Rest and Reset
The Brighton Yoga Festival will be taking a pause this year as the organisers take time to reflect and consider its future.
“After much thought, we have chosen to rest and return with renewed intention next year,” says Danny Griffiths, director of Brighton Community Events (BCE).
Since its launch in 2014, the festival has brought together thousands of teachers, practitioners, and yogis for a weekend of connection, movement, and breath, and quickly became the largest not-for-profit yoga festival in the country.
BCE are now working with their partners on plans for next year that will retain the original inclusive nature of the festival whilst exploring different options for the yoga community to gather and practice.
Over the years, the festival has raised £1000s to provide free mindful movement classes for people experiencing health inequalities including people facing homelessness, trauma and chronic pain, through its partner charity The Brighton Natural Health Foundation (BNHF).
There are still lots of opportunities to support BNHF’s work through upcoming events such as Yoga on the Beach and Yoga at the Fringe (check out the BNHF website for more details)
“We are so grateful for all the support we have received from the festival over the years and look forward to welcoming it in its new form next year,” says BNHF director Sam Hart.
Davy Jones commented: “The Brighton Yoga Festival has been successful beyond our widest dreams, but it feels right to pause this year, take a breath, and review how best to take its work forward in the future, especially in the light of the growing interest in a wider spectrum of mindful movement activities.”
We would like to thank the support we have received from our sponsors and volunteers, over the years and hope to reconnect with you soon.
Please note that tickets already sold will be refunded in due course.
Notes
The Brighton Yoga Festival was founded by Davy Jones and Mikaela Perera as a way of bringing the local yoga community together and to spread the word about the benefits of yoga more widely. The first one day festival in summer 2014 attracted around 1000 people. Subsequent events were held over a weekend and attracted between 2000 and 3000 people. During Covid, online events were held. In the last two years the Festival has been organised by Danny Griffiths and the Brighton Community Events (BCE).
The Festival was also instrumental in Davy Jones’ launch of the Brighton Yoga Foundation (BYF) charity in 2016 as a way of raising funds to take yoga to those who would not normally have access to it – either for cultural, health, economic or social reasons. BYF was highly successful and recently merged with the Brighton Natural Health Foundation (BNHF) which emerged from the closure of the Brighton Natural Health Centre. BNHF continues the work of BYF and also provides classes to a similar clientele but in a wider range of mindful movement activities. BYF has also acted as a catalyst for the establishment of national network of organisations and individuals providing yoga community outreach – the UK Community Yoga Network.
