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August 1, 2014

Bhakti Fest’s Free Pass to Peace. {elephant Sponsor}

Peace pass yoga Bhakti Fest

Before Producing Bhakti Fest, I experienced Bhakti Fest.

We’re delighted to partner with Bhakti Fest for a chance for you, our readers, to win festival tickets. Fun!

In the time before I understood all the set times and generators and the permits and the intricacies, I tasted the festival’s magic. From spontaneous kirtans, all-night ecstatic dance, to sunrise meditations, everyone seemed to be floating, no matter the hour.

Bhakti Fest’s spring Shakti Fest was a secret weekend date with a former family friend (who I was banned to date). It felt like an affair—an expansive sky and a setting sun, playful Acroyoga classes, an oasis of song and dance that was not of this world. I never wanted it to end, as reality would never be as good as this weekend of bliss. We had to go back to the real world; the world where he couldn’t commit. Where we lived in different cities. Where my family hated him.

yoga bhakti fest

I spent an entire summer wishing to be back at that festival; wishing to feel that connection.

June to September was filled with pain, with longing for that Divine Union we chanted all weekend to: Sita Ram, Shiva Shakti, Radha Krishna. The memories, the elevation, the comfort, the satsang (community), the pure heart connection.

bhakti fest

September’s Bhakti Fest rolled in, along with all the kirtan wallahs and yoga teachers… As well as the non-GMO brigade that he headed at the festival’s non-profit tables. Pulling up in his non-GMO “cornfish” car (really, there was a cornfish on it), informing participants on why they should sign California’s Prop 37, I was furious to see him again. I searched for shelter, stumbling into the tantra workshop being held by Yehoshua Brill. I laid on my back with my eyes closed; left hand on heart, right hand on belly like a good yogini. When I came out of meditation; there he was, lying next to me. We locked eyes as we laid horizontally next to each other. I was present. I was clear. He rolled closer to me; my heart raced. All I had wanted to say for months drifted away. What was there to say? I loved him. I hated him. I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted him to leave. He hugged me and asked if I wanted to eat a watermelon that he brought—a non-GMO watermelon, of course. As we leaned (and I hid) behind the infamous cornfish car, he began to kiss me. I ducked, for if any friends (who listened to me complain about him for an entire summer) found me with him, I’d surely be busted.

Again, for a whole weekend at Bhakti Fest—a festival committed to a higher love—we loved each other. We loved each other under the stars. We loved each other as we walked through the labyrinth, hand-in-hand. We loved each other as Shiva Shakti echoed through the grounds and through our beings. For that weekend, we forgave, and we loved.

The festival ended. Life called us back. We parted ways, knowing, that it would never be the same. But sometimes love so beautiful is not supposed to make sense in the real world. We fight. We have needs. We have wounds. We have egos. We have karma. Only in a powerful place, such a Bhakti Fest, could an energy that potent be contained. We mirrored each other; we reflected the love, the beauty, the imperfections, and the perfection within each other.

By loving each other, we loved ourselves. By loving ourselves, we loved the universal spirit. We broke each other’s heart. We broke our own hearts: open. We searched for a higher meaning and to make sense of why it could not work. The truth? We just weren’t meant to be. Bhakti Fest Joshua Tree

As a Producer of Bhakti Fest, I hear countless stories of unique heart opening experiences derived from the festival. Stories of healing. From marriage proposals, going home to divorce from abusive spouses, meeting the love of one’s life, to a husband locking hands with his current partner on the left side and his first-wife on the right (all while chanting Hare Krishna), there is an uniqueness about Bhakti Fest that creates a space for loving forgiveness. From forgiving ourselves for not being what we’d like to be, to forgiving others for not living up to our expectations. I don’t know if it’s the innumerable heart opening backbends, or the kirtan leaders chanting the Buddhist heart sutra, but the love is so palpable you can taste it.

These stories are what inspired Bhakti Fest’s partner, EarthWe, to create the Peacetime Pass. By wining a Peacetime Pass for Bhakti Fest on EarthWe, your festival ticket will split into two: you will get one for free, on the condition that you give the other ticket with someone you had a falling out with. As EarthWe’s founder, Philippe Caland says, “if we cannot create peace with our neighbors, friends, and people who we actually like, how can we expect world leaders to make peace amongst countries who have hundreds of years of wars that they are trying to bounce back from? The smallest act of peace is powerful.”

Bhakti fest yoga party

Whether it’s a long lost best friend, the person who stole your job, your mother who you just can’t get along with, or a lover who you just.couldn’t.make.it.work with, the Peacetime Pass may be one of the most revolutionary ideas on the festival scene. Because if we’re not willing to forgive—to forgive one another and forgive ourselves—how can we every really be free?

If I weren’t the producer (and able to get free tickets), I’d elect my ex-non-genetically-modified-lover to receive the second half to my Peacetime Pass. But I wouldn’t let him arrive in that damn cornfish car. Because I banned it.

Want to create some loving forgiveness in your life? Enter to win a Peacetime Ticket by telling us your story here.

Want to experience a weekend of bliss? Buy your ticket to Bhakti Fest West—September 4-7, 2014 at Joshua Tree Retreat center—via Bhaktifest.com. Use promo code: ej14 to receive $50 off your full festival pass!

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