A Taste of Love at Tyalgum
Taste of Love festival director Marion Ellyard
Guided by some of the best presenters on sex, love and consciousness in the world, organisers of the Taste of Love Festival say this is a safe space for you to grow.
Seven spoke to festival director Marion Ellyard, who says it is the profound wisdom of tantra that has inspired herself and her team to create a place where everyone can come together, to learn, to witness, to connect in a wonderfully held space.
How did you come up with the idea for a festival?
The idea to run a tantra festival was widely inspired by already existing international festivals and events – it made sense to create a space where it would be easy for many people to get to know different types of modalities and facilitators, and experience them directly to know what it’s all about.
The platform of a festival offers over 35 shorter workshops – you could say it’s like an introductory weekend that’s heaps of fun but that can also be very transformative.
Some people are very shy or awkward when it comes to the subject of sex – how can this type of event help?
Different festivals have a different focus. This festival offers a focus on embodiment. That means we work a lot with the body, learning its language, needs, desires – learning to be a team between our body and our mind, to create wholesome balance. So although tantra does not mean only a sexual exploration at all it does contain certain teachings to enhance sexuality and has sexual practices that help us to feel the magic connection of the self with everything.
At this festival we offer workshops from facilitators that have explored these realms for many, many years and share their findings through exercises that are practised in tightly-held, safe containers with codes of ethics , consent, boundaries, respect and rules.
Which presenters are you really looking forward to experiencing and why?
Natalie Abraham is coming to us from Thailand and is a certified somatic therapist who also runs a radio talk show.
One of Natalie’s greatest creations, ‘Dancing Into Tantra’, has become an internationally acclaimed experience.
This is a journey into the unique arts of intimacy and is a life-changing, pattern-breaking, intimacy-creating experience – a journey of self-expression through movement.
Alexander Holmes is a registered practitioner of Ayurvedic medicine, traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture, kinesiology, body work, nutrition, and medical intuition. Further, he has a background in energy sciences such as Qi Gong, breathwork, trauma work, tantric yoga, Taoist and Hindu traditional tantra, and is a registered member of the Kundalini Support Network. He is bringing a workshop called ‘The Rhythm of Sex: Fundamentals of Sexual Cultivation’. This workshop will highlight the energetic importance of cultivating sexual energy.
What are you hoping people will experience at the festival?
I am very positive that people attending the festival will experience what we call ‘a taste of love’. Even if you go, and feel it’s not for you to move around, dance and get massages you will feel the well-meaning genuine nature of the people who are drawn to this experience.
We are drug and alcohol-free, it’s a live-in event so it’s very relaxing to rest there, eat well and there are wonderful nature walks, waterfalls, a pool and a big fire to enjoy as well.
Taste of Love Tantra Festival runs from 28 September to 2 October at Tyalgum. Visit: tasteoflove.com.au for information and tickets.
