talk. While one person talks, the others listen, in a parliamentary manner, without interrupting. “What is alive in me this morning?” 4 minutes is incredibly long and a lot can be told. They are even longer if there is nothing to say. 😊 But it’s all a matter of training and day by day those 4 minutes become shorter and shorter.

This is followed by the announcement of the programme for that day, 4 parallel workshops in the morning, lunch, 4 workshops in the afternoon, then sound meditation. After dinner there is a dance, concert or party (they change from evening to evening) and the Love Temple for the end of the day, for those who still can move. There are other various activities in the meantime, around lunch, such as body painting with clay, Tandava Dance, chilling by the pool (something for everyone’s taste).

And yes, endless hugs are on offer along the way. So, “May I give you a hug? Of course, I would love to… mmmmm… take a deep breath, hhhaaaaaa… one, two, three breaths”. Each hug lasts for three minutes, until the level of serotonin rises. After three hugs like this, you get a little dizzy, everything is a little softened, floating, soft and warm, and realistically you don’t need a lot of food or a lot of sleep, you just go around and hug each other and it’s great.

Back to the workshops. I will go through a few illustrative examples, if such work can even be described in words. But let me try.
As I mentioned, there are four activities before lunch and four in the afternoon, so you have to decide on which one of the four you wish to attend, which is not an easy task because they are all interesting. The elimination method somehow leads to the final selection, but even that is not a guarantee that the desired activity will be attended, because the number of visitors in certain halls (White Tara, Nataraja, Tilopa) is quite limited. Therefore, people are running around trying to get into their desired activity, not to kiss the door and have to manage your disappointment, as we were advised in the introduction event.

Workshops include Open Heart Tantric Puja, Feminine/Masculine Day, Forgiveness Ritual, Desire and Fear, Tantra for Singles, Tantric Dance, The Wave of Bliss, The Happy Sobriety and three more that I didn’t attend.
As I have attended several events like this, there is little that can shock me, but I can imagine how someone who is exposed to this kind of work for the first time would be feeling. 😊 In one moment we are Shakti, female energy in a woman’s body, in another moment we need to imagine and feel what is it like when you have balls and lingam (Sanskrit name for the male sexual organ), and you go through life with them. Our brothers should imagine and feel their yoni (Sanskrit name for the female genital organ) and also to feel what it feels like to be penetrated. Shape-shifting from moment to moment. Then we look into each other’s eyes for half an hour, until you start to hallucinate, then we stand and breathe with the movement of the pelvis and look into each other’s eyes, until you pass out. Then we breathe alternately, one inhales, while the other exhales, until an energy circle is created where again there is a serious threat of falling into unconsciousness, then we try to feel all the suffering of all our ancestors, both male and female, until the weight drowns you. Then someone just touches you in the heart area, of course while eye gazing all the time, during which there is a serious breakdown, with crying, smearing of mascara, and then from the beginning again.

And then Eros begins to work and in the next moment you find yourself in the most sincere and loving contact with another human being (it doesn’t matter what gender, because we are all brothers and sisters born in a male or female body), as if it is the day of judgment. The love rapture lasts while the workshop is going on and after that, bye, bye, let’s go to lunch.

From workshop to workshop, it is an emotional roller coaster, one moment you touch the stars, the next you’re rolling in the mud. It is very useful for any human being to experience the full range of emotions in a safe space like the Tantra Festival, a playground for adults. Such places and gatherings work according to the principle that as much as you give, you get as much back. The more you are ready to participate and give yourself unreservedly, the more you will get in return. No more no less. And you should have balls, In the true and figurative sense of the word.

At the end of the day, the Love Temple is a kind of institution. There are mostly mixed feelings about the Love Temple phenomenon and there are several types of visitors. There are people who like to attend the temple, they are always the first in, and they don’t leave until it closes. They often don’t go to the morning meditations because they don’t manage to rise early. There are those who come once or twice, stay for a while, voyeur a little, participate a little, and then fall asleep. There are those who would secretly like to come, but alas, by the time they do, it’s packed inside, so maybe they’ll come tomorrow. There are those who don’t even dare to come close, because for God’s sake, they don’t have anyone to go with. And there are those who are not interested in the temple, at least that’s what they say. What is actually in the Temple? Sodom and Gomorrah? Well, not really, to me it’s more like theatre, interesting to be in, participate as you wish, a safe space for experiments of all kinds. If you’ve wanted to try something, but haven’t had the chance in the real world, the Temple is the ideal place to do it. The Temple is a playground where boundaries are learned, you learn to say YES and NO, to change your decision in a fraction of a second, to say Thank You with just one “namaste” and leave. No hard feelings, no one has to marry anyone. It can look mildly disgusting, and it can also be the most wonderful art. It depends on the participant. And most importantly, everything is on a voluntary basis. No one can force anyone to do anything. Personally, cuddling is the most tempting thing for me in the Love Temple, as therapy, it leads to a state of haze, a dense energy that can be cut with a knife. I hope that I have at least managed to demystify the institution of the Love Temple. 😊

What else? Yes, great concerts, Ecstatic Dance, Arunji, Praful, Gong Meditation, costume glamour parties, live music, excellent vegetarian food, interesting people, no alcohol, no stimulants, barefoot and naked. A great vibe.

Welcome to the Tantra Festival!