A column about a personal experience in attending the Body in Flow festival, a yearly 4-day journey in movement and flow that occurred between May 26 and 29 2022. It included a wide variety of workshops from different disciplines. Dance, yoga, taiji, breath work, sound baths, mobility. Too many to name. Each one pleasantly surprising and uniquely wonderful.
Leading up to the festival
I am not one of a faint heart but I am one of situational social anxiety. So given as such, I have a tendency towards slight nerves leading up to a new experience. The night before the Body in Flow festival, I was taken by whispers of anxious worry.
Then I thought to myself that if I was going to attend this, it would be to find connection with others by being my most authentic self. So, I set an intention for the weekend to come back to this intention anytime I was feeling socially anxious. An intention to dispel the malicious ghosts of the unconscious mind.
This turned out to be absurdly easy. Given everyone that came together to create the Body in Flow weekend, from the organisers to the participants, this is becomes an unsurprising observation.
The organisers behind the festival
The energy of trust and openness that the Body in Flow organiser Tina Maria Lambert put into creating this festival was palpable throughout the entire festival experience.
Her warmth and kindness are absolute. The depth of her caring taking residence so substantially in the feelings plane. In speaking with workshop facilitators, I quickly got the sense that the feeling of flow permeated through the preparations of the Body in Flow festival as much as it permeated the festival itself.
The Body in Flow festival was held in the Trondheim Taiji Senter, a taiji studio run by Frode Strand Karlsen and Tina Maria Lambert. Both are certified instructors from the Norsk Taiji Senter by Pamela Hiley. Typical they hold weekly Taijiquan and Qigong classes, but this weekend something a little different transpired.
Entering the festival grounds
The moment you walk into the Trondheim Taiji Senter you are overwhelmed by a powerful magic. The outdoor entrance to the building does not betray the inner secrets of the beauty held inside.
As I gazed upon the room as a whole, I saw white walls with gold accent. High ceilings with lavish moldings and arches. The room feels like a deep breath in a pristine realm. Where the infinite spiritual expanse meets the opulent dining hall in a castle of old.
The visual spectacle of the space is one thing, but the energy you feel is something else entirely. The doors inside are like a portal, transporting you into a realm where the stress of your daily life is too far away to feel.
The room has a rich history of occupants, some with surprisingly darker pasts, considering how it feels to be standing in it. In a strange way, I believe the dark history of occupants contributes to the peace I felt upon entering. It is the sigh of relief the room experiences everyday knowing who now occupies its halls. It’s something this room has longed for, for a long time.
The festival commenced
As the participants filtered in, we were greeted with warmth of every kind. It was a lovely experience for those with timid little hearts. From the rays of sun steaming through the windows, to the cups of tea being generously poured, to the soft smiles that seemed to inhabit the faces of every person who’s eyes you met.
This is where the journey of the Body in Flow festival began.
An ecstatic dance workshop of five rhythms
The first workshop was called 5 Rytmer. There couldn’t have been a better workshop to commence this somatic sojourn. It was a variation of an ecstatic dance session. It was facilitated in a unique way that can't quite be captured in words.
There were some people that knew each other from before, but not for me. I knew one other girl. And even then, I didn’t really know her. And even then, she wasn’t there yet. So, this workshop began as a group of foreign entities to me. But by the end of the 2 hours, it left the room of individual people feeling like more of a connected whole.
The workshop was held by a woman named Loan TP Hoang. The moment I saw her I fell in love with her. Not romantically, but spiritually. I felt struck by the soul of her. The way she moved felt like an expression of the universe itself. She moved like a stream would, like a river in the sky. No force, only flow. Seemingly defying what you know to be possible.
It was so easy to follow her. She moved so naturally and true to herself that you couldn’t help but to move in this way as well. Like seeing someone breathing and realising you’ve been holding your breath. You don’t need to think about taking your next breath after that, it just happens through encoded recognition.
5 Rytmer Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/5rytmer
A workshop in rebirthing breathwork
There was an abundance of magical workshops and sessions, too numerous to dive into each individually. Throughout the entire weekend I was having experiences that were transformative to ecstatic. Whether you wanted to come to connect to yourself, to others or to your spiritual path of growth and development, there was a place for you at Body in Flow.
The breath work session with Elisabeth ignited sleeping parts in me. It was a nest created to drop the masks and to feel into whatever emotions are there. To allow yourself that space in the presence of others. Which, honestly, is very hard. It's hard enough to feel your emotions when you're alone, let alone in a room of recent strangers.
By the end of the session, I had unearthed something powerful. I had cried and laughed in that room. I felt the discomfort of emotionally expressing myself. I left that room with a reminder of how hard it is to express our true emotions, even when that's exactly what we were all there to do. There isn’t anything overwhelmingly cataclysmic to this discovery, but the most profound truths are often frustratingly simple.
Elisabeth's IG: https://www.instagram.com/elisabethfinocchiaro_/
Elemental yoga with aromatherapy and sound
The elemental yoga with aromatherapy and sound bath workshop took us on a journey through the elements. It was a multifaceted experience, a technicolour dream coat of sensations rooted in chakra meditation that was held by held by Laura Flóra Podoski. We travelled through earth, water, fire, air and space. Laura lead us through movement and breath practices that activated each of these elements within us. Rooting into the earth, flowing like water, creating heat like fire, moving the air within us, and tuning into the element of space that contains it all.
Laura's IG: https://www.instagram.com/lolaughaha/
Laura's Website: https://holistichealing11.com/
The Summary of my Experience at Body in Flow
Overall, it was a mystical experience. The weekend was magic. A powerful spell encapsulated all of us. One of closeness, trust, safety and love. It was a weekend that was truly in direct opposition to what people say about integrating into Norwegian culture. That Norwegian culture is "difficult to integrate into and that people are closed off" was simply not the case here.
The future of Body in Flow
Body in Flow 2023 is taking place between Thursday May 18 and Sunday May 21 2023. The people that participate in this festival are dedicated to this community. They care deeply and live in alignment with their souls.
The festival has a capacity of 40 people which creates a deeply intimate space as it is not so many people that you lose the ability to cross paths with everyone there. To know and remember everyone if that is what you choose to do.
The festival is already selling tickets to the next event, with participants from this year already starting to buy them.
If you are interested in an event like this you can check out their facebook event at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1075156413090129