Eat, sleep, stretch — and repeat: the wellness festivals to know about this autumn

A host of mindful new festivals are high on field good factor. Your weekend of wellness awaits...
Samuel Fishwick @Fish_o_wick11 September 2018

As IF you’re not tired. August is receding in the proverbial rear view. Stretching out instead, over miles of asphalt, is a bleak winter calendar of project potholes and hard deadlines.

Whichever way you look at it, this time of year is tough for the common or garden Londoner. You could consider summer totally lost — or you could hit the reset button and go again.

Opportunities to recharge, rebalance and realign abound. A glut of well-being festivals, purpose-built to tackle the trials and tribulations of modern life, are sweeping London and the wider world. Leading this is the inaugural ReSET Festival, which kicks off in London from September 24-29, in association with Breast Cancer Care and the Evening Standard. The curated line-up is semi-officially tailored to women who are constantly on the go and need to press life’s re-set button, the ethos is essentially “you do you”, with a little help from the experts. And no one’s had enough of those.

At the South Kensington Club, The Gut Health Supper Club is set to take place with Dorset+Deen, The Happy Tummy Co and Gutsy. “Digital sanity” classes with Niraj Shah, the founder of Mind:Unlocked, you'll find at Six Storeys - sessions designed to reintegrate your malicious mobile phone into life in a less stressful way. At Kettner’s Townhouse, Dr Guy Meadows, the sleep specialist behind The Sleep School, intends to help you master a good night’s sleep.

Meanwhile, the North comes to London with Wanderlust 108 Festival’s foray here. A celebration of mindful living, usually in the midst of some of breathtaking natural settings, the global yoga and wellness festival arrives in Battersea Park on September 15.

“Living in London is chaos,” advises Alan Steel, Wanderlust’s UK MD. “For many Londoners these are the joys of the city, but at the same time they can challenge the state of calm and balance in our everyday lives.” The solution? “Intentionally start to remind ourselves to slow down and do less. Stress manifests in real, physical symptoms; lowered immunity, heart problems, sleep problems, anxiety and depression, stomach problems and IBS among many others. Often we become numb to stress and continue to go through our days accepting it as a way to just ‘carry on’, rather than make lifestyle and attitude changes for the better.”

Relax (sort of) at the world’s only “mindful triathlon”, a 5k run (or walk — non-competitive, not timed, non-compulsory!), followed by a 90-minute yoga session led by yogis Adriene Mishler and Julie Montagu and a 30-minute mass meditation led by guru Michael James Wong — with DJ Goldie on the decks throughout.

It’s a big day, packing in: acro-yoga, aerial yoga, singing bowls, dharma wheels, cookery lessons, sound healing, slacklining, breath work, forest bathing and cookery classes. Jasmine Hemsley, author of cookbook East by West, will also give a talk on Ayurvedic eating.

Alternatively, head outside the M25: in Bristol, the Wild and Well festival is back to nature. Connect with nature and the outdoors through trail running, mountain biking, forest school, foraging and hiking. Go wild with root-to-fruit cooking, pickling and campfire canapés.

Or go further. Gastein Yoga Days festival in the snowcapped mountains around Salzburg, Austria, lasts from October 12-21. The hills will be alive with the sound of thermal water meditation, aerial yoga and high-altitude dance classes. Envision Festival, in Costa Rica, goes deep on refined relaxation, with a pop-up village of “higher consciousness” classes following the teachings of “eight pillars”: permaculture, spirituality, movement, art, music, community, health and eco building. Find your place and leave no trace, naturally.

We’re all pressed for time. So press reset.

To book tickets to the ReSET Festival, visit thereset.standard.co.uk

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