I spent the last few days at a place called Camp Coutts located in a National Park about one hour’s drive from Sydney.

 I attended “Spiritfest” 2008 and the topic for the 4 days of the festival was “Freedom”.

This Festival was a combination of different activities.

• There were Workshops on various topics, ranging from drumming, shiatsu, painting peace flags to co-counselling and Mexican healing.
• There was yoga (of course!), lots of meditation and chanting.
• There were discussions and readings about meditation.
• There was an evening of spiritual story telling and a spiritual trivia quizz (to my shame I must admit that the group that I was in scored the lowest - I need to do more homework!)
• One of the highlights for me were the two evening concerts, the talent drawn mainly from the participants, there are so many great musicians amongst them.
• The children were looked after and entertained, doing various activities (no TV there!)
• Most importantly there was glorious food - all vegetarian and cooked according to Ayurvedic principles.

This is just the tip of the iceberg so to speak and I will write some more detailed posts to share some of the knowledge I gained as a result of participating in Spiritfest.

I also spent a lot of time in the waterhole with the children and went walking to explore the surrounding bush and a cave. It is beautiful spending time in a natural environment, feeling free and not having to worry about any of the necessities of life for a few days. I can highly recommend it!

You may wonder who is organising such an amazing festival? It is a small group of people belonging to the Ananda Marga Group. Their main chant is: “Baba Nam Kevalam” which translates into: “Infinite Love is all there is”.

There is going to be a Spiritfest 2009 for which you have to wait a whole year. There will be a smaller one in July 2008 in Ballina (in northern NSW).

As the time gets closer I will publish some contact details in case you would like to attend one of these Festivals.

I spent New Year’s Eve at a Retreat Centre called “Govinda Valley” just about one hour’s drive from Sydney. It is a lush green valley with a creek running at the bottom. In the early morning the kangaroos come out of the bush and feed on the grass.

One of the highlights for me was the performance of a show by a group called “Le Carnaval Spirituel” in English - you guessed it - Spiritual Carnival.

It is a troupe of performers from Europe who had never been to Australia before. The Spiritual Carnival was established in France in 1979. The troupe has for many years entertained audiences at Europe’s  largest music festival “Woodstock” which annually attracts crowds in excess of 250,000 people.

The stage performances consisted of dance, music, drama, stylised theatrical yoga and martial arts. My favourite part was when a yogi performed a very challenging  sequence of yoga postures. He was incredible to watch, so graceful and strong.

A bit later in the show the MC announced that this yogi was able to do the most amazing feats - including being in several places at the same time. The audience was very curious what was going to happen. The door opened and two yogis looking exactly the same came on stage. They were amazing to watch, they were not only dressed identically, their features were very similar, their height and their build matched perfectly and they moved through a very advanced and challenging yoga sequence in perfect harmony.

“Kathak,” another form of dance, native to North India, is divinely graceful and was beautiful to watch. Each movement has a deep spiritual significance.

“The Dance of the Warrior” was a choreographed martial arts sequence using swords. It was performed with grace and strength

It was a memorable start to the New Year and certainly inspired me to work more on my yoga practice. If this troupe is ever in a town near you, go and watch them you will be inspired!