To be honest, I'm not a big fan of different parties with strangers, but when exactly a year ago my wife offered to go to the passing near Kaluga yoga festival, decided not to shirk the duties of a good husband and went with her.

I myself do not belong to the followers of yoga, although I practice Taiji. And it seemed to me that the contingent at the festival will be cultural and cheerful, everything will certainly take place in a civilized framework, with mantras around the fire and talking on sublime topics.

We are not the first time to live in a tent, so, loading the car with everything you need, in one of the cloudy days, we went on a journey towards enlightenment. About 3-4 hours from Bryansk, and here we are already in place.

The territory of the camp site WELNA was quite large. It was here, on the site of the former pioneer camp and the events of the festival unfolded. Now there is a lot of beautiful wooden houses, laid paths with lights on the edges. Just a Paradise for tourists!

But yoga is known to be a poor nation. In the houses, almost no one takes housing, all put their tents in the immediate vicinity of the scene. The tent city turned out to be surprisingly large, people from all the surrounding places, including Moscow, came here.

Not far from the Parking lot made equipped with electricity mini-bar, where you can charge the phone, boil the electric kettle and cook by the fire. The most interesting thing is that there were not so many fans of cooking. All brought with them a lot of concentrates and sit in their tents, quietly eating.

I was one of the few who started cooking stewed rice with vegetables and seasonings on an open fire on a real pot. While my wife is in class, I'm on the farm. She and her friend and the children will come to dinner, and they will have something to eat.

Having a camera at hand, I was selected several times to the territory where events and master classes from different yoga schools were held. There were not only domestic organizers, but also came from India and other countries of the East.

And in the evenings there were singers and musicians, from the stage sounded Indian motifs, accompanied by real, live musical instruments. The performances were held late, after difficult day practice everyone was happy to sit in a Lotus position right on the grass in front of the stage.

One evening I saw a picture when young people met each other by the fire. All the talks were really held exclusively on the topic of self-awareness, and not only the aspects of yoga, but the practices of shamans, Chinese masters of u-Shu, creativity and spiritual experience of Carlos Castaneda were touched upon.

It was interesting to watch from the side, as there was an acquaintance of a young man and a girl. They especially did not hide that they sympathize with each other. During the three hours that all the participants had spent around the fire, the two discussed everything that is possible, and even exchanged addresses (it turned out that both of Moscow).

The atmosphere at the festival was really warm. And I even thought I was among the most enlightened people on earth. As if nothing else is to be sought - here they are, the joy of being and the happiness of being a yogi! But one day something unpleasant darkened this impression.

In the hall of one of the halls gathered people who were preparing for the next lesson. Postepenno came became more and more. Someone put in a corner everytuesday Mat and went somewhere for a while. Mat someone touched and he fell right across the passage. I was wondering who of the audience will be distracted from the inner self-contemplation, coming down from Nirvana to the ground and at least move the fallen rug to the side. Personally, it wasn't hard for me, but I wanted to do an experiment. To my surprise, it took another twenty people and each with a deadpan look proudly stepped over the obviously interfering passage thing. There was enough space around to slowly bend down, and even roll the miserable rug. But none of the" enlightened " did not bother to descend to such a simple thing. In the end, when I realized that I was waiting in vain, I did what everyone should have done...

Today, most people have a more positive attitude to yoga than they did ten or twenty years ago. Many young boys and girls, and even older people deal with stretch marks, trying to prolong youthfulness and improve health. But it seemed to me that all these gymnastic exercises still have little in common with enlightenment. However, maybe I'm wrong, and each of these people is just beginning.

Photo taken with camera CANON EOS 50D, TAMRON 28-75mm lens

View post on Elegance

A place to show your skills