Kundalini discos, sound baths, high-vibe healing
Welcome to the world of sober hedonism: forget martinis, says Ruby Warrington, and unwind with breathwork sessions instead
Alcohol-free raves and healing circles: Ruby Warrington on sober hedonism
It’s 5pm in downtown Manhattan and I’m dancing with abandon, banging my head, flailing my arms, and losing myself completely to a pumping electronic beat. No, this isn’t an all-day rave, but a yoga class called the Kundalini Disco, led by DJ Amy Kynoch. A regular on the NYC lounge-bar scene, Kynoch has also been teaching Kundalini yoga for the past four years, and was originally drawn to the practice for the way it uses sound currents (with music, chanting, and gong baths) to move stuck energy. The difference being that the music in Kynoch’s classes would be equally fitting at a Berlin warehouse party.
“Keep your eyes closed and just go completely into the experience,” she instructs us, as my body begins to vibrate and I feel a smile at the corners of my mouth. Walking out of class to meet a friend for dinner 60 minutes later, I feel energised, optimistic and awake – having described the ‘high’ I get from Kundalini yoga before as “double espresso-with-a-prozac-chaser”.
Not that I even drink coffee to get a buzz these days, making Kynoch’s Kundalini class my kind of disco. Having come of age in ’90s-rave hey-day, I’ve had my fair share of regular discos, after all. I even edited a magazine in Ibiza, spending whole summers living it up on the infamous party island. But since launching my holistic wellness platform, The Numinous, in 2013, these days I’m committed to getting high on my own supply.
And I’m not alone. From alcohol-free raves to sound baths and psychedelic breathwork sessions, the wellness scene has spawned a new generation of ‘healthy hedonists’ – meaning those seeking all the high times, but without the hangover. After all, when you’ve cleaned up your diet and are trying to make your meditation practice stick, it feels counter-intuitive to ‘unwind’ with a glass of Pinot every night.
Not to mention how the alcohol buzz feels sort of flat compared to the holistic high you get from a class like Kynoch’s – a concept I write about in my book, Material Girl, Mystical World, in a chapter titled Healing Is The New Nightlife. A phrase coined by Brooklyn-based yoga teacher
Amanda Capobianco, she told me, “When I moved to Williamsburg, I was expecting dive bars and music shows. What I found instead was people socialising at crystal workshops and healing circles.”
People like Leah Garwood-gowers, co-founder of London-based raw, vegan cake company The Hardihood, who I met during one of those Ibiza summers. Deciding to focus full-time on The Hardihood saw her kick
The ‘HIGH’ I get from Kundalini YOGA [is like] a DOUBLE espresso-with-aprozac-chaser
alcohol to the curb. “[As an entrepreneur] I realised how crucial it was for my mood and energy to be in a good place, and saw how having a few drinks would make me less focused, less positive and less motivated,” she says.
NOT THAT IT’S KILLED OFF HER SOCIAL LIFE.
Rather: “The mornings are more valuable to me now – I love a brunch date, a yoga date, a tea date. Evenings are more low-key.” All the better for keeping focused on building her empire, sure, but also: “I used to hate having a great night but not remembering much the next day. Not drinking means you really absorb the good vibe of time spent with friends.”
Which can certainly take some getting used to if your go-to for a girlie catch-up is an Satc-style session on the cosmos. They key is to experiment, says Jasmine Hemsley, one half of clean-eating sister act Hemsley + Hemsley, who has since founded sound-healing outfit Sound Sebastien with wellness practitioner Toni Dicks.
“Thrill-seekers can make the assumption that balance is boring,” she says. When actually, “Getting ecstatic and feeling better for it gives you a taste of true freedom.”
She describes the experience of a healing sound bath as “A buzz of a different kind. The right frequencies touch us on a level far deeper than the intellectual mind can identify with, and we fall into the mystery of the space within.”
In our technology-driven world, it’s these moments of inner quiet that facilitate a true sense of relaxation, release and connection – many of the things we’re seeking on a night out – as opposed to yet more stimulation of the nervous system with alcohol.
Chloe Kerman, a former fashion editor who now works as an energy healer, has also switched out fashion parties for the healthy hedonism of what I call the ‘now age’ wellness scene. And for her, it’s also been a great way to make new friends. “When I socialise with people I meet during a workshop, the connection is automatically deep, as what we’ve shared feels so authentic.”
Early morning rave Morning Gloryville, fuelled by coffee and techno alone, is another of Kerman’s favourite ways to get her healthy high on. “Everyone’s sober and having the time of their lives!” she tells me – as former Sunday Times Style editor Tiffanie Darke found when she took her team along. “We were all so buzzed, we needed to go to a café and come down before we went to the office.”
Author of Now We Are 40: Whatever Happened To Generation X?, Darke likens the experience to the early days of rave: “It’s that sense of community and letting go. Once you find yourself jumping up and down next to a flower fairy letting off glitter bombs, the only thing you can do is smile.”
With regular parties in 16 cities globally, Daybreaker offers a similar experience. Disillusioned with the drug-addled NYC nightlife scene, “What if we got back to basics with just dancing, community and connection? And what if we did it in the morning when everyone’s cup is full?” said founder Radha Agrawal of the idea behind the events.
Nearly 200 people turned up to the first party in December 2013, while the Daybreaker community globally now numbers 300,000. And Agrawal has done her research into the positive effects of the experience. “You release chemicals that you can’t get from exercise – you get that from dancing,” she said. Meanwhile, a study published in the New England Journal Of Medicine found that dancing improved cognitive acuity, protecting against dementia. Likely not the case if hitting the dance floor also means downing half a bottle of Stoli.
I, for one, intend to get my sober dance on this summer at Obonjan, a summer-long festival taking over a private island in Croatia, which merges wellness with DJ culture. Co-curated by Jill Urwin and Cheryl Eltringham of east London store She’s Lost Control (also the location for regular healing events), expect yoga, sound ceremonies and lectures by day, and evenings dancing.
Alcohol will be served, but the emphasis is on a holistic approach to wellbeing, which Urwin describes as “a state of mind, it’s about feeling inspired, happy and enriched”.
Having embraced healthier ways of getting high herself, “My relationship with alcohol has changed,” says Eltringham. “I do still enjoy a couple of beers now and then, but I also know I don’t need alcohol to have a good time, and that I can have those excited 3am conversations over crystal-infused water at any time of the day.”
Back in NYC, my Kundalini Disco buzz lasted all night – and I woke up smiling, too. Material Girl, Mystical World by Ruby Warrington (Collins Thorsons, £12.99). Join her on Obonjan for The Numinous island takeover from 19th-24th August 2017