About Spiritual Intensives & Festivals
Harmony Centre spiritual intensives and festivals involve meditation, group healing, time in nature, contemplation, spiritual music, kirtan and chanting, transmission of Divine energy through shaktipat blessings, and are for people who wish to awaken, deepen their search and evolve spiritually.
These are held either at the Harmony Centre, or partially online. They are always offered by heartfelt donation.
Spiritual Intensives
These are times of immersing within, focussing on strengthening the connection that each of us has with the Infinite, with nature, with ourselves and with each other. They have a starting point and an ending, and participants stay for the entirety of the event, immersing in a safe and contained environment for mutual benefit, awakening and inner illumination. They are similar to a retreat, although the spiritual content is usually more transformative and deep. We explore different traditions such as our Christ Consciousness Easter intensives; we have also held Kabbalah intensives, Ganesha or Shiva intensives, Sisterhood of the Rose, and a number of other topics of interest to our members. Because of the inclusive nature of our philosophy, we offer a wide range of spiritual intensives, some of which are seasonal and some of which arise in the course of the development of our community. Some focus on nature, and our connection to plants, animals and nature.
Maha Shivaratri Intensive
This annual celebration of Lord Shiva, the Divine as Pure Bliss beyond form, occurs every year in February/March.
Shiva is enigmatic, his name means bliss, but he is also Rudra the destroyer. As Nataraj, he is the Cosmic Dancer and as Nityasundara he is Eternal Beauty. Amidst bliss filled practices and blessings, we will be looking at these facets of Shiva, and the weaving of our lives with the Cosmic dance.
Shivaratri is a time for the awakening to more enlivened consciousness. It is an opportunity for the exploration of your own beauty and truth, as well as the discovery of gateways into the light and bliss beyond form. Our Shivaratri celebrations will be filled with music, meditation, mantra, stories from the Vedas and joyful exploration of the inner light.
All are welcome!
Festivals
These are joyful gatherings that run for days or weeks along a particular theme, involving sessions that string together where we can drop into the ones we want and it doesn't matter that we miss some, or that we are also working and running our lives at the same time. Some are related to significant spiritual festivals held in various or our Navaratri, festival of the Goddess festivals which we hold annually. We have held summer festivals and musical festivals, showcasing our amazing musicians, or looking at relationships over a series of days or weeks.
Navaratri Festival
Navaratri means nine nights, and it celebrates the victory of light over darkness. Specifically it is a contemplation of the Divine Mother in the form of Durga, a goddess who brings strength and courage to humanity. Various other forms of the Divine Mother are honoured during this time. Our programs involve meditation and mantra, fire ceremonies and discourses, stories from the sacred texts with contemplative discussions around how the stories have applications in our lives. They are times of spiritual growth and illumination where huge blessings are received by attendees.
Navaratri is an awesome opportunity to energetically cleanse and bless your life, your projects and new beginnings. There will always be loads of energy available to create & support yourself for the year ahead and plenty of blessings and joy. Don’t miss it!
Parts of our Navaratri are usually festival format, with people coming and going to the daily events. Usually there is a core period over a weekend during which we go deep in a more formal intensive.