Joy!
I often do deep and sometimes serious work, but joy is a medicine indeed an end to itself and I love to take part in events that have a focus of joy,pleasure or play. Festivals and weekend events can be great for this and I have done many.
I have done many festivals in the last few years, some big ones like Electric Picnic and some small boutique events and some yoga festivals. I usually use a large tent and massage tables with plenty of blankets. Something like the picture here. Mainly using Tibetan singing bowls and gongs as they are the most portable but still I can create a good effect. In this set up I am concentrating on one or two people so they get a lot of attention. Usually I have them lie on their front and I use sound to massage their back from their feet to their neck. People love it.
I regularly contribute to Tom Quinn;s fantastic Drum till Dawn event. This is held in a luxurious lodge up in the Wicklow Mountains. We meet, share a meal and then the drumming begins. We drum all night or as long as you can. Often people are dancing or start singing there plenty of time and space for improvising and each event is unique. The next day after a lazy breakfast I do a soundbath sometimes after a yoga nidra or a meditation. The soundabth is the perfect balance to the drumming. Where the drums are loud,low notes and very physical the singing bowls and gongs are higher notes, softer and more etherical. It brings a gentle close to the event.
A very special occasion was the Raise you Vibrations weekend. 3 Practitioners collaborated to combine Drumming with Tom Quinn, Yoga with Deirdre O'Neil and sound healings with myself John Reilly. We also had meditations, walks in the forest, talking sticks, sharing circle and fantastic food. These were some moments of real magic that one practitioner can't do on their own that really highlighted how powerful collaboration can be. For example I have done some Kundalini yoga but not much so I joined Deirdre's class to take part but also to sing. Kundalini yoga has lots of chanting and my voice is very low, Deirdre's is very high. So between us we could harmonize as I knew the chants well enough to follow her. The effect of the two voices was far more powerful than one voice alone. Once there is enough to carry a chant then it is easy to get the rest of the class to join in. So in a room with large glass windows and wooden floor you get good acoustics and with the range of voices we could really create a strong effect. That's the synergy of teamwork and the reason I love collaborating so much. That was just one moment in a great weekend.
