Surya Iacono on the growing trend of fitness festivals

If you didn’t think festivals were your thing, you should have a look at the new fitness trend – fitness and wellness festivals. You can swap alcohol and watching bands in rainy fields, with yoga and juices.

Festivals used to be about hedonism and hangovers, but this new array offers a focus on wellness instead. As the interest in wellness and understanding that we need to look after our mind, body and soul increases, it’s important to push ourselves out of our comfort zone. And a wellness festival could give you all the buzz of a traditional festival, but with a healthy twist.

Here are just a few of the lifestyle, fitness and wellness festivals around the country this summer. Look them up for summer 2020.

Wilderness Festival leads the way

Wilderness Festival reached its ninth year in 2019 and is one of the trend-setters of this new breed of festivals. Every August, the Wilderness Festival takes place in Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire. It combines old-school festival treats such as big bands with a vast programme of wellbeing events.

Visitors can enjoy foraging walks in the woods, wild swimming, cookery classes, dance, fitness and yoga classes, massage, meditation and self-care workshops. It has been phenomenally successful and is proof positive that people want a holistic way to enjoy themselves. Other festivals are taking this up a notch and offering events that only offer health and wellbeing.

Find your inner peace at Soul Circus

In 2017, Soul Circus launched its first event in the Cotswold Hills in Gloucestershire. Organised by a husband and wife team, the line-up is packed with big-name fitness instructors and every kind of yoga possible. From saluting the sun to aerial, hip hop or blindfolded yoga, there’s something for everyone. The festival also has a spa with holistic treatments, sound bath experiences, talks, workshops and meditation sessions.

Get wild and well in Bristol

Bristol’s Wild & Well festival is set to host its second festival in October. This year the festival is based around four separate themes. They are ‘explore’, ‘connect’, ‘eat’ and ‘move’, and will take place in different venues around the city of Bristol. There will be all kinds of activities including paddleboarding, silent discos, spinning rave sessions and ballroom dancing. Visitors can also learn how to make bread as a form of therapy and take part in activities designed to reconnect them with nature.

These are just three festivals offering a holistic approach to entertainment. After all, there’s nothing wrong with a traditional festival of beer, bands and mud, but there is an increasing demand for something that offers just a bit more. Try a wellness festival for summer 2020 and see whether it boosts your fitness and happiness levels.