Noel Road

HELLO to this big, wide world!

So this is my first entry to Noel Road... a blog I have left sitting waiting for me on the interweb for a very long while (a year and beyond) while I ambiguously hoped and waited for a starting point that somewhat felt right.

I've roughly known how I've wanted to use this page, but if there's one thing that three years of writing undergrad. English Literature essays teaches you, it's that beginnings are often the hardest of all obstacles to overcome (and don't we all know it!)

I've wanted this little blog to be one of lasting significance to me and the journey(s) ahead, and I therefore wanted to also begin it with some significance... mostly for myself, but also to anyone who might be interested in reading the things I'll post here...

After the incredible few days I have just experienced, I think it's fair to say that I've found that starting point, that not-so-dreaded beginning.

I spent the August bank holiday weekend on a little countryside farm called 'Fairoaks' in West Sussex, where 80-or-so people (including children and various adorable canines) gathered together to take part in the first ever 'Exhale Festival', a 4 day yoga festival organized by Carl and Sophie of 'Stretch' Yoga Studios and other amazing yogis such as Charlie Kelly of 'Black and Light Yoga'.

Three weeks ago, I knew nothing of these people, their organizations or of this festival! I'd done a handful of yoga classes in my life, which I'd absolutely loved, but had never made the conscious effort to pursue yoga practice due to funds, lifestyle and most of all a lack of confidence and self-boots up the backside! Despite this, it was the driving meanings, purposes and messages behind yoga that continued to resonate with me through the years, and with the theory I was always studying in and outside of my undergraduate English Lit. degree at Queen Mary.

I just so happened to be absorbed in a little book called 'The Perfection of Yoga' whilst on a beach holiday in Menorca when my best friend Caroline messaged me to tell me about 'Exhale'. It stayed on our minds, and close to the event we made a last minute decision to just go for it and we booked our tickets!

So much about the weekend I spent at beautiful Fairoaks Farm - a weekend entirely dedicated to all that characterises the spirit of yoga: well-being, community, compassion, awareness, balance, life-force and, of course, happiness - resonated with me in a myriad of profound ways; both in terms of my own past experience and accumulated perspective (thus far) and of the future I have been wishing for both myself and the intimate and wider world around me.

Just to observe the working and interaction of those that made 'Exhale' happen - the amazing people and their many varied practices - linked to a certain revolution of human consciousness that I have so strongly believed in and hope to dedicate my life to, and the power of connection and community to which this revolution is/will be owed. Perhaps it's that I had never before given myself the opportunity to do so, but I had never seen this sense of community in action, and the absolute power it can hold (in this case, a community rooted in a pure love of yoga!).

For our camping, all catered food and all yoga and other activities, 4 days with 'Exhale' was an amazing £150. The food was delicious, super healthy and filling, and Caroline and I managed to squeeze in around 7 yoga sessions (still factoring in a lot of time to just be still in the atmosphere of the farm, do henna on one-another and nap!) We even treated ourselves to a hot stone massage (my first ever massage!) with the lovely Lauren Williams. Aside from all the many different types of yoga (acro, vinyasa, 'heart opening', yoga with dance, and more), we also took part in gong meditation and kirtan chanting. We'd never tried these before, and they seemed very much integrated into the practice of yoga and added so much so the restorative nature of the weekend.

One of our favourite things about the festival was the almost-complete absence of 'intoxication' of any kind. We caught a whiff of a couple of spliffs, saw a few beers being carried around and that was about it! The yoga rave, for instance, was completely sober; people simply high and happy off energising yoga and genuinely good vibes!

As is obvious, we could not possibly recommend 'Exhale' more! So keep your eyes peeled for next year's event if you're interested. And we've found that it far from stops there... There are so many amazing studios and workshops run by such great teachers all over London and also in Brighton, and many teachers also seem to travel around with various workshops. There are of course a gazillion different yoga studios all over the country (to my delight, I have found *three* so far in my hometown of Cambridge!) There are also incredible retreats organized by humble yogis such as those that made 'Exhale' happen. And, even further afield, Caroline found that a guy who DJ'd the 'Black and Light Yoga Rave' has built a commune in Portugal that integrates yoga and meditation into their inspiring way of life. (It's called Rainbow City, and you can find out about it here.) Needless to say, there is so much to be explored. And the people I met at 'Exhale' really seemed to be living proof of infinite possibility. Limits and obstacles just didn't seem to flicker across their being. And, without even knowing it, simply spending 4 days on Fairoaks Farm with them all made Caroline and I feel equally limitless in our own potential.

As in the picture below, I think we found our inner Super Cape-Ability!

find out about Fern Trelfa's awesome project(s) here

Despite the big smiling photo of myself at the top of this post, this page won't really be focused on me. Noel Road will share subjects I feel passionately about, subjects I think we should all be actively passionate about; things that I believe matter to every single one of us in creating an open-minded, sustainable, compassionate world for the future. In my opinion, what is life about if you are not devoting it to positive change, or at least being the spirit of change you wish to see and that we all so desperately need in these deeply troubled times?

For me, a highlight of Exhale was the hour of 'Relaxation and Goalsetting' before Charlie's yoga rave kicked off. Charlie's own mum hosted the session, where we all laid down in the candle-lit barn, covered ourselves in cardis and blankets, and listened to her guide us through a meditative hour of positive thoughts and reflections. We mainly focused on trying to envision ourselves in a year's time, and what we hoped to achieve in between now and then. I thought about all the projects I've had in mind over the past year, and I spent the stillness focusing on dedicating the next year to putting some (or all!) of those projects into motion.

The experience really did make us feel that all these ideas of goals that cross our minds are more than possible to achieve. The life-force of a positive mindset will inevitably spring daily 'babysteps' into action, and perhaps all it takes is the reminder of a list of these overarching goals, dismissing the daily greyscale burdens of 'reality' that drag us down, to begin to make these changes for ourselves and others around us. After the energy given to Caroline and I after last weekend, we definitely can't wait to get going on ours!

Yoga, of course, is not the be-all-and-end-all to finding a way into that ultimate power we all hold. There are many other practices, therapies and thought-systems that seem to elevate similar values and I definitely hope to explore more of these in the not-so-distant future.

So, here's to beginnings, whenever and however they arise! Having just graduated, and feeling those standard just-graduated emotions of lost identity for several months, I definitely feel fortunate in welcoming in some much-awaited good feeling toward all that lies ahead :)

Thank you for reading, comment if you have anything to share, and there are also a few links below to some of the people and organizations mentioned above.

With love, Georgia x

Exhale Festival

Stretch Yoga

Black and Light Yoga

Nine Lives Yoga
Piriamvada Yoga
Outdoor People
Fern Trelfa
Emily Yoga
The Shanti Space Retreats

Zoga Flow Yoga

Mantric Yoga

Rainbow City