About the Tantric Joy Festival Amsterdam 12-16 June 2024

After three joyful festivals in the city of Amsterdam we were flirting with nature… feeling the grass at our feet, waking up with the tribe, jumping in the lake, taking an ice bath, lying at the beach, taking a walk in the forest, leisure at the campfire, grounding our body’s on the earth…

So we keep a team of great international facilitators, musicians and dj's. We keep the open and playful vibrations. We keep the good food and add a breakfast and a place to put your tent. Or rent you a glamping option. We keep the vibe and bring it all 45 min. from Amsterdam to the Landgoed Energy Up in Zeewolde.

You are welcome for the registration on Wednesday June 12 between 11:00 and 13:00 (option early arrival on Tuesday June 11). The Opening Ceremony (mandatory) is at Wednesday 14:00. The festival ends on Sunday 16 of June at 16.00 hrs.

5 days of joy with the choice from 60 workshops,  3 Temple Nights, Concerts, Rituals in nature, Performances, Ecstatic Dance with accommodation, breakfast and 12 warm vegan meals included. An amazing team of 30 international facilitators will offer you a range of different tantra practices and support your tantric path with workshops, meditations, ceremonies and temple nights. A group of musicians, performers and DJ’s will be also part of the joy!

The theme of the festival is SPIRITFUL GROUNDING. Tantra practices support the spiritual path to feel connected to all beings, to experience loving awareness. Tantra is also a spiritual path where the body and our nature is seen as an expression of the divine in us. And our body needs grounding, needs being felt, healing, acceptance… We are so happy about the nature space that will allow us to fly even higher because of the grounding of the earth and the elements. Every day we will have another theme:

Day 1 Connecting and Grounding

Day 2 Nourishing your body and emotions

Day 3 Discovering and Playing

Day 4 Moving your life force energy

Day 5 Spirituality and Integration

You can come to the festival with or without experience in tantra. A festival is a beautiful space to become acquainted with different tantra styles. The diverse facilitators will invite you to explore and express different aspects of your being, with respect for your boundaries and what you need at that moment. All aspects of your person are welcome to show up. Your most light and joyful parts, but also the more difficult ones.

We wish the festival to be a space where you feel welcome whatever sexual expression or gender identification you have. We are open to the discussion about the concepts of women, men, the polarities masculinity and femininity and the concepts of masculine and feminine energy. We are also aware to adhere to what pronoun/other participants and facilitators would like to be addressed. We celebrate diversity and that is why we do not have a day dedicated to men and women genders. There may be some workshops that you can go if you identify with a specific gender, but most of them will be open to everybody.

What is tantra for us?

We see Tantra as a practice that enables us to embrace all aspects of life. Tantra can be seen as a way of living. You can integrate tantra in your daily life and it is accessible to every human being.

As you can see we offer you a wide variety of traditions: Classical tantra, Neo-tantra, Shamanic tantra, Tantric Kink, Tibetan tantra… Every facilitator will give you another taste of tantra because of their lineage, school, knowledge and experience. As there are quite a lot of different yoga schools and styles, there are in tantra also a big range of schools.

Tantra is an ancient practice that has found the way to our modern times. It is not easy to be sure which part of what we are practicing nowadays, would be called tantra around the 9th-12th centuries, when tantra had its peak in India. Even the interpretation of the sacred texts in Sanskrit or the meaning of tantra is not unambiguously. The word tantra has such different connotations as: theory, book, spiritual practice, weave, wisdom that saves, stretch…

Tantra practices use different elements to support the intention to embrace life in all aspects: meditations, knowledge and practices of the spiritual physiology (subtle body and chakra system), rituals, visualizations, breath work, body awareness… In the festival we offer you therefore a big range of different practices.

About boundaries, safety and emotional support

We find it important that the tantra facilitators at the festival are aware of psychological processes, groups processes and about how important safety is in in the process of learning and personal growth. This means that they are aware of the importance of boundaries and will offer you as much safety as possible in their workshops. So a facilitator will never push you to do any practice that you don’t feel you should do and will always respect your boundaries.

Tantra practices can bring us in a state of huge joy, ecstasy and feelings of deep connection. All the beauty and mystery of life can unfold in a lovely way. Tantra can also bring us in contact with the most difficult parts of life: feelings of loneliness, emptiness, shame, sadness or fear. It is not uncommon that you can feel overwhelmed. Therefore we have an emotional support team of eight professionals working as coach or therapist. They are there not there to give you therapy but to support you if you are too triggered to handle a given feeling or situation.

