Goa to host Zambhala yoga, music fest

Melt away your stress in a Hatha yoga class or relax in a Nidra yoga class. The first edition of the Zambhala, a yoga, music and life spirit festival, is set to take the festive fever here notches higher in December.

The annual extravaganza, announced by Seventy Event Media Group, will bring together known yoga experts, spiritual teachers, practitioners and healers from India and across the world.

To be held Dec 21-22, the event will offer a curated mix of live entertainment, spirituality, music and dance.

"India is the spiritual home of yoga and the search for personal enlightenment and it's incredibly exciting to create the Zambhala Festival here. In a sense, we are building India's Glastonbury Festival - with yoga and spirituality at the heart of it," Martin Da'Costa, CEO, Seventy Event Media Group, said in a statement.

"Zambhala is an answer to the question that so many of us are asking - how to grow, strengthen, and build ourselves in this life," D'Costa added.

The line-up of international practitioners include some of the world's best yoga teachers - Jehangir Palkhivala and Deepika Mehta from India, Eoin Finn from Canada, Janet Stonefrom California and Duncan Wong, who has previously taught Madonna, Bjork and Sting.

Visitors will be able to seek peace, solace and engage in a multitude of activities like choosing from five different kinds of yoga, Sufi whirling, Shamanism, learning and knowing mind, body and soul and crystal healing.

The two-day festival will also feature workshops on different mediation techniques, chanting, group channeling and astro-gazing. Visitors at Zambhala can participate in various group activities or one-on-one sessions with healers and practitioners.