There are some experiences that don’t really fit into a category. They aren’t just retreats. Not quite holidays. Not only music or meditation. This Festival was one of those rare in-between spaces.
It felt like coming home, and also like being cracked wide open.
I spent five days in December with a group of seekers, wanderers, lovers of life, at the SoHum Spiritual Resort in Arambol, Goa. And what we experienced together… It’s still difficult to put into words.
But I’ll try.
🌅Day 1: Sunsets & Soft Openings:
The festival began gently, just like a morning breeze. I arrived early, checked in, and was welcomed by smiling strangers who somehow already felt familiar. There were ice-breakers, laughter, and a first dip into meditation, with a powerful technique from the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra, one of the most ancient and sacred texts of Tantra meditation.
And then came the first evening of Utsav Kirtan, music that felt less like entertainment and more like a remembrance. People danced, cried, and sat in stillness. And in that mix, something began to loosen inside me.
🌬 Mornings in the Body
Each day began with sacred breathwork practices. Not the kind that makes you sweat or perform, but the kind that returns you to yourself.
- Dantian Breathing to wake the life force
- Breathwork to transform pain into bliss
- Chakra activation to realign and reset
- Qi Gong sessions to bring lightness to the body and stillness to the mind
By the time breakfast rolled around, I was already deep in a place of peace.
🌀 The Zen of Not Knowing
Mid-mornings were for Zen Koans- unanswerable questions of the soul that aren’t meant to be solved, but to bring you to the truth of who you are. Questions like: Who is in?
It was so profound, sitting with these questions in front of others and speaking- so vulnerable, so raw and this is what clarity began to emerge, not from thinking, but from being.
There was no pressure to figure anything out. Just gentle guidance into spiritual inquiry and awakening practices that opened something deep inside.
☀️ Vigyan Bhairav Tantra Practices
After lunch, we’d rest or take a dip in the pool. Sometimes I just lay under the mango tree chatting with someone in the festival about life.
And then came the Tantra meditations from the Vigyan Bhairav—practices that took me to my heart, to my peace.
They didn’t promise enlightenment in a day. But they gave me this moment fully.
Sunset Celebrations
Evenings were for celebration and connection. Utsav Kirtan lit up the sky with wild Bhakti fire with guitars, drums, flutes, and the wild roar of hearts remembering freedom.
There was no pressure to sing or dance, and yet most of us couldn’t help it. The joy was contagious. The music was medicine. And by nightfall, there was a sacred exhaustion in the air, like we had lived the whole day fully, and our hearts had grown a little bigger.
The Unexpected Gifts
Somewhere between the breathwork and the singing, something shifted.
I stopped looking for transformation, and it started happening.
I cried one afternoon in a sharing circle, not out of sadness, but because I felt safe for the first time in a long while. I had a 1:1 conversation with Maitreya that pierced a belief I had carried for years. I laughed like a child again. I made friends I didn’t know I needed.
We had beautiful chai breaks or shall I say chai meditation! Swam under the sun, and watched orange-pink skies at the beach.
It wasn’t one single moment. It was the sum of many quiet ones.
💛 The Final Day: Love Tunnel
Our last day together was a mixture of bittersweet beauty. After Dokusan with Maitreya, a self-inquiry session that felt like standing naked in truth, we closed the festival with a heart-bursting Love Tunnel.
One by one, we walked through a lane of hugs, blessings, tears, and unsaid words finally spoken aloud.
By the end, I wasn’t the same. I wasn’t entirely different either.
I was just… more here.
💗 From the whole of my heart, Thank you!
I am so blessed for this festival by Utsav Sangha- a global spiritual community walking the path with humor, presence, and love.
Rooted in Zen, Tantra, Sufism, and Bhakti, this spiritual festival isn’t just an event, it’s a remembering of life itself. We touched something true: That healing is possible…That joy is natural. That awakening is not far away, it’s already here!! Definitely see you next year at Utsav Festival again!!! 🌸