All facilitators and emotional support team have agreed with the: ‘Agreements of the Tantric Joy Festival Amsterdam’, for professionals. And all the participants and space holders agree with the ‘Participants Agreements Tantric Joy Festival Amsterdam’. The agreements are meant to provide a container for physical & psychological safety for everybody. We all know that in a festival there is not a way to guarantee for 100% that everybody will feel safe. We can’t control all behaviours and we can’t prevent that traumas are being triggered. What we can do is to establish agreements which support an open and save environment and invite you to explore what tantra can mean for you.

How does a day look like?

07:00 - 08:00  EARLY WORKSHOPS - Ceremonies, yoga or breathwork

08:00 - 09:00  BREAKFAST

09:15 - 10:00 DAY OPENING - Dancing and exercises to connect with yourself and others and to learn about boundaries and communication. All facilitators of the day will explain what they will offer that day.

10:30 - 13:00  MORNING WORKSHOPS - You have the choice of 7 different workshops

13:00 - 14:00  LUNCH

14:00 - 15:00 CONCERT

15:00 - 16:00 FAMILY SHARING

16:00 - 18:30 MIDDAY WORKSHOPS - You have the choice of 7 different workshops

18:30 - 19:30  DINNER

20:00 - 22.30 EVENING PROGRAM - You can choose to go to Ecstatic Dance set, a temple, a concert or a workshop

Location

The festival will take place in Landgoed Energy Up, Wielseweg 9 in Zeewolde, 45 min. from Amsterdam, and 1 hour by public transport, see further for a map. The space is in the middel of beautiful nature near the forest and with a beach at the lake, at a 700 m. walk you will find also a naked beach. We have several big tents and more intimate spaces for the workshops, temples and concerts. In the camping  we provide you with tree saunas and hot tubs to enjoy for free. During the entire festival, there will be various spaces to relax and connect.

How to arrive there

The location of the festival is at the Landgoed Energy Up, Wielseweg 9.  45 car minutes from Amsterdam and 1 hour with public transport. Public transportation is best by train to Almere Centrum Station and then hop on a bus. From the bus stop `Flevo/Natuur-Wielseweg in Zeewolde`, it is a 15 minute walk. NOTE: This bus does not drive every hour so get informed if you are taking it. Website of public transportation: www.9292OV.nl and info on trains via www.ns.nl.

If you come by car, make sure you have a parking ticket via the festival ticket-site, € 5,-. There are no options nearby to park your car. We are asked by the local authorities to control the number of cars as we are in a nature area. Cars can only be parked in the parking area on the camping itself. As we are in a nature area municipality is very strict at wrongly parked cars and will tow them away directly. If you come by car you can offer a ride in the private facebook page of the festival.

Tickets options & Accommodation

We are exited about our new festival location in nature. We have created many options for many type of needs: Own tent, Rent a Glamping Tent, Camper. If you are sharing these tents or campers, with one, two or three persons than the ticket price will drop. Also optional to come already on Tuesday June 11 between 19:00-21:00 with an extra ticket. See Accommodations for more information and different tickets.

Food

The first meal on Wednesday will be dinner at 18.30.

Breakfast will be from 8.00 to 9.00

Lunch from 13.00 to 14.00

Dinner from 18.30-19.30.

The last meal on Sunday will be Lunch. All meals will be vegan and as we can’t make special food for people with allergies there will be enough choice for you to eat something else. Twice a day you can buy cake and cookies at the café. Coffee and Tea are free during the festival. Tap water is of high quality in the Netherlands. If you are a big eater, please bring your own extra snacks or fruit for in between.

Weather proof festival

All organised activities and workshops are planned in tents, some in open tents, some in closed tents and some in tents combined with outdoor areas. There is enough space available for everyone in these tents in case of bad or rainy weather.

Spa area

At the campsite we will place some hot tubs and sauna’s, free of charge. Just for you to calm down, relax and enjoy.

Private Facebook group

Ticketholders will be add to the Festival’s private group. There you can ask for carpooling. Sharing accommodations etc.

Organization

🤸🏼‍♀️🤸🏼‍♀️ Mark Oostermeijer & Anna Prat i Bascompte, Growing Loving Relations. www.growinglovingrelations.com For questions about the festival you can contact us at this email: growinglovingrelations@gmail.com

Happy to see you in June!