30th July - 1st August 2021
Wise Things Festival is a free online festival, promoting the sharing of ideas and experiences that can help all of us be happier, healthier and more successful.
Take a look at whats on this year!
Friday 08:00-09:00 BST (07:00-08:00 in UTC)
Meet the team as we introduce the festival to you and kick off the weekend before Zara begins the first session of the day with the much-loved Awareness Live, where Zara will guide you through a short awareness exercise to start your morning off right.
Friday 09:00-10:00 BST (08:00-09:00 in UTC)
Meditative practices such as mindfulness have been central to the world's great wisdom traditions for millennia because of their capacity to alleviate suffering, and to foster self-knowledge, transcendence and wisdom. Join world renowned expert, Dr Craig Hassed to hear some of the current evidence and philosophical insights regarding mindfulness. There will also be an opportunity for a brief practice, followed by time for your questions.
Friday 11:00-12:00 BST (10:00-11:00 in UTC)
Vena Ramphal is a classical Indian dancer and success coach to women leaders. This session is meditative dance movement that will unlock your inner grace and precision. You will feel lighter, more confident, and energised with greater inner clarity.
No previous dance experience needed.
Friday 13:00-14:00 BST (12:00-13:00 in UTC)
Kate and Jo, Ayurvedic Practitioners and founders of The Ayurveda Academy will be exploring 5 of Ayurveda’s most favoured foods, investigating their health benefits, how to make the most of them in a healthy diet and their favourite ways of using them. Along the way they'll be sharing their most loved aspects of Ayurveda and the small tweaks that have had big impacts on their lives.
If ahead of the seminar you want to know more about your constitution and imbalances, consider getting a Personalised Ayurvedic Report so you have that as a reference.
Friday 15:00-16:00 BST (14:00-15:00 in UTC)
Join Zahra Elaf, Holistic Well-being Therapist & Practitioner - Founder of Wabi-Sabi Wellbeing. The conscious creative brand teaches you to find the Art of beauty through your own imperfections via Yoga, Nutrition, Meditation, Sound Energy Medicine.
Zahra will lead you through a beautiful guided meditation followed by an energising dynamic flow blending two styles of Yoga into one practice connecting and igniting the strength and the power of our YANG energy. Transitioning to our YIN energy where we hold the poses for longer durations diving internally to experience calm and zen balancing both energies within.
Suitable for all abilities.
Friday 20:00-20:30 BST (19:00-19:30 in UTC)
Relax into your weekend with John Paul Bowman and Helena Ruinard as they play you one of their most peaceful creations. Both established musicians and composers with a real passion for music this session is the perfect half hour to sit down to, prep your dinner, or wind down with.
Saturday - 08:00-08:40 BST (07:00-07:40 in UTC)
Start your day with a guided awareness exercise with the lovely Zara. Gentle, easy, and acccessible to all no matter your experience with awareness and meditation this session is sure to give you that moment of peace in your day.
Saturday - 09:00-10:00 BST (08:00-09:00 in UTC)
Prepare your mind and body for the day ahead with this gentle yet energising Chair Yoga practice with the lovely Lindsey Porter of Yoganuu.com a Yoga tutor, author, and wellbeing advocate.
Saturday 11:00-12:00 BST (10:00-11:00 in UTC)
Meet Emma Slade, the first western woman to be ordained as a Buddhist monastic in Bhutan, TEDx speaker, founder of 'Open your heart to Bhutan' and author of 'Set Free'. In this interactive talk Emma will share how life can be lived with ease, including what the buddhist approach to life and cake have in common! Maybe even bring some cake along as she talks about gently developing compassion and wisdom towards one's self and all things.
Please also check out Emma's charity: Opening your heart to Bhutan and her book, Set Free, available from Waterstones or Blackwell's, or on Amazon.
Saturday - 14:00-15:00 BST (13:00-14:00 in UTC)
Meet Phil Blackburn from Pause & Breathe for a gentle hour of Qi Gong. Whether you're a pro or a complete beginner Phil will put you completely at ease as he walks you through the 5 Elements Qi Gong movements. These focus on Earth, Wood, Fire, Metal and Water, and connect energy flow in the main organs of the body.
Saturday 19:00-20:30 BST (18:00-19:30 in UTC)
The Wise Things Festival Poetry Open mic is back after popular demand! Join your host Geoff Murray to listen, enjoy, or join in with a whole host of poems, people, and fun. This one we highly encourage you to join in with so if you have an original poem, or a favourite get in touch with us and we'll get you on the list!
Sunday 08:00-08:40 BST (07:00-07:40 in UTC)
Start your day with a guided awareness exercise with the lovely Zara. Gentle, easy, and accessible to all no matter your experience with awareness and meditation this session is sure to give you that moment of peace in your day.
Sunday 10:00-11:00 BST (09:00-10:00 in UTC)
How can attending to the present moment allow your creativity to flourish? This is a question we will explore in the first session of Zara's mindfulness and drawing course on 'The Practise of Seeing'. We will explore mixture of practical exercises and group discussions, and together explore some different techniques of drawing that bring us into the present, and help us develop and investigate different areas of our creative self.
What you will need:
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Pen, 15 sheets of paper.
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After the festival, the next two sessions of the course will be offered through Eventbrite. A link will be posted here when the session are available to book, it will also be announced on social media and via email.
11:30-12:30 BST (10:30-11:30 in UTC)
Join Charlotte, from Therapy Kitchen, to create a warming dahl in a session focused on eating to reconnect with ourselves and the world around us. Charlotte is a trained psychotherapist with over ten years experience and her session will focus on the two key themes of nature and community, as by feeding ourselves, we can rediscover ourselves in alignment with other beings, who all share the need to eat.
Ingredients
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Cooked Mung Chana beans - or lentil of choice
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Onion
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Celery
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Ginger
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Garlic
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Lemon
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Turmeric
Utensils
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Cumin
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Coriander
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Bay leaf
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Cinnamon and fennel seeds optional
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Stock powder/cube
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Salt and pepper
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Oil to cook
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Knob of butter if you like!
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Something green - fresh herb, courgette, spinach, whatever you feel like, or a combination!
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Chopping board
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Good knife
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Large pan
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Wooden spoon
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Tasting spoon
13:00-14:30 BST (12:00-13:30 in UTC)
In this discussion, we sit down with four experts to look at how wisdom and sustainability interact and how do we make that wisdom practical in our everyday lives. Keen to make wisdom liveable, we sit down with Stefanie Behrendt, a zero waste entrepreneur, Robin de Carteret, a sustainability educator, Dave Erasmus, a social entrepreneur, and Preeti Gopinath, a sustainable textile designer, to look at where they look for wisdom in the face of a global crisis. This promises to be a fascinating session that will leave you feeling hopeful for the future and a maybe even a little wiser in the world quickly realising the importance of sustainability.
15:00-16:30 BST (14:00-15:30 in UTC)
Satish Kumar walked from India to Washington via Moscow, Paris & London, it was a journey for peace taking him around the world. He walked 8,000 miles, without any money, delivering peace tea to the leaders of the four nuclear powers. In this talk Satish Kumar will tell his story.
