Bali Spirit Festival 2024 – A beautiful organised chaos

Nessi Gomes, Bali Spirit festival 2024

I usually like to attend smaller events because I prefer more intimate settings. But this time the stars aligned in such a way that I went to the Bali Spirit Festival, which is a rather big event. I went there expecting a lot of people like me, in “search” for zen, and I found a beautifully organized chaos. And if I was to describe it in one sentence I would say:

Bali Spirit Festival was not what I expected but what I needed.

On the first day, I signed up for some workshops and that was lovely, until music started bursting from all directions, people, things, stuff everywhere...I felt a bit overwhelmed. My instinct on the first day was to leave, never look back and go to a monastery, because that was not what I was looking for.

I left the venue to go to my hotel to have a shower, and all of a sudden, the sound of traffic didn’t sound as loud anymore. If you know Ubud streets, you know traffic in Ubud is pretty bad. And that’s when I had a complete switch of perspective and I gained clarity: everything is inside me, and I am the only one that has control over my internal state of being and my peace.

Of course, this is a concept that we always talk about, but this time it was simply my reality, I felt it with every pore of my body. So, from that moment onwards I started walking on clouds, in constant mindfulness and meditation.

I walked slowly to my room, savouring every moment, noticing every detail on every building, every little grass growing between the concrete cracks, the smiles and wrinkles on people’s faces. All of a sudden, I started noticing details that I did not notice before, and in that moment, I knew I had reached at “my destination”. 

Bali Spirit Festival was not the kind of zen I was looking for, but definitely the one that I needed.

I was looking for this kind of zen, but....

So, I thought to myself, ok this is not what I expected, but I am here for a reason so I will flow with it and see what happens. In my daily life, I live a very simple, almost monastic, life. I spend a lot of time alone, working, meditating, creating art, dancing, reading, learning. So, it was the time for me to be out there in the crowd, with the noise of the world, with its beauty and its imperfections. I was out of my comfort zone.

So, I went to all the evening concerts and danced like there was no tomorrow, listened to music that I would have probably never listened to and completely immersed myself in the experience. And I have to say it was absolutely divine. My growth journey did not happen during the workshops. Growth happened by immersing myself in the present moment, savouring the whole experience and observing myself in this setting.

So I had an experience within an experience, observing myself experience…

Speaking of workshops, there were two workshops that pierced right through my heart.

Vocal odyssey with Nessi Gomes. I am not a singer, but I felt the calling to attend this workshop. Needless to also say that Nessi was a big part of my healing journey and doing that workshop confirmed to me that this wonderful woman is a shaman. She heals with her music and she transcends all language with sound. It was one of the best workshops of the festival for me. She also has an online version, and I would defitnitely recommend.

We worked a lot with our throat chakra and liberating it. Funny to say that, because at the same time I was left speechless by the power of voice and Nessi’s guidance. She also said something that pierced right through my heart: therapy is good, healing is good but at one point you are done trying to fix yourself, and it’s time to create. It really hit home, because for the first part of my self-discovery journey it was all about healing, and now in recent years it became more about creating, and the more I create the more I feel free and full of life, blossoming like a wild cherry tree.

The other workshop was yoga nidra with Emily Kuser. When I walked into the room and saw Emily, I felt love pouring out of her like an endless fountain. It was her simple presence that filled the room with love and compassion. I had one of the most wonderful yoga nidra journeys with her. Words fail to describe this workshop, but it just goes to show how important the facilitator is.

A lot of the time is not even about the doing, but about being, and this woman simply embodied loving presence, and that for me was enough, because it is not something you encounter very often. Yes, you have facilitators, coaches and healers saying all the “right words”, but to embody it and transmit, is a different story. I came out of there filled with love, joy and compassion.

I attended more workshops, and most of them were good, such as the Rumi whirling, the water meditation experience, the tantra workshops to mention a few. All in all, I attended some good workshops, and but of course some were average. Ok, it is a human experience delivered by humans doing their best, at different stages of their processes and I learned from every single one of them, so I am very grateful.

But to be honest with you, I don’t quite understand the concept of the festival because there were also salsa, bachata and hoola hoop classes and other random stuff. I am not quite sure how that captures the spirit of Bali or how they tie in with spirituality, but many people enjoyed them, so it does not actually matter. I absolutely love dancing, so I cannot complain, but it was definitely confusing for my brain to come out of a deep meditation workshop straight in the middle of a salsa party...

I think it is about the spirit of Bali as a welcoming and open island as opposed to a "spiritual" festival.

When I decided to attend, I thought everyone would be “like me”, on the "spiritual" path for many years, studying, "serious" about their growth. But I met so many people that had absolutely no clue what was going on, or that have never done a day of yoga in their life.

At the beginning I was outraged, but I realised I was being judgemental, and my ego was having a fit, because for me this path is so pure. I also understand the risks and benefits, so when I saw people clueless, I felt it was disrespectful on some level.

Until it hit me again, this was once again my process.  When the observer in me woke up and realised the discourse in my head, I also realised that it is good that all these “clueless” people are there because they are learning, they are being exposed to new concepts, ideas and it is an important part of their journey. Who am I to discredit their experience…

I then remembered when I first started yoga in 2012 and I had absolutely no idea about anything, but I loved it because it calmed me, and my body felt good. We all have to start somewhere…So I was humbled by this whole experience, I acknowledged my own duality, my lack of patience and my own humanity with all its dark aspects, and I started feeling this warmth growing inside me and love pouring out of me.

On the last night of the event, I was chilling on a bean bag looking at people dancing. Kids, grown-ups, different sexes, ages, races, all moving to the same tune and I felt the love. It cannot be explained into words, but I felt complete and unconditional love for every single person there.

I wanted to hug every single one of them. I smiled so much at myself that my face hurt. The language of love and the energy of the place was out of this planet.

I remember the Yawanawa were singing, and even though nobody understood a word, everyone was smiling dancing pouring themselves out.  Then I understood that we don’t need to know everything or anything at all, because the power of love transcends all matters of the mind, the ego and all human concepts, rules and regulations. In this case, music and dance were the language of love and I was absolutely mesmerized by the collective energy floating around.

I felt so much love pouring out of me that I thought my heart was going to explode, and I shared it with those around me, because it was not mine to keep…

In those moments I was so grateful to the organisers for everything, and to the incredibly kind local staff that made sure that everything run smoothly. Everything run flawlessly, or at least even if there were hiccups behind the scene, nothing was obvious. And the beautiful décor, multiple stages and the whole setting was extremely well organised and beautifully curated…In those moments I wanted to hug them all one by one…

So all in all, Bali Spirit Festival was not what I expected but what I needed, and I am grateful for this experience.

Until we meet again!

With loving presence,

Florina

Mindful Connecting

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