With the festival season upon us, we can ignore the disappointing English weather and jump straight into summer. With different themes, music and locations all over the country, there’s a festival to choose for everyone. From the relaxed atmosphere at Latitude to the wild nature at Wilderness, and fancy dress at the Secret Garden Party, there are endless exciting opportunities. But dancing into the late hours comes at a price. There’s nothing quite like waking up in an overheated tent, glitter still on your face, headache on full blast and throat sore from singing all night long.
Here are our tips on how to survive a festival, the yoga way.
1. Take 5 – festivals are a very intense assault on all senses, and that’s what we love about them. There’s no hiding from the fact that hours of loud music, endless singing and dancing takes its toll on our mind. But you can quickly restore your headspace by taking a few minutes to clear your head and restore your energy levels. Here is a quick breathing exercise that will re-energise your body and mind:
Ujjayi breathing is one of the most basic and most popular breathing in yoga for a reason – it warms up the body and allows you to focus more on your breath, increases the amount of oxygen in the body and detoxifies mind and body.
The breathing is known for its soft hissing sound. Start to breath in and out through your nose. Take an inhalation slowly through your nose that is slightly deeper than normal. Exhale slowly through your nose, while constricting the muscles in the back of your throat. The constriction of the throat muscles should create a sound like waves.
You can do this in your tent, sitting on the grass, or perhaps look into joining a meditation session at the festival!
2. Join a class – after spending all day on your feet, dancing and occasionally wondering how you’ve managed to find yourself in the middle of a mosh pit, your body has taken a beating. Add to that impressive (or regrettable) amounts of alcohol, fast food and lack of sleep.
Festivals have now come up with an easy answer to bringing your body back into shape after a heavy night, and you can find complete yoga programmes at various festivals, including Secret Garden Party and Wilderness. An hour, or even half an hour of yoga can do wonders to your system, detoxify your body, stretch those achy muscles and bring you back to yourself.
CorkYogis will be teaching this year at the Secret Garden Party, and selling our super-grippy and eco-conscious cork mats at Wilderness, Green Man, Citadel and World Yoga Festival, so make sure you say hello if you’re around!
3. Hydrate – This is the obvious one, but one we do not always follow. With all the not-so-healthy drinks at festivals, dancing and sweating in hot weather and long, tiring days, make sure that you always have a bottle of water handy. If you’re spending a lot of time in front of stages and in queues, invest in a cute looking bottle holder.
You could use lemon in your water for a more refreshing taste. We don’t always realise but often a lot of fatigue and tiredness is caused by dehydration, so to stop yourself burning out, drink plenty of water!