This event is good fun. It’s the perfect antidote to festival fatigue, overstimulation and non-too-mindful hangovers. It can rightly claim to de-stress, calm, focus, energise and set you up for another sally forth into the Fringe.
We assemble early in the morning in a large, airy and pleasant hall in the Scottish Storytelling Centre, the walls literally bedecked with small, framed artwork by little-known Scottish artists, and large windows overlooking a formally laid out garden. The atmosphere is set for some mindful shimmying and jigging about, because you are not expected to be an expert, nor to compete, but simply to enjoy yourself, relax, and overcome your inhibitions and go with your own flow.
The workshop starts with some mindful breathing and stretching to moody music and develops easily from guided but individual dance movements to more group-orientated shuffling around with grins and giggles and fun.
The concept of Mindful Disco has surely arrived. This is a try-out for further sessions in Edinburgh throughout the year, which is good news for people who yearn to dance, but are too shy to do it in public. It’s also a creative alternative to yoga or martial arts. The potential for taking participants through the transition from mindful movement to being in the flow, centring, grounding, enlivening and even connecting is vast.
There are only a few dates left this Fringe, but I’d be happy to suggest that next year the Mindful Discos should be available twice a day throughout the festival.